For
a personalised search for a care home or care agency tailored to
your precise situation and all the help you need to resolve your
care problem.
Grace Consulting
provides fully independent care advice to help you make the best possible
care decisions.
Information on Overseas is detailed below. Please
note that every individual's situation is unique. For advice
tailored to your specific needs it is suggested you speak
to an Independent Care Adviser. For information on the nationwide
Independent Care
Adviser this site recommends, click
here.
Overseas residents
with dependents in the UK needing care
If you are based overseas and you need to find
care for a family member or other dependent who lives in the
UK, it is particularly difficult to know how best to progress.
A reassuring factor is that the United Kingdom
has good standards of care provision and Government Welfare
departments have well laid
out procedures to implement care. Overseas relatives should
be confident that infrastructure is in place to provide ready
access to an individual's care needs.
However, typical issues still arising might
be:
How do I know what level of care my relative needs?
How do I find out the rules and regulations regarding
care in the UK?
How can I find the care providers in the UK that will
be most suitable for my relative?
What are my relative's statutory rights and entitlements?
To what extent should the State be paying for my relative's
care?
If I or my relative has to fund the care, what is the
best way of doing this?
How can I monitor the care provider I choose and ensure
that the care provided remains relevant and the best available?
Solutions
There are two main sources of help for an overseas
relative in this position:
An Independent Care Adviser (See The
Role of the Independent Care Adviser). Independent Care
Advisers will provide the overseas relative with help and
advice covering all of the issues raised above and will
help find the most suitable care providers matching the
UK dependent's care needs and personal wishes. The Independent
Care Adviser can also provide a sympathetic line of communication
between the relative and the overseas family member and
advise on suitable Financial Advisers where appropriate.
Independent Care Advisers charge a fee for their services.
Charitable Organisations (see Useful
Links). These bodies provide a significant level of
assistance. They can be difficult to co-ordinate where more
than one is involved and the help they provide will be restricted.
If you are
a UK national living overseas wishing to return to the UK
to receive care
A number of nationals of the United Kingdom
choose to move overseas when they retire. It is often the
case that the countries that they retire to do not provide
funded care in old age or that people in due course simply
prefer to return to the UK to be nearer their families. In
these situations, people often return to the UK and need care.
In these situations, the process differs depending
on whether the care is to be funded privately or by Social
Services.
If care is to be funded privately
Most of the information in these circumstances
can be found on the various pages of this site. The complicating
factor in this instance will be the difficulty of finding
and viewing appropriate care providers due to the individual's
distant location. The two solutions are:
Use a UK-based family member or associate to research
and visit care providers to help select a provider matching
the needs and wishes of the overseas resident
Use an Independent Care Adviser to carry out the research
and assist in the selection of a suitable care provider
If care is to be funded by Social Services
In these circumstances, the situation is slightly
more complicated because Social Services will only carry out
assessments inside the UK. The overseas resident as a first
step needs to return to the UK so that a Social Worker can
carry out the appropriate assessments. The standard process
then flows.
The overseas resident will therefore need to
find somewhere to stay in the UK as a temporary measure, such
as with a relative or friend or in a care home on a privately
funded short-stay basis.
However, in all of these cases, as each person's
situation is unique, it is always advisable to discuss individual
circumstances with an expert Independent Care Adviser.
UK nationals
who wish to receive care overseas
Increasingly, UK residents (and UK nationals
already living abroad) are looking overseas for respite care,
convalescent care, short-term breaks with care and retirement
and long-term care.
As long as UK nationals comply with entry regulations
in these overseas locations, this can often be an attractive
proposition if good care facilities are combined with the
benefits that are generally associated with warmer climates.
Freedom of movement within Europe, for example, has led to
Europe becoming an increasingly popular destination for short-term
and long-term care.
As an example of the sort of facilities that
are available, The Care Directory's pages list a number of
facilities in Spain (Care Providers in
Spain) that are appropriate for respite care in Spain,
convalescent stays in Spain, short-term breaks with care in
Spain and care in care homes and care homes with nursing in
Spain.
As always, when contemplating such a move, as
each person's situation is unique, it is always advisable
to discuss individual circumstances with an expert Independent
Care Adviser.
If you require further assistance or
would like to speak to the Independent Care Adviser this site
recommends please call 0800 137 669 or complete the
e-mail enquiry form.
