Harold Wood · Havering
Home Care in Harold Wood, RM3
Live-in care, respite and, where a carer can reach you, visiting care for people around Harold Wood station, Gubbins Lane, the Kings Park estate and the roads out towards the M25.
Yes, we provide home care in Harold Wood. Most of it is live-in care, where a carer moves into the spare room, because Harold Wood is over an hour from our Lewisham office and regular visits depend on having a carer free who can make that journey. We begin with a free assessment at home and then write a care plan with you.
Gubbins Lane, the station and Kings Park
Harold Wood grew up around its station, which the Great Eastern Railway opened in 1868. The oldest houses, Victorian and Edwardian, are in the roads close to it, and a few of the early streets are named after Anglo-Saxon kings. Further out the housing becomes interwar semis, and to the east the M25 marks the edge of London, with Brentwood on the other side.
Gubbins Lane runs south from the station. For decades it was home to Harold Wood Hospital, which closed in 2006 when its patients moved to Queen's Hospital in Romford. Most of the site is now the Kings Park estate, with newer houses and flats. Those homes are usually simpler to set up for care than the older houses near the station, which tend to have narrow hallways, steep stairs and one bathroom on the first floor.
The memory service is in Harold Wood
If you are worried about a parent's memory, Harold Wood is where the assessment is likely to happen. The Havering Memory Service, run by NELFT, is at 26 Gubbins Lane (RM3 0QA). It assesses, diagnoses and treats memory problems for people across the borough, and its team includes Admiral Nurses who support families as well as patients. Most referrals come through the GP, who first checks for physical causes.
A diagnosis is often the point at which families start to think about help at home. Our dementia care fits around the plan the memory service puts in place. Familiar routines, the same carer where possible, and help with washing, meals and medicines.
How long does it take a carer to reach Harold Wood?
By public transport from our office, roughly an hour or more: the DLR to Stratford, then the Elizabeth line out past Romford and Gidea Park. Harold Wood station has Elizabeth line trains to Shenfield and into central London, and buses 256, 294, 346 and 496 stop there. The 498 runs along Gubbins Lane to Queen's Hospital. By car, the A12 and A127 run along the edges of Harold Wood.
That journey is fine for a carer moving in. It is much harder to sustain for short morning and evening visits every day. So for visiting care we check carer availability before we agree to anything, and we tell you plainly if we cannot cover it.
Live-in care
With a live-in carer, one person lives in the home and provides care through the day, with agreed breaks. The interwar semis here usually have the spare bedroom this needs. One carer can also support a couple, giving personal care to one partner and lighter help to the other.
Respite for the family carer
Respite at home usually means a live-in carer for a week or two while the main carer rests, goes away or has their own operation. For support alongside that, Havering's carers' service, run by Imago, holds drop-ins close by. They are at Harold Hill Library on Farnham Road on Mondays and at Paines Brook Court on Tuesdays. The Havering Carers Support Service is on 0300 011 1965.
Paying for it. If the council finds eligible needs, a financial assessment decides how much it contributes, and NHS Continuing Healthcare is assessed separately for people whose needs are mainly health needs. For care arranged with us, we give a written quote after our assessment, never a guess over the phone.
Help from Havering Council
Havering Adult Social Care takes requests for a needs assessment on 01708 432000 (9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday) or through its online enquiry form. A relative can make the first contact. The council may suggest a Local Area Coordinator first, for help finding community support before a formal assessment. Our Havering home care page covers funding, direct payments and discharge from Queen's Hospital.
Care we can arrange in Harold Wood
- Live-in care
- Dementia care
- Respite care
- Personal care
- Medication support
- Companionship
- Sit-in service
- Home help
- Complex care
- Palliative care
- Hospital discharge
What we can help with in Harold Wood
- 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 →Harold Wood FAQs
Harold Wood questions
Questions families ask us about Harold Wood. If yours is not here, ask us directly.
Ask a questionDad has been referred to the memory service on Gubbins Lane. Should we wait for the diagnosis before arranging care?
No. If he needs help now, care can start while the assessment is under way. Once the memory service has given a diagnosis and a plan, we update the care plan to match it.
Mum lives in one of the newer houses on the old hospital site. Does that make care easier?
Often it does, because newer homes tend to have a downstairs toilet and more room to move. We still look at the stairs, the bathroom and the bedroom at the assessment, and suggest equipment or an occupational therapy referral if they are needed.
Can a carer take my father to his appointments at Queen's Hospital?
Yes, if it is written into his care plan. A live-in carer can go with him and wait, and help him get ready beforehand.
Is the Elizabeth line enough to make daily visits work?
It helps, but Harold Wood is still a long trip from Lewisham. We only agree to visits when we have a carer whose own journey makes them reliable. Live-in care has no such limit.
Get started
Looking for care in Harold Wood?
Tell us what is happening and we will tell you honestly whether we can help, and how.