Enfield · North London
Home Care in Enfield
We cover Enfield, though visiting carers are hard to arrange here. Enfield is London's northernmost borough and over an hour from our Lewisham office, so visits are only possible when a carer who lives nearby is free. Edmonton is the most likely place for that. Across most of the borough, a live-in carer is the dependable option.
Can a Lewisham care agency send visiting carers to Enfield?
Sometimes. Our only office is on Lewisham High Street in SE13, and Enfield reaches all the way up to the M25. Getting to Edmonton Green takes about 55 to 65 minutes, by DLR or Southeastern into the City and then the Overground Weaver line from Liverpool Street. Enfield Town, Palmers Green and Southgate are 65 to 80 minutes away. Enfield Lock and Cockfosters are further still. By car it is about an hour through the Blackwall Tunnel and along the North Circular, and much longer when the A406 is jammed.
Visiting care is built from short calls at fixed times, often three or four a day, and a round only works when the carer lives within easy reach. We do not have a team based in Enfield. So whether we can offer visits at your address depends on which carers we have available when you ring. Give us the postcode and the times you need and we will give you a straight answer. If visits are not realistic, we will say so and talk you through live-in care in Enfield, where the carer moves in and the journey stops mattering.
What a visiting carer can do
Where we can staff the calls, a visiting carer can help with:
- Washing, dressing and continence care
- Medication prompts and records
- Meals, laundry and tidying
- Company and trips out
- Sitting service
- Dementia care
Nothing starts until Jackie, our registered manager, has carried out a free home assessment. You then get a written care plan setting out what the carer does at each call.
One borough, two kinds of home
Enfield was formed in 1965 from three older boroughs, Southgate, Edmonton and Enfield, and the split still shows in the housing. In the west, in Southgate, Winchmore Hill, Cockfosters and around Enfield Chase, most homes are interwar and Edwardian semis or detached houses with the bedroom and bathroom upstairs. The problems there are usually the stairs and the bath. A stairlift, a level-access shower or a bed moved downstairs often decides how the morning call is planned. Palmers Green and Bush Hill Park have more Edwardian terraces, some split into flats, with steep internal stairs and small bathrooms.
The east is more urban. Edmonton, Ponders End and Enfield Lock have council estates and 1960s and 70s towers, including the Grampian, Mendip and Pennine blocks above Edmonton Green, alongside streets of Victorian terraces. In a tower flat the questions are different: whether the lift is reliable, whether there is room to turn a wheelchair or use a hoist, and how a carer gets in when the person cannot reach the door.
Parking in a controlled zone. Much of Enfield's suburban street parking is uncontrolled, but CPZs cover the town centres, the areas around stations, and the streets near North Middlesex Hospital. Bush Hill Park has one of the older zones. Enfield Council issues carer permits for people who drive to home care visits inside a CPZ. The application needs the care details confirmed by a doctor, district nurse, health visitor or social worker, so start it as soon as care is agreed. The whole borough is also inside the ULEZ.
Does Enfield Council pay for home care?
It may, if a needs assessment finds that the person is eligible for support. A separate financial assessment then decides how much they pay towards it. Request one through the MyLife Enfield online referral form, or call the Single Point of Access on 020 8379 1001 (Monday to Friday) or email adultsocialcare@enfield.gov.uk. Out of hours, the emergency number is 020 8379 1000. The gov.uk needs assessment page for Enfield links straight to the council's form.
If the council agrees a personal budget, you can take it as a direct payment and use it with an agency you choose. Enfield pays them onto a prepaid E-Card, and a second card can be issued to a relative who helps manage the money. If you pay privately, we give you a written quote after the assessment. We do not quote over the phone. Our guide to paying for care covers the means test and NHS Continuing Healthcare.
Coming home from North Middlesex, Barnet or Chase Farm
Which hospital your relative is discharged from depends mostly on which side of the borough they live on. North Middlesex University Hospital, on Sterling Way in Upper Edmonton beside the North Circular, is the main A&E for Edmonton, Ponders End, Enfield Lock and most of the east. Residents of the west, around Cockfosters, Hadley Wood and parts of Southgate, often go to Barnet Hospital on Wellhouse Lane. Chase Farm Hospital on The Ridgeway does planned surgery and has an urgent treatment centre. It has no A&E.
All three are run by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, which also runs Enfield's community health services, including district nursing. A discharge that needs care at home is arranged between the hospital, those community teams and Enfield Adult Social Care. If you would like us to be part of it, call while the ward is still planning the discharge. We need time to check whether we can staff visits at your address or should arrange a live-in carer. See how our hospital discharge support works.
Memory problems and dementia in Enfield
Age UK Enfield's chief executive has described the borough as having the highest level of dementia in London. GPs refer people aged 65 and over to the Enfield Memory Service, run by North London NHS Foundation Trust at the Warwick Centre on the Chase Farm site. After a diagnosis it offers cognitive stimulation therapy and carers' groups led by an Admiral Nurse. Age UK Enfield has Memory Care Navigators and runs the Mabel Churn Centre, a weekday dementia day centre that has moved to The Sunny Road in Brimsdown. Home care can fit around these services, for example a day at the centre and visits from us on other days.
If you have a concern about any local health or care service, including ours, Healthwatch Enfield is there to hear it.
What we can help with in Enfield
- 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 Enfield we cover
Care across the borough, including these neighbourhoods. Each has its own page with local detail.
Our services
How we can help in Enfield
From a few visits a week to a carer who lives in, choose the support that fits.
Enfield FAQs
Asking about home care in Enfield
Questions families ask us about Enfield. If yours is not here, ask us directly.
Ask a questionWhich part of Enfield is easiest for you to reach?
Edmonton. Edmonton Green and Silver Street are on the Overground Weaver line from Liverpool Street, which is the most direct route from Lewisham. Even there, visits depend on whether we have a carer free nearby. Enfield Lock, by the M25, is the furthest point, and live-in care is the practical choice there.
Mum lives in Cockfosters. Is she under Enfield or Barnet council?
It depends on the street, because Cockfosters is split between the two boroughs. Check a recent council tax bill. That tells you which council handles the needs assessment and which carer parking permit applies. Barnet Hospital is the nearest A&E either way.
Dad's flat is on the 15th floor of a tower in Edmonton Green. Can carers still visit?
A tower flat is no barrier, but tell us how the lift and door entry work, and whether there is space for any equipment he needs. If we cannot staff regular visits that far north, a live-in carer needs a spare bedroom, and many tower flats do not have one. We will talk through the options honestly at the assessment.
Can the direct payment on an Enfield E-Card pay for your care?
Yes, if the council has agreed a personal budget and you have chosen a direct payment. We are a CQC-registered agency, so the payment can be used with us. Questions about the card itself go to the social worker or care co-ordinator.
Do you have carers based in Palmers Green or Winchmore Hill?
We have no office or team in Enfield. Whether a carer who lives near Palmers Green or Winchmore Hill is free changes over time, so ring us with the address and the times you need and we will tell you what we can do now.
Get started
Looking for care in Enfield?
Tell us what is happening and we will tell you honestly whether we can help, and how.