Care home costs for someone who has been hospitalised: FOI release

Information requested

Please can you tell me what are the charges that a care home would receive if they sent a patient to hospital after a fall?

Response

The National Assistance (Assessment of Resources) Regulations 1992 and associated Charging for Residential Accommodation Guidance (CRAG), provide the framework for local authorities to charge for the residential care that they provide or arrange.

When a person lives in residential care they may have to pay towards their care and support costs which includes their living and accommodation costs. Some people who are eligible for personal and/or nursing care will not be charged for these services and the payment for these services are usually paid directly to the care home by the local authority. The current rate for free personal care is £180 and nursing rate is £81 per week.

If a person living in a care home has had a fall and has had to go into hospital, if they contribute to their care home costs, they will continue to do so during their hospital stay.

If the person is in receipt of personal and/or nursing care payments, these will stop once the person has been in hospital for 14 consecutive days. The reason for this being, if a person is temporarily absent from the care home for example, in hospital for more than 14 days they are receiving this personal and nursing care from another service. When a person returns to their care home either the family or care home should notify the local authority so arrangements are put in place for free personal and/or nursing care payments to re-commence.

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