Merton Park · Merton
Home Care in Merton Park, SW19
Visiting care, live-in care and respite for older and disabled people in the John Innes garden suburb, from Dorset Road and Mostyn Road down to Church Lane and Watery Lane.
Yes, we provide home care in Merton Park. Live-in care we can arrange on any street here. Visiting care depends on whether we have a carer free who lives within reach, so we check that before agreeing anything. Either way, it starts with a free home assessment, usually with Jackie, our registered manager.
Can a carer get to Merton Park every day?
We have no base in Merton. From our Lewisham office it is roughly an hour by public transport: train to London Bridge, Northern line to South Wimbledon, then a short walk or bus. Daily visits need a carer living nearer, so ring us and we will tell you plainly what we can staff. If we can't, we will say so and talk through live-in care or respite.
Plane trees, holly hedges and Quartermain houses
Merton Park is one of London's earliest garden suburbs. John Innes bought the land at what was then Lower Merton in 1867, and laid out Dorset Road, Mostyn Road and Sheridan Road in 1870 and 1871, with plane and chestnut avenues and holly hedges marking each plot. His architect was Henry Goodall Quartermain. The council made it the John Innes (Merton Park) Conservation Area in 1968, and its character appraisal is worth reading if you live here.
What matters for care is that Innes built a deliberately mixed suburb: large villas on one road, terraces of small cottages around the corner, such as those at the southern end of Church Lane and on Church Path by St Mary's. A big Edwardian house usually has a spare room for a live-in carer but puts the only bathroom up a long flight of stairs. A cottage may have no spare room at all, and little floor space around the bed or bath if equipment is needed.
The appraisal also describes the area as almost entirely flat, so a wheelchair trip to John Innes Park, once the main approach to Innes's own house on Watery Lane, is a realistic companionship outing.
Leaving hospital? Merton Park sits between St George's in Tooting and St Helier in Carshalton, and patients here can be discharged from either. Merton Council's Hospital to Home Team arranges short-term care and reablement; if longer-term help will be needed, call us while discharge is still being planned. Our hospital discharge support page explains how we fit in.
Trams, buses and parking for carers
Merton Park tram stop, which opened as Lower Merton railway station in 1868, is two stops from Wimbledon (via Dundonald Road), with Morden Road tram stop the next stop east. Buses 152, 163 and 164 stop by Merton Park tram stop, and the 93 and 470 run along Morden Road.
Merton Park has its own controlled parking zones, MP1 to MP4 on the council's CPZ list. A driving carer needs one of your visitor permits, or, if the person cared for is housebound or a Blue Badge holder, Merton's annual carer parking permit.
When visits are not enough
Live-in care
A live-in carer needs a bedroom of their own, which many larger houses on Mostyn Road and Dorset Road can offer. Distance from Lewisham does not matter, because the carer travels once, and one carer can support a couple. More on our live-in care in Merton page.
Respite for family carers
If a family member is doing the caring, we can cover a planned break with a short live-in stay or, where staffing allows, sit-in visits. Carers First runs Merton's carers service on 0300 303 1555 and arranges carers' assessments, which can lead to council help with breaks. See our respite care page.
How do I get Merton Council to assess my mum or dad?
There is no online form. You contact Merton's Adult Social Care First Response Team on 020 8545 4388 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm) or by email at ASCFirstResponse@merton.gov.uk, and the council's needs assessment page sets out what happens next. A financial assessment then decides what you pay, and a council budget can be taken as a direct payment and used with us. Where needs are mainly medical, ask about NHS Continuing Healthcare. We give you a written figure after the free assessment. Our Merton home care page covers the borough-wide detail.
Care we can arrange in Merton Park
What we can help with in Merton 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 Merton
Home care pages for other parts of Merton:
Our services
How we can help in Merton
From a few visits a week to a carer who lives in, choose the support that fits.
Visiting care in Merton
Regular visits for personal care, medication, meals and company.
Read more →Live-in care in Merton
A carer who lives in, for one person or a couple.
Read more →Respite care in Merton
Cover so a family carer can rest, recover or go away.
Read more →Supported living in Merton
Our homes in Whitton, Kingston and Uxbridge.
Read more →Merton Park FAQs
Merton Park questions
Questions families ask us about Merton Park. If yours is not here, ask us directly.
Ask a questionDad lives in one of the small cottages on Church Lane. Is there room for live-in care?
Only if there is a spare bedroom the carer can use as their own, and the smaller cottages often lack one. Then we would look at visiting care, if we can staff it, or short respite stays.
Can a carer take Mum to John Innes Park?
Yes. Accompanied outings are part of companionship care, and the flat streets around Mostyn Road make the park manageable with a wheelchair or walking frame. We write outings into the care plan.
We want a ramp and a level path to the front door. Does the conservation area affect that?
It can. Some changes to the front of houses in the conservation area need planning approval, so speak to Merton's planning team before building anything, or removing part of a holly hedge.
Which tram stop is nearest for a carer?
Merton Park tram stop for Dorset, Sheridan and Mostyn Roads; Morden Road for the eastern side. Both are on the Wimbledon to Croydon line.
My son has a learning disability. Is there supported living near Merton Park?
Merton Council's own supported living service has a site in Merton Park, reached through the council's learning disability team. Our homes are in Kingston upon Thames, Whitton and Uxbridge. Our supported living page for Merton residents explains both routes.
Nearby
Other areas near Merton Park
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