Hillingdon · West London
Home Care in Hillingdon
Personal care, medication support and company at home from Northwood and Harefield down to Hayes, West Drayton and Harlington, with an honest word about distance.
Yes, we can provide home care in Hillingdon, but how depends on where you live in it. Our office is on Lewisham High Street, so regular visiting care here relies on having a carer who can reach your address, and we will tell you plainly whether we do. Across most of the borough the dependable route is a live-in carer, and every arrangement starts with a free home assessment and a written care plan.
Can a Lewisham agency really send visiting carers to Hillingdon?
Sometimes, and we would sooner say so up front. From SE13, the DLR and the Elizabeth line reach Hayes and Harlington in roughly an hour to an hour and ten minutes door to door, and West Drayton in about seventy minutes. Uxbridge, Ruislip, Northwood and Harefield take an hour and a half or more. Three calls a day across that distance is not something an agency in south-east London should promise.
So we treat visiting care in Hillingdon case by case. The Elizabeth line side of the borough, around Hayes, Harlington, Yiewsley and West Drayton, is the most reachable part for us. Further north, a live-in carer who moves in is usually the arrangement that holds up week after week. Ring us with your postcode and the pattern of help you need, and we will say whether we can staff it before anything is agreed.
We have no office or local team in Hillingdon. What we do have in the borough is one of our supported living homes, in Uxbridge.
Two boroughs in one: Metroland in the north, Heathrow in the south
Hillingdon is London's second-largest borough, running from the Hertfordshire border down to the airport, and arranging care in Ruislip is a different job from arranging it in Hayes.
- Ruislip, Eastcote, Ickenham and Northwood are largely 1920s and 1930s Metroland: semi-detached and detached houses with gardens and, very often, a spare bedroom. Downstairs there is usually room for a wet room or a stairlift run, but the staircase is usually the sticking point.
- Harefield is a village surrounded by the Colne Valley and Green Belt, with cottages, post-war council houses and no railway station, so anyone visiting relies on a car or the bus from Uxbridge.
- Hayes, Yiewsley, West Drayton and Harlington have more terraces, council estates and new blocks of flats near the Elizabeth line stations, with aircraft noise as part of daily life.
Bungalows and sheltered housing are more common here than in inner London, which helps with hoists and wheelchairs. We check stairs, bathroom and access at the assessment.
What a visit can cover
Where we can staff visiting care, a carer can help with:
- Washing, dressing and continence care
- Medication prompts and support
- Meals, shopping and housework
- Companionship and outings
- Sit-in cover for a family carer
- Dementia care
Our CQC registration covers personal care, and our specialisms include dementia, physical disabilities and sensory impairments. We are registered but have not yet been inspected, so we have no CQC rating.
How do I get a care assessment from Hillingdon Council?
Hillingdon's front door for adult social care is Hillingdon Social Care Direct. You can fill in the council's online apply for care and support form yourself, or phone 01895 556633 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm) or email socialcaredirect@hillingdon.gov.uk. Family members and professionals can refer someone too, as long as that person agrees or a best-interests decision has been made. For emergencies out of hours the council's number is 01895 250111. The council explains the process on its applying for social care page.
If the council agrees you have eligible needs, it carries out a financial assessment and may offer a personal budget. In Hillingdon a direct payment is loaded onto a pre-paid card, which you can then use to pay a registered provider of your choice. If you pay privately, we give you a written quote after the assessment. Our guide to paying for care in London covers the means test and NHS Continuing Healthcare.
Coming home from Hillingdon Hospital? The hospital on Pield Heath Road is the borough's only A&E and its main discharge point, and it is due to be rebuilt on the same site, with first patients in the new building expected around 2032. Call us while discharge is still being planned, not on the day, so we can tell you honestly whether we can cover it. See how our hospital discharge support works.
Other hospitals Hillingdon residents come home from
Mount Vernon Hospital in Northwood handles planned surgery, outpatients and a minor injuries unit, and hosts the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre and Michael Sobell House, the inpatient hospice run by Harlington Hospice. Harefield Hospital, the specialist heart and lung hospital on Hill End Road, discharges people after cardiac surgery and transplants. Some Eastcote residents use Northwick Park in Harrow, and some on the Heathrow side West Middlesex. Health services here sit under NHS North West London Integrated Care Board, and CNWL runs the district nursing service for housebound adults, which works alongside home carers on dressings and injections.
For someone nearing the end of life, Harlington Hospice runs a 24/7 clinical advice line for Hillingdon (020 3824 1268). Our palliative care page explains how we support people at home alongside hospice and district nursing teams.
Parking for carers, and Hillingdon's Brown Badge
Most residential streets in Hillingdon are free to park on. The exceptions are the Parking Management Schemes near stations and town centres, including Uxbridge, Ruislip and Hayes and the roads around Hillingdon Hospital, where resident bays usually apply Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. If you live in one, the council issues carers' permits and visitor vouchers through its parking permits service (01895 250633). Residents over 65 can also apply for the council's free Brown Badge, which unlocks dedicated bays on the street and in council car parks near the exits (you still pay the parking charge). It makes a trip to the shops with a carer that bit easier.
Support around the visits
- Age UK Hillingdon, Harrow and Brent, based at Townfield Community Centre in Hayes (020 8756 3040), runs Ageing Well clubs, Good Neighbours and advice on benefits and lasting powers of attorney.
- The council's Dementia Resource Centre at Grassy Meadow Court on Grange Road, Hayes, offers day places for people with a dementia diagnosis, agreed by a social worker.
- Free council dementia groups meet in libraries including Botwell Green, Ruislip Manor, Northwood Hills and Harefield.
What we can help with in Hillingdon
- 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 Hillingdon we cover
Care across the borough, including these neighbourhoods. Each has its own page with local detail.
Our services
How we can help in Hillingdon
From a few visits a week to a carer who lives in, choose the support that fits.
Hillingdon FAQs
Home care in Hillingdon: what families ask
Questions families ask us about Hillingdon. If yours is not here, ask us directly.
Ask a questionMy mother lives in Ruislip. Can you do three visits a day?
Possibly, but we will only say yes if we have a carer who can reliably get there, and Ruislip is a long way from our Lewisham office. If we cannot staff regular visits, a live-in carer is the arrangement we can stand behind, and most Ruislip houses have the spare room it needs.
Is visiting care easier to arrange in Hayes than in Northwood?
Generally yes. Hayes and Harlington and West Drayton are on the Elizabeth line, which runs direct from Canary Wharf, so they are the most reachable parts of the borough for us. Northwood and Harefield are the hardest. Either way, ask with your postcode.
Dad has a Hillingdon direct payment on a pre-paid card. Can he use it with you?
Usually, if the care we provide meets the needs set out in his support plan. Check with his social worker or Social Care Direct if you are unsure, then call us to arrange the assessment.
Our carer would need to park outside a house near Uxbridge station. Is that a problem?
It can be during the Parking Management Scheme hours. The council's carers' permits and visitor vouchers exist for exactly this, so apply through the permits service before care starts.
Do you cover Harefield, with no station?
We cover all of Hillingdon, including Harefield, but visiting care there is the hardest to staff from Lewisham. Live-in care is often the most workable option in the village.
Get started
Looking for care in Hillingdon?
Tell us what is happening and we will tell you honestly whether we can help, and how.