Home Care in Golders Green, NW11

Yes, JNP Sidona provides home care in Golders Green. We begin with a free home assessment and a written care plan, then arrange a live-in carer or, where we have a carer free for the hours you need, visiting care. Golders Green is roughly 50 to 60 minutes from our Lewisham office, so live-in care is always possible and visits are decided address by address.

Can a home carer keep a kosher kitchen?

Yes, if we are told how the kitchen works. Golders Green has been a centre of Jewish life in London since the early 20th century, and in many NW11 homes the kitchen has rules a new carer could break on the first morning without meaning to: separate sinks, cloths and utensils for meat and milk, the waiting time between them, food that only comes from certain shops on Golders Green Road. We ask the family to walk us through it at the assessment. It then goes into the care plan in writing, so it does not depend on one carer remembering.

The same goes for Shabbat and festivals: which lights stay on, whether food is prepared in advance and kept warm, whether the person wants to get to shul and how. Planning care around these is part of the job, and a live-in carer who is there every day learns the household's routine far better than a rota of visitors.

Mansion flats, semis and sheltered flats

The suburb grew up after the Tube station opened in 1907, so most of its houses are Edwardian or 1920s semis and terraces, with the bathroom upstairs and a garden behind. Along Finchley Road and Golders Green Road there are red-brick mansion blocks. Some have lifts and some do not, and that matters when you are bringing in a wheelchair or a hospital bed, or when the person can no longer manage steps. There are also purpose-built sheltered flats, where a warden or alarm service may already be in place and our visits fit around it.

Hampstead Garden Suburb begins just to the east. If the house is there, remember that a ramp or rail on the outside needs consent from the Suburb's Trust.

Getting to NW11, and parking once here

Golders Green station, on the Edgware branch of the Northern line, has a large bus station beside it served by routes including the 13, 83, 102, 210, 268 and 460, and the H2 and H3 that loop through Hampstead Garden Suburb. For a carer that makes the area easy to move around once they arrive. The streets near the station and town centre are covered by controlled parking zones, so if a carer will drive, apply to Barnet Council for a Carer's Parking Permit for your address before visits begin.

After a stay at the Royal Free

The Royal Free Hospital on Pond Street is the usual acute hospital for Golders Green, on the far side of Hampstead Heath. If a parent is on a ward and the team mentions care at home, call us as soon as discharge is discussed, so we can tell you whether we can cover visits or need to arrange a live-in carer. Read about our hospital discharge support.

Short breaks for the family

If you look after a parent yourself, our respite care can cover a week away or a regular afternoon off, with a live-in carer or a sit-in. Barnet Carers in North Finchley carries out carers' assessments, and Age UK Barnet runs dementia day sessions in East Finchley and Hendon.

Help with the cost through Barnet Council

Golders Green is in Barnet, so assessments go through Social Care Direct on 020 8359 5000. The council means-tests what you pay, can give you the money as a direct payment to use with an agency you choose, and NHS Continuing Healthcare may apply where needs are mainly medical. We quote in writing after our own assessment. Our Barnet home care page has the detail.

What we can help with in Golders 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