How long was he in hospital before he was moved to a Nursing home?
He was in hospital about a month, they tried a few methods of rehab and physio but he wasn't taking to them at all so they had to pull back. If your mum can be encouraged at all to push through the discomfort of that then she really should. The sooner she starts and more she achieves early on, the better her long term recovery can be.
Again I'm sorry for being so miserable, but 84 is a tough time to start relearning stuff like that. My dad was younger and didn't manage any rehab. That said he was becoming quite frail and weak in the year between his heart attack and his stroke.
I know you're in Ireland Phil, so different health service over there, but how was the Nursing home funded?
Yeah different system, but most likely the same fundamentals.
Apologies for going into business mode and ignoring the more important aspect (your mum's health) for a second but I've been through the exact same and sadly a pragmatic approach is needed. I'd be absolutely fuming if my life's savings were stripped to fund my nursing care while those who never worked in their life get it free! My poor dad was disgusted to know how much the home cost too.
In Ireland if you need nursing home care, there is a means tested support scheme. However because my dad had sold the remains of his farm a few years back, he was pretty flush, a few hundred k in the bank.
If he had applied to the support scheme, they'd have taken a percentage of his house value for the first 3 years, and a percentage of his cash savings for the rest of his days. Basically within about 5-6 years they'd have stripped him back to broke. He'd have been left with about 60% of the value of his house (so about €50k) and the house would have been unsellable until after the 3 years and due to the condition of it, it would have sat empty.
He could transfer his assets and then apply, but they would go back 5 years to look for "deprivation of assets".
The other solution that I figured out (I love loopholes) was that if dad transferred his house and savings into our names (2 sons) then we could pay for his care privately for the first 5 years, then after that time he could apply for support and would escape the 5 year back track of his finances.
The home costs about €50k a year, but by writing off a lot of that and claiming tax relief it brings the cost down to about €35k a year so €17.5k each).
So after a few weeks when it became clear that he was going to pull through but need nursing care, I had the thoroughly morbid job of making a risk assessment and deciding which option to go for. If dad survived less than 3 years then going straight into the scheme would cost less. If he lived beyond 3 years then the asset deprivation would cost less.
I'm kind the practical one in the family so I figured that out, got his bank manager, doctor and solicitor together to do the necessary POA paperwork etc and grant me full control of his finances. We (it sounds horrible) stripped his assets bare and started paying for his care privately.
So in your situation, I'd suggest speaking to an accountant or tax advisor. Solicitors in my experience aren't much use in this as they won't (or legally can't) give financial advice. Maybe that's harsh, but it was true in my case, and that of a friend who almost lost her family farm due to her solicitor not advising on it.
I did a lot of research and then spoke to my accountant who fact checked my findings and gave an estimate on the tax relief etc in order to help with my calculated decision.
An accountant should be able to tell you the legislation and the tax relief options (I think it's 7 years in the UK as opposed to 5).