After getting a place in government care home in Poland the person will have 70 percent of their pension deducted towards the cost of that place and then family is expected to contribute, depending on how much they earn. If needed government pays the rest.

The full price of government care home may be very similar or even higher than the price of the private one though while the standard is lower.

What is also very different about care system here is, no one is at all bothered about so called institutionalisation. If you ever challenged government care home manager why visits are only allowed between 3 and 5pm and one day you came at 2.56pm and you were told to wait outside, you’d be most likely told that the care home IS an institution so it has to be like that.

My mum actually said that people come to visit at any time of the day, they just don’t stay too long if it’s outside of visiting hours.

I realised I overshared with the new care home manager. I didn’t tell her I’m unemployed, I told her that I work in care in the UK and she seemed concerned that I may not have enough money. I was not capable of coming up with any more lies so I told her that mum has savings that we have to spend so that my brother couldn’t get hold of it as it will all go on alcohol. I told her mum was victim of fraud, how much was stolen and how much she still has. Seriously, what for? It was not any of her business.

Now I’m worried she may give us troubles, like putting price up when my mum gets more unwell. However, if she was like that, she could do that to anyone.

I remember she seemed to be a person who’s very good at finding out things about people without asking questions. It made me feel vulnerable. It was new situation and new surroundings for me and I had no ability to filter what was coming out of my mind. Now I really regret it. I wish to have more control of the situation.