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Part 3: Your right to choose where you live
- How will the National Care Standards help me?
- Choosing a home
- Can I stay in hospital instead of moving into a care home?
When you and your social work service have decided that a move into a care home is the best option for you, the next step will be to find a home that suits you.
How will the National Care Standards help me?
The National Care Standards can help you decide which home to choose. The Standards make it clear that everything about the care home service should lead to your enjoying a good quality of life. They should guide the owner or manager of the care home about building requirements (such as the size of rooms), whom to employ and how they should manage the service. Standard 1 sets out the type of information that the care home should give you to help you make your decision (such as the accommodation and service provided). Each care home can supply you with a copy of the most recent inspection report.
Do I have to find a care home myself?
No. The social work service must find a suitable home for you, if you do not wish to do so yourself. The Care Commission can supply a list of registered care homes in your area or other areas in Scotland.
Do I have to move into a home near where I live now?
Most people will want to stay in the community in which they live, but that is not a requirement. You can choose to move anywhere in Great Britain to be close to family and friends, provided your social work service can agree the arrangements. You will want to think carefully about deciding to move a great distance from where you live now. It is your decision.
Can I choose the home?
The social work service must give you a choice about which home you use, even though in most cases it will be paying at least some of the costs.
You may not feel up to finding your own home and may want help to choose a home. Your social work service is there to help and will give you information to help you choose - for example, a list of suitable homes in your locality. It can help you to visit any home you are considering. The National Care Standards say that you can visit the home at least once to help you reach a decision in your own time about moving in. They also say that, if you want, family members, friends, carers or an independent representative may be involved in these visits. The social work service can probably arrange a trial stay so that you can see if you like the home.
How will my social work service help me choose a home?
Local social work service staff can help you in a number of ways:
- They will give you any information you need to help you choose, such as details of the size, situation and facilities of homes.
- They will be able to help you to access recent inspection reports of care homes.
- They can also advise on what points you should consider when choosing a home.
If you wish, they may suggest some homes that they think you might like. You may find this helpful, but you do not have to choose any of these homes.
What can I choose?
You can choose to move into any home as long as:
- there is a place available; and
- the social work service has decided that the home is suitable for your needs; and
- the social work service and the owner of the home can agree a contract; and
- the home you have chosen will not cost the social work service more than it usually expects to pay for a home providing the sort of care you need; and
- the home is willing to accept you.
These points are explained further below.
What if there is no place available in the home I like?
If there is no place available in the home you have chosen, you can ask the social work staff to provide you with help to stay in your own home until there is a suitable vacancy. If this is not practicable, they can also arrange for you to live somewhere else until a place becomes available.
What does 'suitable' mean?
If you think the home is right for you and you want to live there, the chances are that it will be suitable. The social work service has to be absolutely sure that the home can look after you properly. The home must offer the type of care which can best meet your needs. If your social worker thinks that there could be a problem, he or she will explain this to you.
The social work service must consider all your needs. If you think there are special reasons why you need to go to a particular sort of home, tell them. It may be that you need to live near relatives or friends, or you may have religious, lifestyle or cultural needs. You should also tell the social work service if you think the homes it has suggested are unsuitable.
What if the home and the social work service can't agree a contract?
This will not normally be a problem. The social work service is responsible for making sure you will be properly looked after. This means that it has to have a legal agreement with the home. If a contract cannot be agreed, unfortunately the social work service will have no option but to ask you to choose another home. If you want to complain about this decision, see part 6.
What is the cost that the social work service usually expects to pay?
This varies from area to area. It also depends on the type of care that you need. The social work service will tell you how much it would usually pay for someone in your position. This must be enough to pay for a home which can provide the type and quality of care that you need. However, this may not necessarily be your first choice of care home.
The social work service will undertake a financial assessment of your capital and income in order to establish any contribution that you are required to make towards the cost of your care.
If you cannot find a suitable home offering a place for the amount the social work service says it will pay, you can ask the social work service to reconsider.
What if I want to move into a more expensive home?
A move into a more expensive home will only be possible if you or someone else - a 'third party' - can make up the difference between what the social work service usually expects to pay for your type of care (the normal fees) and the amount that the home actually charges. These additional payments are called top-up payments.
The third party might be a member of your family, a friend, or perhaps a charity or benevolent fund. Neither you nor a third party can be compelled to enter into a topping-up agreement.
The local authority will only allow residents who meet specified criteria to enter into a topping-up agreement. Furthermore, you will not be allowed to make top-up payments from the capital or income that the local authority has already assessed as being part of your contribution towards the normal fees.
Further information on top-up payments is provided in part 4.
Do I have to find someone to help out if I cannot find a care home at the price that the authority is prepared to pay?
No. The social work service must always be able to find a suitable care home place for you at the price it would usually expect to pay for someone with your care needs. However, the home may not be your first choice.
What if I am not satisfied with the care home I am in?
If you are unhappy with the care home you move into, you can ask the social work service to place you in another home.
You can ask the social work service to help you move even if you chose the first home yourself.
You have the same rights to financial assistance and to choose a new care home that you had when you moved into a home for the first time. The Care Commission can supply you with a list of registered care homes in your area.
Can I stay in hospital instead of moving into a care home?
You cannot make such a decision yourself. In general, it will be for a doctor to decide this, taking account of your views and those of other professionals and the alternative arrangements available to meet your needs.
Once you are ready to be discharged from hospital, the social work service will work with you to ensure that a care home placement is secured for you within 6 weeks. If a place in your first choice of care home is not immediately available, you will be given a place in an alternative home of your choice until a place in your first choice care home becomes available.
Under certain circumstances the NHS may continue to arrange and fund continuing in-patient care which may be provided in a hospital, hospice or care home. More details are available from your NHS Board.
If you do not agree with the service's decision, you can complain through its formal complaints procedure. ( See part 6.)
Residents who are unable to manage their own affairs
Some people require someone else to have legal authority to take decisions to do with their physical and emotional wellbeing and/or to manage their finances. The Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 (the AWI Act) provides the legal basis for such arrangements, where these will be of benefit to the resident. This may mean that decisions around the choice of a home and whether residential care is necessary, will be taken by someone legally appointed under the AWI Act to act on behalf of the person with support from health and social care professionals. More information about the AWI Act can be accessed on the website: www.scotland.gov.uk/justice/incapacity /
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