Brook Green Home Care, W6 and W14

Home care in Brook Green is something we can provide, either as visits or with a carer who lives in. Jackie, our registered manager, visits first for a free assessment, and the care plan is written from what she finds. We're based in Lewisham, so regular visits here depend on carer availability; live-in care doesn't, because the carer stays in the house.

The green and the streets around it

Brook Green is a long strip of grass running from Shepherd's Bush Road to Hammersmith Road, a short walk from Hammersmith Broadway. St Paul's Girls' School has stood on it since 1904, Holy Trinity Catholic church faces it, and the Brook Green Hotel sits at the western end. The shops are on Shepherd's Bush Road and Blythe Road, with Olympia to the east. The area straddles two postcodes: W6 on the Hammersmith side and W14 towards Olympia.

The houses are mostly large Victorian and Edwardian ones, many divided into flats, with mansion blocks on the main roads and some council blocks to the north. For care, the useful question is which floor someone lives on. A garden flat with a step-free path is easy for a wheelchair. A top-floor conversion with three flights and no lift becomes a trap once walking gets hard, and is the kind of home where visits work better than live-in care, because there's rarely a spare room.

Is home care free if we live in Brook Green?

Care arranged by the council is. Hammersmith & Fulham has charged nothing for home care since 2015, provided the person meets the eligibility criteria at a Care Act assessment. The council's Adult Social Care office is close by at 145-155 King Street. Call free on 0800 145 6095 on weekdays, or see the council's assessment contacts, which also list specialist teams.

Private care like ours is paid for. We don't publish prices; you get a written quote once we have assessed. Our Hammersmith and Fulham home care page explains how families combine free council visits with private ones.

A GP hub on the doorstep

Brook Green Medical Centre on Bute Gardens is one of the three extended-hours GP hubs the council lists for the borough. It offers GP appointments on weekday evenings from 6.30pm to 8pm and from 8am to 8pm at weekends. You book through your own GP practice or by calling 111. That's useful when a carer notices something on a Friday evening that shouldn't wait until Monday. The council's hospitals and GPs page has the current hours.

Memory problems and dementia

West London NHS Trust runs the borough's Cognitive Impairment and Dementia Service from St Vincent's on Queen Caroline Street, across Hammersmith Broadway from Brook Green. Referral is usually through the GP. Alongside a diagnosis, a family may need someone at home who keeps routines steady: the same face, the same order to the morning, and a sit-in so a husband or wife can get out. That's our dementia care and sit-in service. The Alzheimer's Society also runs dementia advisers and groups for Hammersmith and Fulham.

Hospital, then home

Charing Cross Hospital on Fulham Palace Road is the nearest A&E. The council gives 020 3311 1844 as the number for its hospital assessment team covering Charing Cross and Hammersmith hospitals; ask the ward whether they are involved. Tell us the expected discharge date early so we can visit before, not after.

Living in, or a break for the carer

In a whole house or a large mansion flat with a second bedroom, a live-in carer is often the steadiest option, and it suits couples. Booked for a fortnight, it also works as respite for the husband, wife or child who usually does the caring. Carers Network (020 8960 3033) handles carers' assessments and advice for the borough.

• Personal care
• Dementia care
• Sit-in service
• Live-in care
• Medication support
• Companionship
• Home help
• Respite care
• Complex care
• Palliative care
• Hospital discharge
• Nail care

What we can help with in Brook Green

• 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