Home Care in Rainham, RM13

We do provide home care in Rainham, mainly through live-in care, with a carer living in the home. Rainham is one of the harder parts of London to reach from our Lewisham office, so visiting care is only possible when a carer is available who can make the trip. We'll start with a free home assessment and a written care plan, and we'll tell you honestly what we can cover.

How do carers get to Rainham?

Rainham station is on the c2c line between Fenchurch Street and Grays, with two trains an hour each way off-peak. Buses 103 and 372 stop at the station, the 165 and 287 stop at the war memorial nearby, and the SL12 Superloop stops on Lamson Road on the station's south side. Together they link Rainham with Romford, Elm Park, Hornchurch, Barking and Lakeside. By car, the A13 and the A1306 are the main roads in.

From south-east London, that is a long journey with an infrequent train at the end of it, which is why we rarely promise short daily visits here. A live-in carer travels once, at the start of a placement, and the journey stops being an issue.

Four kinds of home under one postcode

The Rainham post town covers more than the village. Each part has different housing, and that shapes the care.

• The old village. The historic core around the medieval church of St Helen and St Giles is a conservation area, with Georgian Rainham Hall and late-Victorian terraces and semis from when roads were laid out in the 1880s. These homes have narrow stairs and small bathrooms.
• Post-war estates. Council-built houses and flats, a mix of rented and bought. In the flats, the lift and the distance to the door matter as much as the flat itself.
• South Hornchurch. Mostly 1930s semis, which usually have the spare bedroom that live-in care needs.
• Beam Park and the riverside. Since December 2020, people have been moving into new flats built on former Ford land to the west of Rainham. Most blocks have lifts and level access, which helps with wheelchairs and hoists, but visitor parking can be limited.

Support for carers in Rainham

Rainham Library on Celtic Farm Road (RM13 9GP) is one of the regular venues for Havering's carers' service, run by Imago. There is a drop-in upstairs on Friday mornings from 9:30 to 11:30, and a support group on the fourth Friday of each month. You can reach the Havering Carers Support Service on 0300 011 1965. It supports unpaid carers aged 16 and over, and can carry out carers' assessments.

The Avelon Road Centre, one of the council's day services for adults with a learning disability, is also in Rainham. Places go through Havering's Community Learning Disability Team.

What will home care in Rainham cost, and will the council help?

The first step is free: a needs assessment from Havering Adult Social Care. Request one on 01708 432000, through the council's online form, or via gov.uk. If needs are eligible, a means test sets how much your relative pays towards care, and the council funds the rest. Funding can come as a direct payment. NHS Continuing Healthcare is separate, for people whose needs are mainly health needs. We give a written quote once we have assessed what care is needed. Our Havering home care page explains discharges from Queen's Hospital and other borough-wide routes.

Live-in care and respite in RM13

A live-in carer needs a bedroom of their own. In a South Hornchurch semi that is usually the third bedroom. In a two-bedroom Beam Park flat it means the second bedroom has to be free. One carer lives in, helps with personal care, meals, medicines and getting about, takes agreed breaks, and can often support a couple.

For the husband, wife or adult child who does most of the caring, respite care can mean a live-in carer for a week or two at home. It pairs well with the Friday carers' group at Rainham Library, where Imago can talk through a carer's assessment first.

Getting out: the marshes and the Hall

The RSPB's Rainham Marshes reserve is reached by a footbridge just south of the station, and Rainham Hall, built in 1729 and now looked after by the National Trust, is in the village. A companionship outing can be as small as a look at the river, and that still counts.

Services in Rainham

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

What we can help with in Rainham

• 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