Gidea Park · Havering
Home Care in Gidea Park
Care at home in the Romford Garden Suburb and the roads around it, from Parkway, Meadway and Heath Drive to Main Road, Raphael Park and Squirrels Heath, RM2.
Yes, we cover Gidea Park. The large houses here usually have a spare bedroom, so live-in care is the option we can promise most readily. Visits are possible only when a carer can make the Elizabeth line journey out from Lewisham at the times you need. Either way, we start with a free assessment in the home and a written care plan.
Houses built for an exhibition
Gidea Park is not an ordinary suburb. In 1910 and 1911 the Romford Garden Suburb was built here as a town-planning exhibition: 159 houses and cottages by more than 100 architects, most of them along Parkway, Reed Pond Walk, Meadway and Risebridge Road, with more on the Balgores side in Squirrels Heath Avenue and Balgores Lane. In 1934 and 1935 a second, Modern Homes Exhibition added 35 mostly flat-roofed houses in Heath Drive, Brook Road and Eastern Avenue. Around them are large interwar detached and semi-detached homes.
Homes here often have several floors, generous rooms and long gardens. That suits live-in care well, since there is usually a bedroom free for the carer. It also means stairs, sometimes on more than one level, and bathrooms that were never planned with a frail person in mind.
Can you adapt a house in the Gidea Park conservation area?
Inside, most of what care needs is equipment that comes and goes: a profiling bed in a downstairs room, a commode, grab rails, a shower seat. External changes are different. Gidea Park has been a conservation area since 1970, so ramps, porches and extensions may need planning permission. Seven of the exhibition houses are also listed buildings, including 41 and 43 Heath Drive, 16 and 27 Meadway, 36 and 38 Reed Pond Walk, and the Tecton-designed 64 Heath Drive. For a listed house, even some internal alterations need listed building consent. Talk to Havering's planning team before fitting a stairlift or moving a bathroom, and ask the occupational therapist to factor it in.
Who pays for home care in Gidea Park?
A common first worry is whether the house will have to go. For care in your own home, the council's means test does not count the value of the home you live in. It looks at savings and income. The house only counts if someone moves permanently into a care home. The rules are in the government's Care Act statutory guidance.
To start, ask Havering Adult Social Care for a needs assessment on 01708 432000 or through the council's online form. People with high health needs may qualify for NHS Continuing Healthcare, which is assessed separately. If you are paying privately, we give a written quote after our assessment. More about the council route is on our Havering page.
Raphael Park is on the doorstep. The park's southern gate is on Main Road, beside the lake, with a bandstand a short walk in. A slow loop of the lake and a sit by the water is a real outing for someone who rarely gets out, and it is exactly what a companionship visit or a live-in carer's afternoon can include.
Trains, buses and Gallows Corner
Gidea Park station, about a mile east of Romford town centre, is on the Elizabeth line between Romford and Harold Wood, and it has step-free access to all platforms. Buses 294 and 496 stop there. Drivers come in via the Gallows Corner junction, where the A12, A127 and A118 meet. From Lewisham the trip is the DLR to Stratford, then the Elizabeth line, which takes about an hour.
For hospital care, Gidea Park residents go to Queen's Hospital on the far side of Romford. Many outpatient and community appointments are now held at the St George's Health and Wellbeing Hub on Suttons Lane, Hornchurch.
Live-in care for couples
One live-in carer can support a husband and wife together: full personal care for whoever needs it, and help with meals, laundry and getting out for the other. In a Gidea Park house spread over three floors, the main thing to settle is that the carer's room and both partners' bedrooms are close enough for help at night.
Short breaks at home
When a spouse or daughter is the main carer, respite care can cover a week or a fortnight with a live-in carer. Havering offers carers' assessments, and its carer support page explains how to book one.
Services in Gidea Park
- Live-in care
- Personal care
- Companionship
- Home help
- Medication support
- Sit-in service
- Respite care
- Dementia care
- Complex care
- Palliative care
- Hospital discharge
What we can help with in Gidea Park
- 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 Havering
Home care pages for other parts of Havering:
Our services
How we can help in Havering
From a few visits a week to a carer who lives in, choose the support that fits.
Visiting care in Havering
Regular visits for personal care, medication, meals and company.
Read more →Live-in care in Havering
A carer who lives in, for one person or a couple.
Read more →Respite care in Havering
Cover so a family carer can rest, recover or go away.
Read more →Supported living in Havering
Our homes in Whitton, Kingston and Uxbridge.
Read more →Gidea Park FAQs
Questions from Gidea Park families
Questions families ask us about Gidea Park. If yours is not here, ask us directly.
Ask a questionMum's house is listed. Can we still put in a stairlift?
Possibly, but check with Havering's planning team first, because listed building consent can cover internal work. In the meantime, a bedroom set up on the ground floor often solves the immediate problem, and care can start straight away.
Our address says Romford but we think of it as Gidea Park. Does it matter?
No. Gidea Park is part of Romford and the RM2 postcode, and the whole area is in Havering, so Havering Council is the one to contact for an assessment.
Dad has his outpatient appointments at St George's in Hornchurch. Can a carer go with him?
Yes, if it is part of his care plan. The carer can help him get ready, travel with him to Suttons Lane and stay for the appointment.
The house has three floors. Where would a live-in carer sleep?
In any spare bedroom with a bed and somewhere to keep their things. It helps if the room is on the same floor as, or close to, the person they care for, so we look at the layout during the assessment.
Will we lose the house to pay for care at home?
Not for care in the home. The council's means test leaves out the home you live in when you receive care there. Savings and income are counted.
Get started
Looking for care in Gidea Park?
Tell us what is happening and we will tell you honestly whether we can help, and how.