Home Care in Redbridge

Which parts of Redbridge can a visiting carer reach?

Our office is on Lewisham High Street, south of the river. We do not have a base in Redbridge, and we would rather you knew that before you call than after. What decides whether visiting care works is the journey a carer makes, several times a week, in all weathers.

From SE13, Ilford is roughly 45 to 55 minutes by public transport: the DLR to Stratford, then the Elizabeth line. Wanstead and Snaresbrook are about 45 minutes, changing at Stratford for the Central line. That makes the southern and western parts of the borough realistic for regular visits: Ilford town centre, Loxford and Cranbrook in IG1, Seven Kings and Goodmayes in IG3, Wanstead and Snaresbrook in E11, and South Woodford in E18. Gants Hill sits on the Central line too, so it is often workable.

Woodford Green, Woodford Bridge, Barkingside, Fairlop, Clayhall and Hainault are typically 60 to 75 minutes each way, and Clayhall and Woodford Bridge have no station at all. For those areas we will only offer visits if we have a carer who can reach you consistently. If we cannot, live-in care is usually the better answer, because a live-in carer travels once and then stays.

What happens on a visit

A visit is planned around the person, from the written care plan agreed after the assessment. Depending on what is needed, that can include:

• Personal care: washing, showering, dressing, shaving, continence care and help with the toilet
• Medication support, from prompting to assisting, with a record kept each time
• Getting up in the morning or settled into bed at night
• Preparing a meal and making sure it is eaten
• Home help: laundry, changing the bed, keeping the kitchen safe
• Companionship, including a walk in Valentines Park or a trip to the shops on Ilford High Road
• A sit-in so a family carer can go out

Personal care is the activity the CQC registers us for, with dementia, physical disabilities and sensory impairments among our specialisms. Our registration dates from October 2023 and there has been no inspection yet, so there is no rating for you to look up before a Redbridge assessment.

Edwardian stairs in Seven Kings, 1930s semis in Clayhall

Redbridge housing changes as you go north, and it changes the care. The streets around Ilford, Seven Kings and Goodmayes are mostly Edwardian terraces, many built by the developer A. C. Corbett between 1898 and 1910. They tend to have a narrow, steep staircase and the only bathroom upstairs, often with a bath and no level-access shower. When stairs become unsafe, the usual questions are a stairlift, a commode downstairs, or moving a bed into the front room. We can talk these through at the assessment, and the council's Occupational Therapy Team takes its own online referral for advice and equipment.

Gants Hill, Clayhall, Barkingside and Newbury Park are mainly interwar semis, which often have a little more room on the landing and in the bathroom. Central Ilford also has 1960s tower blocks such as Raphael House and Lynton House and newer blocks like Pioneer Point. Lift access matters a great deal there: if the lift is out, the carer needs to know before the visit.

Will the carer be able to park?

Controlled parking zones cover the streets around most stations and Ilford town centre. You can check a specific street on the council's permit parking zones map. Redbridge's essential user permit is restricted to the NHS, fire service, Metropolitan Police and council staff, and the council lists no permit for home care workers. So a carer who drives to you in a CPZ will usually need one of your visitor parking permits or pay-and-display. It is worth sorting out before the first visit.

How do I get a care assessment from Redbridge Council?

Redbridge Adult Social Services carries out Care Act needs assessments. The council says the quickest way to ask for one is its online referral form, which you will find under "Make an adult social care referral" on the Adult Care contact page. If you cannot use the form, phone 020 8708 7333. The assessment is free and available whatever the person's finances, though online referrals are handled as general enquiries, so phone if it is urgent.

Where Redbridge finds eligible needs, its financial assessment works out the council's share and the person's contribution. Redbridge lets that personal budget be taken as a direct payment and used to pay an agency such as ours. If you are paying privately, we give you a written quote after our own assessment. Our guide to paying for care in London covers the means test and NHS Continuing Healthcare.

Help in Redbridge that sits alongside ours

If memory is the worry, the GP can refer to the NHS Redbridge Memory Service, run by NELFT in Newbury Park, for assessment and diagnosis. Age UK Redbridge, Barking and Havering, based on Cranbrook Road in Ilford, runs a Dementia Advice Service for Redbridge residents aged 50 and over and their carers, and offers befriending. Our dementia care page explains how we support people at home. For a family member doing most of the caring, our respite care in Redbridge page covers carer's assessments and breaks.

What we can help with in Redbridge

• 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