We spend our entire career paying into the NHS but at the point in our life when we most need their help, we have to pay.
And we’re not talking a few pounds – we’re talking tens of thousands of pounds, even hundreds of thousands in some cases.
People are given no choice but to sell their home to pay for the care they need in their old age.
This is the thing they’ve saved for their entire life and it’s the one thing they hope their children will inherit. But they’re given no option but to sell it.
There are ways of protecting some money, but they are bound by so many rules and very difficult to put in place, that most people don’t know about it. It’s often too late.
I think it’s a disgusting situation.
I’m the manager of a care home and I know I could never afford the care we provide – it’s crazy!
The actual cost of care has been questioned a lot in the media of late.
That’s an area of the debate I can agree on. I know exactly how much it costs to deliver good quality care.
Broomgrove Nursing Home is renowned for giving one of the highest nurse to resident ratios in the region – it’s one of the thing we pride ourselves on most – but it comes at a very high financial cost.
It’s same with everything else we provide. It all comes at a cost.
In three years time care homes are going to have to be far more transparent about their charges. At the moment, many are not.
I think transparency can only be a good thing.
A lot of privately run care homes will be running scared when they realise information on the amounts paid to shareholders will be readily available for all to see.
Broomgrove is the region’s only home with charitable status.
That means we have no shareholders and we’re totally committed to providing a quality service for our residents rather than being profit driven.
If we make a surplus at the end of the year it is ploughed straight back into the service we provide.
New rules coming into play in 2017 are set to cap the amount that any one person needs to contribute at £70,000. This is still a massive amount.
As usual, it’s the older generation being penalised.
I won’t be happy until every single old person gets free, round the clock care for every day of their life they need it.
They’ve paid for their NHS service – why aren’t they entitled to it when they most need it?
