Home Care on Shooters Hill, SE18

We provide home care on Shooters Hill, from visiting carers for personal care and medication to a live-in carer for someone who needs help around the clock. The first step is a free assessment at home, which becomes a written care plan. The 89 bus runs from Lewisham, where our office is, along Shooters Hill Road, and the 244 climbs over the top of the hill between Woolwich and Welling, which helps when we are planning visits.

The highest ground in Greenwich

At 132 metres, Shooters Hill is the highest point in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and one of the highest in London. The A207 over the top follows the line of Roman Watling Street, the old road to Dover. Around it are ancient woods, Oxleas Wood and Castle Wood among them, with Severndroog Castle, a 1784 folly, in the trees. Near the summit stands a Gothic-style water tower from 1910.

The hill also crosses a borough boundary. Most of it is in Greenwich, but the eastern end towards Welling is in Bexley. If your council tax goes to Bexley, see our Bexley home care page for the council route there.

Big houses near the top, estates on the slopes

Along Shooters Hill itself and the leafy roads off it, the houses are mostly large interwar and Edwardian homes. That makes live-in care easy to accommodate, since the carer needs a room of their own, and one carer can look after a couple. The difficulty is usually inside: a long staircase, a bathroom at the top, sometimes steps up from the road to the front door. Lower down towards Woolwich, post-war council estates bring flats and maisonettes, where a lift or a set of communal stairs decides how easy it is to get out.

Much of the hill is a long way from shops. There is no station on the hill (the nearest are Welling and Falconwood on the Bexleyheath line, and Woolwich Arsenal), and the gradient puts many walks out of reach for someone with a frame. Our home help and companionship visits can cover shopping, prescriptions and an accompanied trip out, by bus or on foot.

Can I get dementia care at home on Shooters Hill?

Yes. Our dementia care ranges from a daily visit to check on meals and medication to live-in care for someone who should not be on their own. Shooters Hill has one advantage here: the Memorial Hospital on the hill is the base of Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust's Community Mental Health Team for Older People, which works with memory problems and dementia in over-65s. Ask the GP about a referral. Separately, Greenwich Dementia Support, run by South East London Mind, offers advice and support planning to people with dementia and their carers, including a monthly memory cafe.

Parking for visiting carers

Residential roads on Shooters Hill are mostly free of controlled parking, which makes driving between visits simpler than in Woolwich. Where a road is in a controlled zone, the person receiving care can apply for Greenwich's carer parking permit.

Arranging council-funded care

Royal Greenwich's Contact Assessment Team handles needs assessments: phone 020 8921 2304 or use the council's online request form. A financial assessment follows if care is agreed, and the council's contribution can be paid to you as a direct payment to spend with an agency you choose. Family carers can ask for their own carer's assessment through the same team. Our Greenwich home care page covers the borough-wide picture. We quote our own fees in writing after the assessment.

Respite on the hill

If you are caring for a partner or parent and need a break, respite care can mean a live-in carer while you go away, or regular sitting visits. Greenwich Carers Centre, a short bus ride away in Charlton, is the borough's own source of support for carers.

Care services on Shooters Hill

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

Shooters Hill is outside the five areas our nail care visits cover.

What we can help with in Shooters Hill

• 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