Norbury · Croydon
Home Care in Norbury, SW16
Care at home on the Norbury Estate, along London Road and in the streets around Norbury station and Pollards Hill, at the northern tip of Croydon.
We can provide home care in Norbury. Live-in care is available at any address with a spare room. Visiting care, from a morning call to help with washing to an afternoon of company, depends on having a carer free for your times, and we check that before we agree to anything. Every arrangement begins with a free assessment at home, led by our registered manager Jackie or a senior colleague, and a written care plan.
Croydon or Lambeth? Check the address first
SW16 is a shared postcode. Norbury is in the London Borough of Croydon, but head north up London Road towards Streatham Common and you soon cross into Streatham, which is in Lambeth. It matters because the council decides who assesses your relative, who pays toward care and which carers' service supports you. A council tax bill settles it. If the address is in Lambeth, we can still help, but the Croydon route below will not apply.
The cottage estate and the London Road villas
Norbury's most distinctive housing is the Norbury Estate, the first cottage estate the London County Council built outside its own boundary. It was built between 1901 and 1920 on a former brickfield between Northborough Road and Semley Road, and has been a conservation area since 2008. These are Edwardian terraced cottages with front gardens, privet hedges and grass verges. They are pleasant to live in, but rooms are modest, the stairs are narrow and turn, and the bathroom is usually upstairs.
Beyond the estate, Norbury is mostly Edwardian terraces and semis on side roads such as Norbury Avenue and Kensington Avenue, with interwar houses towards Pollards Hill and flats above the shops on London Road. Three things are worth knowing:
- On the cottage estate, external changes such as a ramp, a new front door or a rail by the steps may need agreement first because of the conservation area. Ask the council before ordering anything.
- The semis are often a better fit for live-in care, because there is usually a third bedroom the carer can use.
- Flats over the shops are often reached by a rear staircase, which makes hospital transport and wheelchair access harder.
Trains, buses and the A23
London Road (the A23) is Norbury's spine and the direct line to the borough's main hospital. Norbury station is served by Southern, with trains to Victoria, to London Bridge via Tulse Hill, and to East Croydon. Buses 50, 109 and 255 stop at the station. The 109 then runs straight down London Road, past Thornton Heath Pond, to Croydon University Hospital. The 250 comes through Norbury Hill and Green Lane and also stops at the hospital.
Streets near the station and London Road are in Croydon's Norbury permit zone, so carers who drive need a visitor day permit from the household or a pay-and-display space.
Getting out still counts as care. For someone steady on a rollator, a walk to the London Road shops, Norbury Library on Beatrice Avenue or Norbury Park, with a carer alongside, keeps them part of the neighbourhood. Write it into the plan as companionship time.
How do I get Croydon Council to pay for care in Norbury?
Start with a needs assessment. Croydon Council takes requests through its online referral form, or by phone on 020 8726 6500 for anyone who cannot use the form. If your relative has eligible needs, a means-tested financial assessment works out what they pay toward care and what the council pays. Where needs are mainly health needs, ask the hospital or GP about an NHS Continuing Healthcare assessment. Council funding can be paid as a direct payment, and Kingston Centre for Independent Living runs the direct payment support service for Croydon. We quote in writing after our own assessment. Our guide to paying for care and our Croydon page have more detail.
Live-in care and short breaks
Norbury has no direct rail link to Lewisham, so a carer's journey here usually means changing in central London. For support through the whole day, a live-in carer is the dependable choice. They need their own bedroom. They can look after a couple, and they have proper daily breaks, with cover for their days off. If a family member is the main carer, a live-in carer for a week or two gives them real respite. Croydon Council and Carers First can carry out a carer's assessment for the person who has been doing the caring.
What we can arrange in Norbury
- Live-in care
- Companionship
- Personal care
- Home help
- Medication support
- Sit-in service
- Dementia care
- Respite care
- Hospital discharge support
- Complex care
- Palliative care
- Nail care
What we can help with in Norbury
- 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 Croydon
Home care pages for other parts of Croydon:
Our services
How we can help in Croydon
From a few visits a week to a carer who lives in, choose the support that fits.
Visiting care in Croydon
Regular visits for personal care, medication, meals and company.
Read more →Live-in care in Croydon
A carer who lives in, for one person or a couple.
Read more →Respite care in Croydon
Cover so a family carer can rest, recover or go away.
Read more →Supported living in Croydon
Our homes in Whitton, Kingston and Uxbridge.
Read more →Norbury FAQs
Questions from Norbury families
Questions families ask us about Norbury. If yours is not here, ask us directly.
Ask a questionMy aunt's address says Streatham SW16, not Norbury. Which council do we contact?
Check her council tax bill. If it is from Croydon, use Croydon's adult social care route above. If it is from Lambeth, contact Lambeth. We can provide care on either side of the boundary on the same basis.
She lives in one of the cottages on the Norbury Estate. Is there room for a live-in carer?
Only if there is a second bedroom the carer can have to themselves. Many of the cottages are small, so we look at the layout at the assessment. If live-in care will not fit, we will talk about visits instead.
Can a carer help Dad get to his appointments in Croydon?
Yes, if it is part of his plan. The 109 runs from Norbury station to Croydon University Hospital along London Road, and a carer can travel with him and wait.
Is there a dementia group near Norbury we could use alongside home care?
Age UK Croydon runs the Memory Tree Café, with its nearest weekly session in Thornton Heath on Wednesday afternoons, and Croydon Council runs dementia day services that you reach through 020 8726 6500. Check current times and venues with them. We provide dementia care at home that can fit around a weekly group.
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