
De Beauvoir Town · Hackney
Home Care in De Beauvoir Town
Visiting carers and live-in care for older people in N1, from the villas around De Beauvoir Square to the towers of the De Beauvoir Estate by the Regent's Canal.
Yes, we provide home care in De Beauvoir Town: visiting carers for washing, dressing, meals, medication and company, and live-in care where a full-time carer is needed. De Beauvoir is one of the easier parts of Hackney for us to reach, but visits depend on carer availability, so ring with the address and the times you need. Everything starts with a free assessment at home and a written care plan.
Where De Beauvoir Town begins and ends
De Beauvoir is a compact square of streets: Balls Pond Road along the top, Kingsland Road down the east side, the Regent's Canal along the bottom and Southgate Road on the west. Southgate Road is also the border with Islington, which matters because the council that assesses and funds care is the one where the person lives.
Villas, towers and the canal basin
The northern half is the De Beauvoir most people picture: De Beauvoir Square, the only one built of the squares planned for the estate in the 1820s, and the streets running off it, such as Northchurch Road, Englefield Road and Culford Road. These are tall Victorian villas, most of them now divided into flats. For an older person on an upper floor, that usually means a long, steep shared staircase, a narrow landing and a small bathroom with a bath. The assessment looks at where a frame can go and whether bathing is still safe.
South of Downham Road the feel changes. The De Beauvoir Estate went up in the late 1960s on land west of Kingsland Basin that had been full of small factories, and was completed in 1971: tower blocks alongside long runs of low-rise maisonettes. In a tower, a working lift decides whether someone can get out; in a maisonette, the bedroom and bathroom are often up an internal staircase.
Around Kingsland Basin, the newer canal-side blocks have lifts, level floors and wider doors, which makes wheelchairs, hoists and walk-in showers far simpler.
How do carers get to De Beauvoir Town from Lewisham?
There is no station inside De Beauvoir itself. Our carers take a short Southeastern hop from Lewisham to New Cross, then the Overground Windrush line straight up to Haggerston, just over the canal on Kingsland Road, or to Dalston Junction at the north-east corner. The whole trip is roughly 40 minutes. Buses on Kingsland Road and the 38 on Balls Pond Road cover the rest.
De Beauvoir is Hackney's parking zone H, listed as Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 6.30pm, so weekday drivers need a permit or voucher; weekend family visits are easier. The council's parking zone list has the details.
What we can do in a De Beauvoir home
The local GP and the hospital
The neighbourhood's own practice is De Beauvoir Surgery at 30 Hertford Road, N1 5QT. Carers can collect repeat prescriptions and walk someone to appointments.
For hospital stays, De Beauvoir residents mostly go to Homerton University Hospital in E9. If someone will need care when they come home, Hackney Adult Social Care plans the discharge with the hospital, often through a short period of reablement first. Call us while the date is still being set.
How do I get Hackney Council to assess a parent in De Beauvoir?
A son or daughter can ask on a parent's behalf. Use the council's request for adult social care support online, or phone Adult Social Care on 020 8356 6262. The council phones first and visits if it needs to, and says it aims to finish assessments within 28 days.
If the council finds care needs, a financial assessment decides who pays. The NHS explains that people with savings over the upper capital limit of £23,250 usually fund their own care. We quote in writing after our free assessment. Our Hackney home care page covers direct payments and NHS Continuing Healthcare.
Live-in care. A live-in carer needs a bedroom of their own. The larger villa flats and the canal-side two-bedroom flats can often provide one; a one-bedroom tower flat usually cannot, and visits are the better fit there.
Respite. Family carers can get help asking for a carer's assessment from the City & Hackney Carers Centre at the Marie Lloyd Centre, Queensbridge Road, east across Kingsland Road. We can cover a regular afternoon off or a fortnight away; see respite care in Hackney.
What we can help with in De Beauvoir Town
- 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 Hackney
Home care pages for other parts of Hackney:
Our services
How we can help in Hackney
From a few visits a week to a carer who lives in, choose the support that fits.
Visiting care in Hackney
Regular visits for personal care, medication, meals and company.
Read more →Live-in care in Hackney
A carer who lives in, for one person or a couple.
Read more →Respite care in Hackney
Cover so a family carer can rest, recover or go away.
Read more →Supported living in Hackney
Our homes in Whitton, Kingston and Uxbridge.
Read more →De Beauvoir Town FAQs
De Beauvoir Town: your questions
Questions families ask us about De Beauvoir Town. If yours is not here, ask us directly.
Ask a questionMum lives on Southgate Road. Which council do we contact?
It depends which side of the road she is on, because the borough boundary runs along it: the De Beauvoir side is Hackney, the far side is Islington. Her council tax bill will settle it. We cover both boroughs, but the needs assessment has to come from her own council.
Dad's maisonette on the estate has the bedroom and bathroom upstairs. Can he stay there?
Often, yes, while he can still manage the internal stairs with help. Ask Hackney for an occupational therapy assessment, which might mean a second rail or a stairlift. If the stairs become unsafe, some families move the bed downstairs and use a commode, and the care plan changes to match. We will tell you honestly when we think that point has come.
Her flat is on the top floor of a converted villa and she can no longer manage the bath. What can be done?
Ask Hackney for an occupational therapy assessment, which can lead to equipment such as a bath lift or rails, or a shower adaptation. In the meantime a carer can help with a strip wash at the sink so she stays clean and safe.
Can a carer take my father for a walk along the canal?
Yes. A slow walk on the towpath by Kingsland Basin, or a sit in De Beauvoir Square, is the kind of outing a companionship visit is for, as long as the route suits his mobility.
Nearby
Other areas near De Beauvoir Town

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