Abbey Wood · Greenwich
Home Care in Abbey Wood, SE2
Visits and live-in care for older and disabled people on the Greenwich side of Abbey Wood, from the Co-op cottages of the Bostall Estate to the Abbey Estate flats off Eynsham Drive.
Yes, we provide home care in Abbey Wood: visiting carers for help with washing, dressing, meals and medication, or a live-in carer who moves in. Every arrangement starts with a free assessment at home and a written care plan. Abbey Wood is at the far eastern end of the borough from our Lewisham office, so for visits we will tell you honestly which times we can staff before anything is agreed.
Is Abbey Wood in Greenwich or Bexley?
Both, which matters more than people expect. The name covers streets on either side of the borough boundary, and the station is close to the line. Roughly speaking, the Bostall Estate, Bostall Heath and the Abbey Estate are in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, while Lesnes Abbey and its woods belong to Bexley. The council tax bill settles it. If it says Bexley, the council route is different, and our Bexley home care page explains it.
Two estates, two kinds of home
The Bostall Estate was built by the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society between 1900 and 1930 for working families, with streets named after figures of the co-operative movement. Locals still call it the Co-op Estate. The houses are mostly small two-up, two-down terraces in yellow London brick. For care, that means a narrow, steep staircase, a bathroom upstairs (sometimes added later at the back), and not much room to turn a walking frame. A stairlift or a bed brought down to the front room are the usual answers once the stairs become risky, and the council's occupational therapists can advise on rails and bathing equipment. A two-up, two-down rarely has a spare bedroom, so live-in care here often depends on a box room being cleared.
The Abbey Estate, laid out by the London County Council between 1955 and 1959 on former Royal Arsenal marshland, is a different picture: flats and maisonettes around Eynsham Drive, first let to families moved out from Dockhead, Peckham and the East End. A ground-floor or lift-served flat on one level is easier for a wheelchair or a hoist. A maisonette with internal stairs is the hardest of all to adapt. New flats around the station tend to have lifts and level access.
Bostall Heath and Bostall Woods are on the doorstep. They are part of the South East London Green Chain. A companionship visit can include an accompanied walk there, at whatever pace the person can manage.
Buses straight to Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Abbey Wood station is the south-east end of the Elizabeth line and also has Southeastern trains on the North Kent line. For hospital and clinic appointments the buses are more useful: route 244 runs from Abbey Wood to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, and the 469 also serves the hospital on its way to Erith. The 301, 180 and Superloop SL11 also stop here. A carer can travel with someone to an outpatient appointment as part of a visit if you tell us the time in advance.
Most Abbey Wood patients are admitted to and discharged from Queen Elizabeth Hospital. If the person is coming home and needs help straight away, tell the ward that you want to use an agency. We can assess at home, or talk to you while the person is still in hospital, through our hospital discharge service.
Getting a Greenwich council assessment
Royal Greenwich's Health and Adult Services handles assessments through its Contact Assessment Team at The Woolwich Centre. You can use the council's online ask for support form (get the person's permission first if you are applying for them) or phone 020 8921 2304. If care is agreed, a financial assessment decides what the person pays, and the council's share can be taken as a direct payment and used with an agency such as ours. Our fees are quoted in writing after our own assessment. The wider borough picture, including dementia support and the carers' centre, is on our Greenwich home care page.
Help available in Abbey Wood
- Personal care
- Medication support
- Home help
- Companionship
- Sit-in service
- Live-in care
- Respite care
- Dementia care
- Complex care
- Palliative care
- Hospital discharge
Our nail care visits only cover five areas nearer the office, and Abbey Wood is not one of them.
Respite and live-in care
If a husband, wife or adult child is doing most of the caring, respite can be a regular sitting visit so they can get out, or a live-in carer for a week or two while they rest. Ask Greenwich for a carer's assessment too, through the same Contact Assessment Team. For full-time help, a live-in carer needs a bedroom of their own, and distance from Lewisham makes no difference once they are living in.
What we can help with in Abbey Wood
- Personal care, washing and dressing
- Medication prompting and support
- Meals, laundry and home help
- Companionship and getting out
- Dementia care at home
- Support after a hospital stay
- Short breaks for family carers
- Live-in care when needs grow
Elsewhere in Greenwich
Home care pages for other parts of Greenwich:
Our services
How we can help in Greenwich
From a few visits a week to a carer who lives in, choose the support that fits.
Visiting care in Greenwich
Regular visits for personal care, medication, meals and company.
Read more →Live-in care in Greenwich
A carer who lives in, for one person or a couple.
Read more →Respite care in Greenwich
Cover so a family carer can rest, recover or go away.
Read more →Supported living in Greenwich
Our homes in Whitton, Kingston and Uxbridge.
Read more →Abbey Wood FAQs
Abbey Wood questions
Questions families ask us about Abbey Wood. If yours is not here, ask us directly.
Ask a questionMum's house on the Bostall Estate has very steep stairs. Can she stay there?
Often, yes. We will look at the stairs, the bathroom and the front step at the assessment. A stairlift, extra rails or moving the bed downstairs are all common solutions in these cottages, and the council's occupational therapists can assess for equipment.
Our address says Abbey Wood but our council tax goes to Bexley. Can you still help?
Yes. We cover both boroughs. Only the council route changes: you would ask Bexley for the assessment, not Greenwich.
Can a carer take Dad to his clinic at Queen Elizabeth Hospital on the bus?
Yes, if we know the appointment time. The 244 runs from Abbey Wood to the hospital, and we will plan the visit around the journey and the likely wait.
Dad lives in a maisonette on the Abbey Estate and the stairs inside are getting too much. What can we do?
Ask Royal Greenwich for an occupational therapy assessment, which can lead to rails or a stairlift. If he rents from the council or a housing association, talk to the landlord too, because a move to a ground-floor or lift-served flat may be the longer-term answer. We will look at the stairs during our own assessment and plan visits around them.
Get started
Looking for care in Abbey Wood?
Tell us what is happening and we will tell you honestly whether we can help, and how.