'Moving care homes would kill my mum'

A woman from south-east London says she fears her 98-year-old mother might die if she is forced to move care homes at the request of her council.

Deborah Crisp from Bromley said her mother Betty, who has dementia, had spent almost £200,000 on care, but since her money began to run out, Bromley Council had refused to pay for her to stay at the nursing home she was familiar with.

"It would kill my mum," she said of the potential move. "It would be the death of her."

Bromley Council said options had been considered but "this matter is currently ongoing and we will continue to engage with both the family and the resident".

Mrs Crisp, 66, told BBC London that Betty, who also has hypertension, heart failure and kidney failure, had lived at her current care home in Sidcup for three years.

When her mother went into care, she had to sign over her own home to the council, Mrs Crisp said, and the authority "loaned her the amount of money that they deemed her property to be worth", which was £180,000.

"We honestly thought that there would be enough there for the years that we would need," she continued.

However, Mrs Crisp said when this money started to run out, the council told her the cost of her mother's care home exceeded the amount it would agree to fund.

It advised her she would have to make up the difference in the cost herself or accept moving Betty to a new care home, Mrs Crisp added.

According to correspondence from the council, which BBC London has seen, the difference would amount to roughly £80 extra each week, but Mrs Crisp said she could not afford the increase.

"I'm on a pension, and my husband has Alzheimer's, and he will be self-funding before very long," she explained, adding they were already spending £2,000 a month on daycare for him.

"I can't commit to taking that extra on because, quite frankly, we're going to need it here," she said.

"It is already stressful... all of this battling to get a little bit of help is the last layer of hell."

Mrs Crisp said she had been "bombarded" with calls from Bromley Council about the potential move but added neither of the care home options the authority had suggested were suitable.

She argued one was not secure enough to prevent her mother from wandering off, while the other was rated "inadequate" by the Care Quality Commission.

Mrs Crisp also claimed her mother would experience considerable distress if she had to be moved from her current home.

She said on one occasion, when Betty had needed to attend her doctor's surgery, she was so upset she had to be given medication.

"It's not the amount of money that we don't have; it just matters that she is happy and safe where she is," she added.

A Bromley Council spokesperson said: "There is agreement in place for the resident to remain at the care home where she has been residing whilst we continue to assess the situation.

"Various options have been considered but this matter is currently ongoing and we will continue to engage with both the family and the resident in future discussions."

They added: "Regrettably cases like this are likely to become more commonplace moving forward as a result of inadequate funding for councils care services and increased costs for care providers in terms of national living wage and national insurance increases."

A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: "At the Budget we announced £1.3bn to help councils deliver essential services, of which at least £600m will be for social care, which can be used to address the pressures facing the sector.

"We will soon set out further steps, including providing more stability through multi-year funding settlements, so we can get councils back on their feet."

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