Home Care in Maida Vale, W9

Yes, we provide home care in Maida Vale. Live-in care is available anywhere in W9, and visits for personal care, medication and meals are possible when we have a carer free for the times you need, because Maida Vale is around 45 to 55 minutes from our Lewisham office. We start with a free assessment in the flat and a written care plan, and we will tell you plainly what we can staff.

Before care starts in a mansion flat

Maida Vale is mansion block country. Long avenues of red-brick Edwardian blocks run north from the Regent's Canal at Little Venice. The flats are often generous inside. Getting in and out of them is where the problems start.

Here is what we check when we assess in one of these blocks:

• The lift. Original lifts can be small, slow or prone to breaking down, and some blocks have none. We measure whether a wheelchair, a hospital bed or a hoist will physically get to the flat.
• The porter or managing agent. Some blocks have a porter who can let carers in. Others need permission from the managing agent for a key safe on the communal door.
• The communal stairs. These are often wide and well lit, but long. We plan around whether someone can manage them for a hospital appointment or a walk to the canal.
• The bathroom. Period baths with high sides are common. Westminster's occupational therapists can advise on bath lifts, rails or a level-access shower.

Not everyone in W9 lives in a mansion block. There are council blocks towards the Harrow Road and Elgin Avenue too, where the issues are lifts and parking more than period plumbing.

How far is Maida Vale from your office?

Far enough that we are careful about promises. A carer from south-east London takes a Southeastern train into Charing Cross and then the Bakerloo line straight through to Warwick Avenue or Maida Vale station. That is a manageable trip for a daily visit, but it makes very short calls, or several separate visits a day, harder to staff reliably.

Locally, buses 16 and 98 run along Maida Vale itself, the 6 and 187 serve Warwick Avenue, and the 46 links the area with St John's Wood and Paddington. Paid bays are usually limited to four hours, as across Westminster.

NHS and council contacts in W9

GP practices in the area include Maida Vale Medical Centre, at 40 Biddulph Mansions on Elgin Avenue, and the Randolph Surgery at 235a Elgin Avenue. The North Westminster Community Mental Health Hub is on Woodfield Road, W9, and the Westminster Memory Service is a short ride away on Westbourne Park Road. St Mary's Hospital in Paddington is the usual A&E and discharge hospital for W9.

For council-funded care, ask Westminster Adult Social Care for a needs assessment. People First, the information site Westminster shares with Kensington and Chelsea, sets out how to request an assessment in Westminster, by phone on 020 7641 2500 or through the online referral form. A financial assessment follows. Private care is quoted in writing after our own assessment. There is more on the borough-wide process on our home care in Westminster page.

Respite for the person doing the caring

If you are looking after a husband, wife or parent in the flat, you are entitled to a carer's assessment of your own, which People First explains on its carer's assessment page. Carers Network (020 8960 3033) can also carry out carers' assessments in Westminster. For a planned break, a live-in carer can stay for a week or two as respite care.

What we can provide in Maida Vale

• Live-in care
• Personal care
• Dementia care
• Medication support
• Companionship
• Home help
• Sit-in service
• Respite care
• Hospital discharge support
• Complex care
• Palliative care

What we can help with in Maida Vale

• 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