Quote: Stephen Goodlad @ 18th May 2017, 7:25 AMI have a fick ed this morning.
That's no way to speak of Mr Balls when he has taken the time to pay you a visit.
(Well done, but have no sympathy with the hangover - try sticking your fingers down yer throat. 
)
Chip's been riding a girls bike to work this week. Proudly.
welcome back Chip.
Quote: Will Cam @ 19th May 2017, 10:50 AM
So my 96 year old Mother in law has now had to go into care and it is costing £600 per week, which means the grandchildren will lose a large chunk of their inheritance (I say inheritance, we are talking about £35,000 between 6 of them), but that's not my main concern.
There are 20 residents in the care home, so that's £12,000 a week (WTF) and what I would like to know is WHY does it cost TWELVE THOUSAND POUNDS to look after 20 people EVERY WEEK.
OK, they do get the very best of care etc., but it still seems a bit steep to me...........................what am I missing?
I don't know. There are obvious things like fuel, council tax, food, toiletries etc. etc. Then there 's the wages bill. Maybe they have a high proportion of workers to residents because the residents' needs will be great. If it's a registered charity, you'd probably be able to read their financial returns online, but I don't know what the English system is for that. We have something called OSCR which keeps an eye on all registered charities, mainly so nobody in any organisation can swindle it out of money.
The Scottish system involves talking your elderly loved one up into the Highlands and leaving them to the crows.
Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 19th May 2017, 11:07 AMSo my 96 year old Mother in law has now had to go into care and it is costing £600 per week
Round the clock care means that someone has to take care of them 24/7, and that's a lot of hours every week. Do the calculations and it comes out to £3.50 per hour.
How many staff are on hand at all times? Multiplied by 20, that still only amounts to £70 per hour to be divided among all of them. Then add in costs for housing, food, utilities and all the other assorted expenses and I'm sure that most of the money will disappear very quickly.
Quote: Will Cam @ 19th May 2017, 1:39 PMThe Scottish system involves talking your elderly loved one up into the Highlands and leaving them to the crows.
You've been up here spying, you swine!
Herc, it also occurs to me that you should investigate a bit more. My mother died 10 years ago and had been in a care home for just over 2 years. Because she had slightly less than £12,000 savings, they took a portion of her state pension each month and the local authority subsidised the rest. In the event your mother-in-law's money diminishes to that level, she may be entitled to be subsidised( and the £12,000 threshold may have risen in the last 10 years).
Thank you all. 
This is such an emotive subject and I feel for everyone faced with this predicament
I lost my Father 2 years ago at 86 (and is still tough as I was 'Daddy's girl'), but honestly thought he'd last to 96 at least. I was living in London, but after 2 years there I just thought it might be selfish of me to stay another year while he was on his own in Edinburgh shortly after my Mum died.
Long story short, I moved back to Edinburgh to live with him 4 years ago with all my not inconsiderable 'stuff' (a largish house kinda helped) thinking I could be there for him should he need some assistance given his advanced, but very capable years . . . then all of a sudden, despite my joking with people that he was probably fitter than me, he took a turn for the worse out of the blue and died with me there.
Far from what I expected, it was a shock I am still dealing with daily, but I thought he would, without a doubt, need to go into some kind of care home at some point because I could no longer cope, but I lost him right there at home but at 86 rather than 96.
Point I am making though is, though I miss him dearly every day, I am relieved that A: I was there for him so he could die at home as he always wished, and B: He didn't ever have to go into a care home.
I remember visiting his mother in a care home for years after school . . . and she was always sitting in a chair, in a hallway, like she'd been placed there as an exhibit - and I think that's what made my Dad decide, and later tell me that he would take a 'pill' to end his own life as this was no way for him (and he told me that when I was 15, but I kinda understood).
But every story is different, and people having to consider taking parents into their own homes now? Hell yeah, if they have the room, but it's so difficult if they need care . . . and I was only there to help by picking up the phone in the end to get people to come round and pick him up from the floor in the middle of the night - and that's the last memory I have of us laughing together as me dragging him across the floor, waiting for medics prompted him to say 'if this was being filmed, it would really work as a monty python sketch with a narrative'.
It's never funny, but my family always found ways around dark stuff, so bitter sweet in a lighthearted way, even when I spoke to him on his inflatable bed to make him less uncomfortable and pumped full of morphine, but is nice to remember. And of course my heart goes out to anyone who has to make decisions about their parents . . . especially if they are as stubborn as my Father was.
My washing machine has been struggling to drain and it's getting worse so I'm preparing to unscrew the waste pipe under the sink where it drains in to as I suspect it's clogged. A fairly straightforward job but I'm still nervous. I've been planning for it a lot and think I've got everything I need.
bucket - check
rubber gloves - check
beer - check
Maybe it's safer if I postpone it until tomorrow and replace the beer with tea and coffee.
You have checked the internal filters of the machine first, I take it?
Is this a dish washer or clothes washer?
Quote: billwill @ 19th May 2017, 6:08 PMYou have checked the internal filters of the machine first, I take it?
Is this a dish washer or clothes washer?
It's a clothes washer and nope I've not checked the machine yet as I'm hoping cleaning out the sink waste pipe will sort it. I have a plug trap to stop debris going down the sink but it's useless and always becoming detatched so there is definitely going to be a lot of trapped gunk like rice in the U bend.
If that doesn't fix it I'll then have to open up the washing machine which will require a lot more beer. Should I turn off the water stop tap before pulling out the washing machine?
There is a filter on every machine
It is at the front on the bottom of the machine.
It will look like something you can unscrew.
Put a towel barrier down first because if it's blocked the trapped water will gush out.
Clean the filter and remove foreign objects and if you are lucky, all will be well again