TL;DR
Hayley Garratt-Milne says her family sold her mother Carole’s Isleworth home to pay for dementia care, now costing just over £8,000 a month. Carole was refused NHS continuing healthcare funding twice, according to the family; the source report does not include the full assessment records or the council’s response.
Hayley Garratt-Milne says her family sold her mother Carole’s home to fund dementia care that now costs just over £8,000 a month, after applications for full NHS continuing healthcare funding were rejected. The case illustrates the financial pressure on families when a person’s care needs are high but public funding does not cover the full bill.
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Carole, now 72, was diagnosed with dementia at 65 and needed round-the-clock care, according to the report. Her daughter says the care home fees began at about £6,000 a month and have increased to just over £8,000 during the five years Carole has lived there. Carole receives partial funding for nursing care, but Hayley says the family still pays substantial costs and covers additional items, including toiletries and toenail care.
The family home was a four-bedroom house in Isleworth, west London, where Carole had raised her daughters after buying it in 1988. Hayley says Surrey County Council placed a legal charge on the property, which was then sold for £715,000. The sale proceeds were initially expected to cover about ten years of care, but at the current monthly rate they would last less than seven and a half years, the report says.
Hayley says her mother has been turned down for continuing healthcare funding twice, despite needing help with almost everything. She described Carole as unable to walk independently or feed herself, and said she has experienced incontinence, gangrene and severe weight loss. Those details are the family’s account; the source report does not provide the assessment decisions or medical records.
How Care Costs Reach Families
The case shows how care fees can outpace a family’s savings, placing a home sale at the centre of decisions about long-term support. The reported increase from roughly £6,000 to more than £8,000 a month also means the value of a property may cover care for a shorter period than families initially expect. Actual costs and funding arrangements vary by individual assessment and local circumstances.
It also highlights the distinction between local-authority support and NHS continuing healthcare. The latter can fund the full cost of eligible care when a person meets criteria based on their overall health and care needs; it is not means tested. A refusal can leave families paying for care themselves, but the source material does not establish whether Carole’s assessments were wrong or whether she met the eligibility criteria.
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The Funding Decision Behind the Bill
Continuing healthcare is assessed through a process involving health and care professionals who consider a person’s overall needs. The source report says Carole applied for this funding and was rejected twice. It also cites figures for April to December 2024: 15 per cent of completed local reviews and 24 per cent of independent reviews resulted in a finding of eligibility. These figures describe review outcomes during that period, not the likelihood that any particular applicant will qualify.
The report also refers to a 2020 Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report that found serious failings in some continuing healthcare decisions, including cases where people paid large sums for care that should have been funded or faced wrong or delayed decisions. It says more than a third of care home residents fund all or part of their costs through property-sale proceeds, citing a survey by annuity provider Just Group. The supplied material does not give the survey’s sample size or fieldwork dates.
““Mum had a house in London, but she didn’t have any cash. So, Surrey County Council put a charge on her property, and then we were forced to sell it. It was really stressful.””
— Hayley Garratt-Milne
Assessment Records and Council Response
The source report does not include the written reasons for Carole’s two funding refusals, the full clinical assessments, or a response from Surrey County Council. It is therefore not possible from the available material to independently determine whether the decisions followed the relevant criteria or whether the property charge and sale proceeded under specific repayment arrangements.
The report also does not detail the terms of Carole’s partial nursing-care funding, the precise fees covered by it, or how future increases will affect the remaining sale proceeds. Hayley’s concerns about care at the home, including an account of her mother choking while staff watched, are allegations attributed to her; the report provides no response from the care provider or independent findings about the incident.
Funding and Care Review Options
The immediate next steps are not specified in the source report. Families disputing a continuing healthcare decision may seek a review through the applicable NHS process, but the article does not say whether Hayley has made another appeal or what outcome she expects. Any review would depend on Carole’s assessed needs and the evidence considered by the relevant professionals.
The report also describes a planned nationwide support network, Dementia Carers Together, backed by the Daily Mail appeal and delivered with the Alzheimer’s Society. It is intended to provide six-week courses for relatives and friends, including information about carers’ rights and available services. The source material does not give a launch date or course locations.
Key Questions
How much does Carole’s care cost?
Hayley says the monthly care-home fees have risen from about £6,000 to just over £8,000 during the five years Carole has lived there. The family also pays for some additional items and services, according to the report.
Why was the family home sold?
Hayley says Carole had property but little cash, and that Surrey County Council placed a legal charge on the home. The property was sold for £715,000 to help fund care. The source does not provide the council’s account or the charge documents.
What is NHS continuing healthcare?
It is NHS funding for people assessed as having a primary health need arising from their overall care needs. It can cover the full cost of eligible care and is not means tested. Eligibility depends on an assessment, not on a dementia diagnosis alone.
Was Carole found eligible for full NHS funding?
No. Hayley says Carole was assessed twice and rejected both times. The report does not include the written decisions or enough assessment information to verify the reasons for those outcomes.
What support for dementia carers is planned?
The report describes Dementia Carers Together, a planned network of six-week courses delivered with the Alzheimer’s Society. The sessions are intended to explain carers’ rights and available services; a launch date and locations are not provided.
Source: thisismoney.co.uk
