BBC Somerset local news item

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#1 Post by **Kwackerz** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 11:07 am

Grandfather must leave care home

An elderly man who sold his home to pay for a nursing home place is being evicted because his money has run out.
Edwin Coglan, 78, of Weston-super-Mare, paid £40,000 in 2000 from the sale of his home to Summer Lane Care which charges £1,000 a month.

Mr Coglan's son said his father, a retired farmer, has had three heart attacks and suffers from dementia.

North Somerset Council has ruled the pensioner is not frail enough to qualify for free nursing care.

It has offered Mr Coglan support to find alternative accommodation.

Flat offered

"Whilst we are sympathetic to Mr Coglan's situation, his assessment of needs shows that he does not meet the council's criteria for residential or nursing home care," said a spokesperson.

Mr Coglan and his wife Audrey moved into sheltered accommodation when her health deteriorated.

A year later, Mrs Coglan suffered a major stroke and was left paralysed down her left side.

Her husband struggled to care for her after she suffered two more strokes in 2003 and 2005. Then the following year he had his first heart attack after his wife suffered another stroke and the pair ended up in hospital.

In December 2006 Mrs Coglan died and two months later the money ran out.

The local authority has found a flat for the pensioner, which is overseen by a warden.

A sad state of affairs and saddening somewhat that we cant all be provided with nursing care when we're old, but was that really 'newsworthy'?

I cant see the glaringly obvious thing that makes it worth reporting on? Did I miss something? He's well enough to live in his own home (or a provided flat) theyve given him lots of support in finding somewhere... so what's up? Someone needy can now have that nursing home place.

Gio · #2 Post by **Gio** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 12:26 pm

Very sad but I agree, I've always believed its up to the family of the ill person to provide care. I'd never let my parents go into a home.

lazarus · #3 Post by **lazarus** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 4:46 pm

Gio wrote:Very sad but I agree, I've always believed its up to the family of the ill person to provide care. I'd never let my parents go into a home.

Brave statement Gio - time will tell, but I bet you do eventually! My mother has just gone into a care home at 91 - - just no way we could look after her even with 3 times a day (the max) help from social services who are quite good round here. What it would have boiled down to was giving up our own lives to provide 24/7 care. Bad enough for me but an awful lot to ask of a spouse.

Fat Harry · #4 Post by **Fat Harry** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 7:39 pm

My Mother spent the last 15 years of her life in a care home.
She was mentally ill & required specialist attention, this would not be possible in a domestic situation !
Noble sentiments Gio, reality dictates its own terms !

Aladinsaneuk · #5 Post by **Aladinsaneuk** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 9:09 pm

and what about those members of the family who do not live near by?

and yes - many people's needs are hard to meet by lay people - simple care is possible, if the family members want or can do it but dementia care and other disease processes require specialist input

instead of saying what the family should or could do, perhaps we should just remind our politicians exactly what we want from our health care system - i believe the founding father actually stated "cradle to grave"

if it is possible in scotland, then it should be possible here

and btw - where i work, our cheapest room is 800 a week = and i can state that the care my clients receive is worth that

#6 Post by **Kwackerz** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 9:47 pm

AH! Got it now! I thought it had been his Wife who passed away that suffered and not him I have found my missing link, so to speak.

and suffers from dementia.

That's bloody awful! Absolutely bloody shocking

Youre right, Alad.

perhaps we should just remind our politicians exactly what we want from our health care system - i believe the founding father actually stated "cradle to grave"

Maybe if they stop picking fights in other parts of the world, we wont be using as many of our military resources, the defence budget can relax and recover and we as a country can spend money on the NHS and all aspects of healthcare.

Im not going to get old. Gonna find a nice landmine somewhere and jump on it. (when im about 70) I dread being old in this shower of shite system we have at the moment.

Gio · #7 Post by **Gio** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 10:23 pm

Well noble thoughts or not my parents looked after my mums mum for the last 17 years of her life, admittedly they had a live in nurse who they paid for as my grandmother had altzheimers for 15 of those years. I'd do the same for mine even if it left us short of money. After all arent your parents worth more than lifes luxuries?

BikerGran · #8 Post by **BikerGran** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 4:54 pm

As always Gio, you miss the point. OK, if you can throw money at a situation it tends to make it easier to deal with - but many peoiple don't have that money, and since ther need to go to work to earn enough to live on, then they aren't able to be at home to offer 24/7 care to their elderly relative - who in any case, by the time they get that bad, prolly don't know or care who it is that looks after them.

Personally I'd like to be able to opt out before getting that bad, either physically or mentally.

snapdragon · #9 Post by **snapdragon** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 8:53 pm

a year or more ago when my Mum was 'recovering' from a massive stroke my sister brothers and I were trying to keep her in her own place with nursing care - we hadn't a chance of affording full time care for her between the four of us, we managed to pay between us for her care in a nursing home as she had no house to sell for them to absorb the funds from.

Good on you Gio if you can but for us mere mortals it was an impossibility

tis a bad sad shame that those that paid all their lives have no chance of reaping what they sowed in tax and NI.