Kate Garroway-Care at home costs

annesixty yes it is really hard and exhausting

It truly saddens me how cold and hard hearted people can sometimes be on this site.
Ever heard the phrase “there but for the grace of god go I”?

Just another side to the KG experience.
It is unpopular to point out the many advantages of the life she led.
The costs she cites are so very high because as another poster said she could be out earning a huge salary and paying someone to be there while she attended functions etc.
He probably didn’t need nursing care all the time.
I used to pay £80 twice a week for a carer to come in for 3 hours just to be with my H and keep him safe.
It took 20 mins to handover and then I had to be back early for the hand back.
I remember once when my friend took me to Aldi for groceries and when we got back in the car I wept and said I would like you just to start driving, somewhere , anywhere and not stop.
I knew that as soon as I got home it would start again for 2/3/4 days before I would get anymore respite.

I have every sympathy with KG and anyone going through this, I didn’t have young children and had , mostly, had my life but oh, it is so very hard.

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How do we know 😈 isn’t here Anniebach?

Germanshepherdsmum

Farzanah

Perhaps I will send this thread to my MP (Tory).

It’s copyright of GN - and although our individual posts can easily be found on Google, I for one wouldn’t want my posts forwarded to anyone.

Whoops. Fair enough.

What because some of us think it's a complex issue?

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ferry23

I have every sympathy for the family in their grief and for her late husband having to endure a very gruelling illness and the ensuing effects. However, I admit to struggling to understand how Kate Garroway sees herself as a self-appointed champion of unpaid carers - given she's never been one herself. Paying qualified people to care for a loved one while retaining a very well paid job, frequently attending showbiz events in expensive clothes and being surrounded by a network of wealthy and influential people is about as far removed from the life of an unpaid carer as you could possible get. Yes, to some degree I'm playing Devil's Advocate here, but I am genuinely baffled as to how she could possibly understand what it's like to be real, unpaid carer.

Quite.

I am not sure passionate about social justice is a phrase I would associate with him. This is my concern about famous people highlighting complex issues, their lives are very removed from the general public and the complexities often tend to get lost.

Spencer2009

She may be in debt, but she is fortunate enough to own a second home.

And have a lucrative career.

Farzanah

Perhaps I will send this thread to my MP (Tory).

It’s copyright of GN - and although our individual posts can easily be found on Google, I for one wouldn’t want my posts forwarded to anyone.

Marie Curie have praised Gate Garroway for highlighting this problem, and throwing a spotlight on the many who are in poverty due to care costs. MC estimate those living in poverty paying for care, theirs or a relative, numbers 90,000.

She may be in debt, but she is fortunate enough to own a second home.

It was a very moving documentary. I have nothing but admiration for Kate and so glad they had their last few years together at home as a family. The reason for filming appears to be to highlight the unfair care system and may be Derek’s lasting legacy. He was passionate about social justice in life.

I would gladly pay higher taxes if it resulted in a fair system. No one chooses to be dependent on others for care and it should be treated as a health issue and therefore society should share the cost.

In my opinion, the provision of care should never be run as a business with shareholders creaming the profits.

I bet they have, GN is an offshoot of MN, and pretty much every political party has appeared on MN at one time or the other.

Perhaps I will send this thread to my MP (Tory).

I have every sympathy for the family in their grief and for her late husband having to endure a very gruelling illness and the ensuing effects. However, I admit to struggling to understand how Kate Garroway sees herself as a self-appointed champion of unpaid carers - given she's never been one herself. Paying qualified people to care for a loved one while retaining a very well paid job, frequently attending showbiz events in expensive clothes and being surrounded by a network of wealthy and influential people is about as far removed from the life of an unpaid carer as you could possible get. Yes, to some degree I'm playing Devil's Advocate here, but I am genuinely baffled as to how she could possibly understand what it's like to be real, unpaid carer.

I bet the government has never heard of Gransnet!

The whole thing is a lottery, and can be a relief for those whose relatives are funded, but it is no means a fair system at all.

The problem being with public spending, social justice never enters into the equation, and somehow a skewed system of economics has taken over (neoliberal). Profit is everything and the fact that public spending is an investment in people and things is ignored.

Modern economics is about power, which decides how the allocation of resources is run, to the benefit of those who run it.

Germanshepherdsmum

There is another thread on this subject. Whilst I can understand KG wanting her husband to be cared for at home, and that that would have been his preference, the state can’t afford to fund such complex care needs on an individual basis rather than in fully equipped and staffed nursing homes.

Surely, these complex care needs should have entitled him to Continued Healthcare Funding from the NHS which is also free at the point of use, and I do hope that she can represent all those that are struggling to get it.

It is awful to lose someone obviously, however, if a person in her position with TV appearances and book deals can't find it, then what about your average person. Or she could perhaps ask her mate Elton, or many of the rich guests at the funeral, they wouldn't miss it.

CHC is VERY difficult to get - nowhere is there a definitive eligibility criteria and the fight is very long and very hard - it's basically the NHS and Social Care fighting amongst each other as to who is going to foot the bill, and then if it is Social Care, they will expect it back. I get an increase in my disability benefits in April, it's usually enough to get a few loaves in, yet even before I have received it, the Council has grabbed that increase back (or is trying to, but I will refuse to pay until I receive and agree to a copy of my Care Act Assessment from last June, a legal requirement that just isn't happening in most local authorities) no care about whether people on benefits still need that increase to pay for the increased cost of living obviously ...

My husband (65 years old) is currently receiving NHS Fast Track Continuing Health Care in a nursing home for his palliative / end of life care. His care needs are complex as besides his primary cancers he suffers from very severe aphasia and is paralysed down his right side after one of his cancers caused a massive brain haemorrhage. I couldn't have attempted to care for him at home as it would have been both mentally and physically too much both for me and any carer to look after him at home. But I suspect my husband wishes he was at home, but I was already exhausted from having to drive 3 hours a day to visit him when he was still in hospital for over six weeks.

The whole care system must be reviewed..an example I know of:
My aunt was in residential home for years, and had to fund herself as she' did not have nursing care needs'. Even though she couldn't get out of bed or bath without z hoist, and at times needed feeding ,toileting etc. She was deaf and at times very confused. She used all her assets in fees .
On the other side, friend's mother is eligible for paid for [ by state] in a top of range care home , like a hotel because she was MHA,sectioned aged 17 . She has been stable and mentally well for 60+ years, and the family are millionaires!! I believe that because she was sectioned once she falls under Section 117 of MHAct which means she is funded ongoing.

If Kate Garraway's husband couldn't get Continuing Health Care, then it shows how flawed the system is. If she wanted to care for him at home, they should have paid her the sum of money it would cost to keep him in a nursing home. If you think that that it would have been very much cheaper for Derek's level of need, you would be surprised at the cost of high level care in a home. We pay over £9000 per month for a low level of nursing care by comparison but the fees are determined by how much individual care you need.

Indeed, many care homes and care agencies are owned by big businesses, and profits and shareholders are king.