Nursing home recommendations?

Have an elderly member who is leaving hospital - they have lived alone for some years and may (or may not) be able to return to living alone. I'm trying to figure out what would be in their best interest ie. nursing home or quite intense support in their own home.

A possible problem with long term nursing home might be that while my relative is quite old they are very lucid and from when I understand that could lead to serious frustration if they are in a minority living their.

On the other hand if they are living at home with an inevitable growing list of physical ailments that could be a serious challenge.

Any advice would be appreciated, finance should not be a major issue as they have a good pension but I would just like to make sure that all the potential avenues are fully explored,

Currently my relative live in Meath.

Roy

The problem here in Ireland though is that private care in the home is very expensive. Basic costs are circa 22 euros an hour. The HSE now refer you to private agencies for care so you will only get very limited help from them and lucky if you get one or two weekly visits from HSE carers.

My mother is in a nursing home in Mulllingar. Half the residents have physical ailments the others Dementa. They do have seperate areas and programs for both so I would not worry about them deteriorating mentally.

I visited knighsbridge nursing home in Trim before settling on the one in Mullingar and found it really really nice. We got good reports of this nursing home from various people we spoke to.

Good luck, it's a tough time

H iello Keano. You say finance should not be a major issue. Have you looked at this aspect in detail/ e.g. Fair Deal Scheme. Has this person other close relatives and should they be consulted. I think its better to do this at the start rather than later when someone might question the course of action taken.

If you run the search option on the main page there are a few previous threads on nursing homes and you may get some info in those.

Thanks Irishmoss - that's very helpful.... Trim would probably be ideal so I'll share that with the rest of the family.

Dewdrop - yes the Fair Deal scheme has been suggested and will be looked at and I think all family members are new to this situation so what we are trying to do is figure out what options are available.

They key person in the whole decision making process has to be the patient and we are very conscious of that.

Roy

The Fair Deal is under review at the moment (as basically I think the funds have run out).

To qualify for Fair Deal one must pass both tests:-

The Care needs assessment &
The financial assessment
So effectively it's the HSE decides if one is entitled to a funded or partially funded place in a nursing home

I am not sure if it is true but I heard that Knightsbridge in one of their wings - has a year long waiting list.

Have you made contact with the social worker in the hospital who's job it is to asses (or arrange for assessment) of the patient and see what help they need and if they can live independantly.