Barking and Dagenham · East London
Home Care in Barking and Dagenham
Yes, we provide visiting home care in Barking and Dagenham, and the honest version is this: regular visits are most realistic on the western side of the borough, around Barking, Upney and Thames View, and they depend on whether we have a carer available for the times you need. Further east, in Dagenham, Chadwell Heath and Rush Green, a live-in carer is usually the arrangement that works. Every package starts with a free home assessment and a written care plan.
Is Barking and Dagenham close enough for visiting care?
Partly. Our office is on Lewisham High Street, SE13, and we have no office or staff base in this borough. By public transport, Barking is roughly 45 to 55 minutes away: DLR to Canning Town, the Jubilee line to West Ham, then the District, Hammersmith & City or c2c into Barking. Dagenham Heathway, Chadwell Heath and Rush Green take an hour or more. By car it means the Blackwall Tunnel and the A13, which nobody can time reliably at rush hour.
Visiting care runs to a timetable, and a carer who spends two hours travelling for a short morning visit is hard to staff week in, week out. So we will only agree to a visiting package once we know we have someone for those times. Call us with the address and the times you have in mind and we will give you a straight answer. If the answer is no for visits, live-in care in Barking and Dagenham removes the travel problem altogether, because the carer lives in.
Care in a Becontree house: narrow stairs and one bathroom
Much of this borough was built in one go. The Becontree estate, put up by the London County Council between 1921 and 1935, runs from Goodmayes through Becontree and Dagenham to Chadwell Heath: long rows of two-storey cottage terraces and semis around greens. The council's own profile describes one of the lowest proportions of flats in London.
Those houses shape what a home care visit has to deal with. The stairs are typically narrow and steep, and there is one bathroom, upstairs, often with a bath and no level shower. A carer can help with washing and dressing, getting up and going to bed, meals, medication and continence care, but the practical questions usually come first:
- whether a stairlift will fit the staircase, or whether a bed should come downstairs to the front room;
- whether strip washes or a commode are safer than the bath until an occupational therapist has been out;
- whether there is room to use a standing aid or hoist in a small bedroom.
We look at all of this during the home assessment. It is different in Barking town centre and the Gascoigne area, where people live in tower blocks and new high-rise flats. There, a working lift decides whether a hoist, wheelchair or mobility scooter is workable, and we will ask about it.
Parking for carers who visit
Large parts of the Becontree estate have no controlled parking, but the council has been adding controlled parking zones near stations, shopping parades and schools, and Barking town centre is controlled. If you live inside a CPZ and receive home visits, you can apply for a Community and Healthcare parking permit with proof of care needs, such as a GP or NHS letter, or the care component of DLA or PIP. Care agencies have to show they are caring for a borough resident. The details are on the council's parking permits page.
How do I get a care needs assessment in Barking and Dagenham?
Adult social care here is run by the council's Adult Health and Social Care service, and the first contact is the Adult Intake Team: 020 8227 2915 or intaketeam@lbbd.gov.uk (minicom 020 8227 2462). You can request an assessment through the council's assessing your care needs page. If the council finds eligible needs, a financial assessment decides how much it pays, and you can take the money as a direct payment and use it to buy care from an agency such as us. Our guide to paying for care in London explains the means test and NHS Continuing Healthcare. We give you a written quote only after we have assessed the person at home.
Coming home from Queen's or King George? Barking and Dagenham has no A&E of its own. Most Dagenham and Rush Green residents are admitted to Queen's Hospital in Romford, and people near Chadwell Heath, Marks Gate and Becontree are often at King George Hospital in Goodmayes, both run by Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust. Some people in west Barking go to Newham University Hospital. Discharge planning usually involves the ward and the council's Adult Intake Team, and the council also offers short-term reablement after a hospital stay. Ring us while discharge is still being planned, not on the day, so we can tell you whether we can cover it. See our hospital discharge support.
Areas and postcodes we cover
We take enquiries from across the borough, in IG11, RM6, RM7, RM8, RM9 and RM10:
- Barking, Upney and Thames View: the most practical area for visits from Lewisham, close to Barking station and Upney on the District line.
- Barking Riverside: lift-served new flats with level access; check visitor parking with the estate.
- Becontree and Dagenham: around Parsloes Park, Valence Park and the Heathway. Visits depend on availability; live-in care is often the better fit.
- Chadwell Heath and Marks Gate: the north of the borough, on the Elizabeth line or reached by bus.
- Rush Green: the furthest point from our office, with a Romford postal address. In practice this is mainly live-in care territory for us.
Besides personal care, we offer home help, companionship, a sit-in service and dementia care. If what you need is a break as a family carer, see respite care in Barking and Dagenham.
Help in the borough besides us
Age UK Redbridge, Barking & Havering covers the borough. It runs a Care Navigation service for isolated older people and those with long-term conditions, and seniors' activities with St Chad's Church on Eric Road, Chadwell Heath. Carers of Barking and Dagenham, at 334 Heathway, supports the family member doing the caring. We are happy to fit around family and neighbours who already help.
What we can help with in Barking and Dagenham
- 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
Areas of Barking and Dagenham we cover
Care across the borough, including these neighbourhoods. Each has its own page with local detail.
Our services
How we can help in Barking and Dagenham
From a few visits a week to a carer who lives in, choose the support that fits.
Barking and Dagenham FAQs
Home care in Barking and Dagenham: your questions
Questions families ask us about Barking and Dagenham. If yours is not here, ask us directly.
Ask a questionCan you send a carer to my mother in Dagenham every morning?
Possibly, but we will not promise it until we have checked. Daily visits to Dagenham mean a long journey from Lewisham for each carer, so it comes down to whether we have someone available for those times. Give us the address and the times and we will tell you plainly. If we cannot staff it, live-in care may suit her better.
Dad's bathroom is upstairs and he can't manage the stairs. What happens?
Becontree estate houses usually have their only bathroom upstairs, so this is a familiar problem. In the short term a carer can help with strip washes and a commode downstairs. For the longer term, ask the council's Adult Intake Team about an occupational therapy assessment for equipment such as a stairlift or bathing aids. We will plan the care around whatever is put in.
My aunt lives in a tower block in Barking and the lift is often broken. Can you still help?
Usually, yes, for personal care that a carer can do on foot. It matters more if she needs a hoist or a wheelchair to leave the flat. Tell us at the assessment, report lift faults to the landlord, and we will plan around the risk.
Do carers need a parking permit to visit in Barking and Dagenham?
Only if you live inside a controlled parking zone. If you do, you can apply for a Community and Healthcare permit with proof of care needs. Many Becontree streets have no CPZ, but Barking town centre is controlled.
Can a direct payment from Barking and Dagenham Council pay for your care?
Yes. Once the council has assessed someone as eligible, the money can be paid as a direct payment and used to buy care from us. The council's Direct Payment Support Service, run by Empower, helps people manage it, and you are normally referred there by the social worker.
Get started
Looking for care in Barking and Dagenham?
Tell us what is happening and we will tell you honestly whether we can help, and how.