Home Care and Live-in Care in Roehampton, SW15

Yes, we provide care in Roehampton, and live-in care is the most reliable way we can do it. Roehampton is more than an hour from our Lewisham office by public transport, so regular visits are only possible when we have a carer living close by; ask and we will tell you straight. We start with a free assessment at home.

Is live-in care the realistic option in Roehampton?

In most cases, yes. Roehampton has no Tube or railway station of its own; the nearest are Barnes and Putney, and everything else depends on buses. A visiting carer who has to cross London for a half-hour morning call is a carer who will sometimes be late. A live-in carer removes that problem: they live in the home, have their own bedroom and a daily break, and are there for the morning wash, meals, medication, the evening routine and the night.

Live-in care needs a spare bedroom. The older houses of Roehampton Village and around Roehampton Lane often have one. On the estate it depends on the flat, and we look at it during the assessment.

The Alton Estate: slab blocks, towers and maisonettes

The Alton Estate, built by the London County Council in the 1950s between Roehampton Lane and Richmond Park, is one of the largest council estates in the country. Alton East has a softer, Scandinavian-influenced style; Alton West is its concrete counterpart, with five long slab blocks on Highcliffe Drive, modelled on Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation and now listed Grade II*. There are also point blocks and low-rise houses, and much of the estate sits in conservation areas.

Caring for someone on the estate brings its own questions:

• Lifts. A flat several floors up is fine until the lift is out of service. We ask what happens then, and whether the person could manage the stairs or would be stuck at home, and plan visits and shopping with that in mind.
• Maisonettes. Many of the slab-block homes are maisonettes on two floors, so there is a staircase inside the flat as well as the one outside it. Bathrooms are often on the upper level.
• Parking. Estate roads run their own parking rules, and council visitor permits do not work on them.

Queen Mary's Hospital, on your doorstep

Roehampton has its own hospital. Queen Mary's Hospital on Roehampton Lane is run by St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It has wards and outpatient clinics but is not a major A&E hospital, so an emergency admission usually means St George's in Tooting. The 493 bus links Roehampton with St George's, and the 85 runs to Putney one way and Kingston the other. Queen Mary's is known for its amputee rehabilitation service, and for someone coming home after limb loss or a long rehabilitation stay, care at home means help with transfers, wheelchair use, skin care and the exercises the therapists have set. See our complex care and hospital discharge pages.

For GP care, the NHS lists the Alton Practice at the corner of Roehampton Lane and Danebury Avenue, and Danebury Avenue Surgery on the estate itself; check which one covers your address on the NHS website.

Arranging council-funded care from Roehampton

Roehampton is part of the London Borough of Wandsworth. Wandsworth's Adult Social Care Access Team on 020 8871 7707 takes referrals on weekdays, 9am to 5pm, and there is an online self-referral form. The council looks at care needs first and money second. If it funds care, a direct payment lets you choose the provider, including a live-in service like ours. Full details are on our home care in Wandsworth page.

Respite for whoever is caring now

If a husband, wife or adult child is doing the caring, a week or two of live-in cover lets them rest without the person they look after moving anywhere. Wandsworth Council offers carer's assessments, and Wandsworth Carers' Centre's respite service can fund a limited number of hours of in-home respite after its own assessment. Our respite care page explains the options.

Services in Roehampton

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

What we can help with in Roehampton

• 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