THE SERVICES AVAILABLE FOR PERSONS WITH DEMENTIA AND HOW TO USE THEM: FINANCIAL SUPPORT
A whole range of state welfare benefits can be found listed in leaflets and brochures, which are available from the local social security office or very often from a post office. A social worker will also know about them, as will the local office of Age Concern who publish their own booklet. It is surprising how many additional financial resources can be made available, particularly when trying to meet the cost of a nursing home if this becomes essential. These financial supplements include:
Attendance allowance – this is made available to a person who has a physical or mental problem that has required continued attendance for six months at the time when the application is made and where it is expected that this attendance will have to continue. It is paid at two rates, depending upon whether attendance is required by night and/or by day.
Terminal care allowance – it is now accepted that Alzheimer’s disease is a condition for which the terminal care allowance should be available. This will often top up the other allowances available to help pay for private nursing-home care.
Invalid care allowance – if you are below retirement age and spend more than thirty-five hours a week looking after someone receiving an attendance allowance, you can claim the invalid care allowance. The amount involved varies, but a social worker would be able to give advice about this.
There are also means-tested allowances which are paid as a contribution to the cost of care, for instance in a nursing home. If caring at home for a person with dementia has really become impossible then, depending upon the financial resources of the sufferer, it is usually possible to arrange sufficient support to enable all or most of the bills for private care to be met. The provision of social support and accommodation requirements for
Alzheimer’s sufferers will be affected by the government’s adoption of the recommendations of the Griffiths Report. The effects of these recommendations will not become clear until the social services have considered how best to implement them. The report favours giving local authorities more responsibility in the area of long-term care, which seems likely to lead to differences in the provision of care across the country. Guidance can be obtained from the local authority’s social worker, Age Concern, the Citizens Advice Bureau, and other sources such as the Alzheimer’s Disease Society, whose address is one of those given at the end of this book.
There is an enormous amount of support available of many different types. It is impossible to list them all as in so many instances they have arisen in response to local demands. Some of what is available to you will be the same as elsewhere in the country, but there may well be facilities in your area that are different to elsewhere. The key person to advise you should be your general practitioner, although he may refer you to his health visitor or a social worker.
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