Alzheimer’s sufferer faces eviction from care home in funding row

A 69-YEAR-OLD Alzheimer’s sufferer has been served with an eviction notice by her care home after becoming caught up in a funding row.

Widow Irene Mines has been given 28 days to leave Hempstalls Hall, Newcastle, because of an unpaid £5,200 bill for her care.

It follows a long-running row between Mrs Mines’s son, who has been footing his mother’s £2,600-a-month care bill, and Staffordshire County Council over how much her family should be paying.

But after spending £42,770 for his mother’s care, Adrian Mines stopped paying her bill two months ago.

Now the council has agreed to pay for Mrs Mines’s care from May until the matter is resolved.

But that still leaves her facing an eviction date of June 14 because the £5,200 bill remains unpaid.

Mrs Mines had spent 47 years caring for her husband after he had been paralysed in a road accident until his death in February last year.

Adrian, of Basford, said: “My mum never requested social services’ help to look after my dad and she did everything for him for 47 years so dad could maintain his respect and dignity.

“She is a very special lady who devoted everything to my dad and her family. But everybody forgets the history and all of a sudden finance has become everything.

“Evicting her and throwing her into a different care home isn’t going to do her condition any good. She is currently happy and in a known, stable environment.”

UK guidelines mean anyone with savings of more than £23,000, including the value of their home, must pay for care.

Mrs Mines had savings of £10,000 and her son bought his parents’ Werrington home for £60,000 before his dad died.

Father-of-two Mr Mines, an automotive company manager, says he has been waiting more than a year for the council to tell him how much his mum will have to pay for care and for how long.

He added: “Do I just keeping spending until the council tells me otherwise?

“I could have been obstructive at the start and not paid until a figure was sorted out, but I wrongly assumed it would have been sorted sensibly and quickly.”

His healthcare worker wife, Nicola, aged 44, said: “This is making Adrian and myself ill.”

Avery Healthcare, which owns Hempstalls Hall, said: “We have done everything we can to try to rectify the problem.

“We are a business and outstanding amounts of money need to be paid.

“The last thing we want is for one of our residents to be turfed out.”

County council officials say more financial information is needed from Mr Mines before a full assessment can be made.

A spokesman added: “Social services is arranging to temporarily fund the cost of care charges until the matter is resolved.”