Well where possible, the person would have to return to where they had been living. I think it would depend upon the circumstances. I haven't worked in the NHS for some time but I did see some nasty situations where Mum (it usually was Mum) had moved in with the kids and put the cash from her house into their house and then after a hospital stay suddenly the family "couldn't cope" I think (although I never saw it come to it) that where there was any suggestion of of a mental competency issue, then the receivers of the gift could have legal action taken against them.....but as I said, in practice highly unlikely because the peron in hospital must have been living somewhere....so either they have got assets to pay rent with or they have a "home address" even if they don't own it. If they had put money into where they live, then its arguable that they have equity in that even if the money was intended as a gift and it may therefore be possible to put a lien on that property to recover that equity when its sold. I don't know about the legality of it. I do know that councils, as stewards of public money, do have a duty to recover such expenditure where they can and even more so as public funding gets tighter.