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Definition of care home, hospital and hospice
A care home is defined (Scottish Adult DLA regs, reg. 2 and Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010, Schedule 12, para.2) as a service which provides accommodation together with any of the following:
- nursing care
- personal care
- personal support
The service should be provided to the individual because of their vulnerability and needs. This definition of care home does not include hospitals or hospices.
It might not always be clear if the place where the individual is living is a care home. The key to this definition is if the accommodation is linked to the care they receive (Scottish Adult DLA regs, reg. 2).
Situations such as retirement or sheltered housing are similar but are not defined as care homes. The individual may have their tenancy paid for separately to the care or services they receive. Case managers should consider this on an individual basis.
Example: accommodation which is not considered to be a care home
Mary is 78 and has an award of Scottish Adult DLA. She has recently moved into retirement housing. This is sometimes known as sheltered housing. Mary’s accommodation has a communal area, a 24-hour emergency alarm system and a warden.
However, Mary does not receive support with her nursing or personal care, meals or help with daily tasks. Mary lives independently in her retirement housing but has the comfort of knowing there is an alarm system during an emergency.
The case manager determines that Mary’s accommodation does not meet the definition of a care home. This means that Mary’s accommodation is not taken into consideration when making a determination of entitlement to Scottish Adult DLA.
A hospital is an institution or establishment for the care of the sick or wounded, or of those who require medical treatment. Any reference to hospital in this chapter can also refer to similar institutions such as:
- rehabilitation centres
- addiction clinics
For purposes of Special Rules for Terminal Illness cases only, a hospice is a palliative care institution that isn’t publicly funded and whose main function is to provide palliative end of life care for people suffering from a progressive disease at the final stages. A hospice is a separate organisation to a hospital. For more information on how Scottish Adult DLA entitlement is affected by terminal illness, see the Special Rules for Terminal Illness chapter. Where a person is in a hospice but is not terminally ill, they are treated as though they are in hospital for the purposes of payment of their Scottish Adult DLA (Scottish Adult DLA regs, reg. 24(2))
If an individual is resident or a patient in a care home (Scottish Adult DLA regs, reg 22), hospital (Scottish Adult DLA regs, reg 23), or similar institution outside of the common travel area, it could affect their ability to satisfy the ordinary and habitual residence requirements for Scottish Adult DLA. This will depend on their overall circumstances and how long they will remain outside of the common travel area (Scottish Adult DLA regs, reg. 10(d) and (e)). An individual can be absent from the common travel area for any reason for up to 13 weeks, or up to 26 weeks where the absence is for medical treatment (Scottish Adult DLA regs, reg 11(1)). The common travel area comprises the UK, the whole of the island of Ireland (including the Republic of Ireland), the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. For more information about residence and presence, please see the residence and presence chapter.
Case managers should be aware that temporary absence from the common travel area could impact upon an individual’s entitlement to Scottish Adult DLA. They will have to consider the potential impact in all cases involving time periods spent in a care home, hospital or similar institution outside of the common travel area. For more information on this and temporary absences from the common travel area, see the residence and presence chapter.