Home Care in Shortlands

Starting small after a diagnosis

Home care does not have to start with a crisis. In Shortlands, as everywhere, care often begins with one or two visits a week: shopping, a meal, a check that tablets are being taken. It builds to daily personal care as needs change. That works especially well after a diagnosis of dementia, because the person gets to know a regular carer while they can still say what they like and dislike.

If you are worried about memory but there is no diagnosis yet, start with the GP. In Bromley, Oxleas' Older Adults Memory Service at Bridgeways on Turpington Lane does the assessment, on GP referral. Once a diagnosis comes, a short ride on the 227 takes you to Community House by Bromley North, home of the borough's dementia hub and its Friday café.

A Victorian village grown around its station

Shortlands takes its name from Shortlands House, built in the early eighteenth century, and grew once its station opened in 1858. Houses went up from the 1860s, much of Westmoreland Road dates from the 1880s, and the twentieth century filled in the rest. The old centre is the Shortlands Village conservation area, with W. D. Caröe's Celtic cross war memorial of 1921 at the central junction.

The 2021 Census shows a mixed place. In Shortlands & Park Langley ward, about a third of households live in purpose-built flats, a quarter in detached houses, and more than one in five rent privately. Just under one resident in five is 65 or over, and 908 households were one person aged 66 or more living alone. Older houses bring the usual questions: a bathroom up a full flight, a front step or two, narrow hallways. In a flat, a shared staircase without a lift matters just as much. We look at access, bathing and the route in and out at the assessment.

How carers reach Shortlands

Shortlands station has Southeastern trains to Victoria via Herne Hill and towards Orpington, and Thameslink trains to Blackfriars via Catford. From our office the simplest route is the 208 to Bromley, then a short hop west. Three useful buses pass the station:

• the 227, from Bromley North through Beckenham and Penge to Crystal Palace;
• the 358, from Penge and Clock House through Beckenham's hospital stop and Eden Park to Shortlands, then Bromley South, the PRUH and Orpington;
• the 162, along Hayes Lane at Kingswood Road towards Bromley South and Beckenham Junction.

Parking near the station and the shops can be restricted, and Bromley Council issues no carers' permits, so in a permit bay during controlled hours a carer needs one of your visitor vouchers.

Two NHS sites on one bus

The 358 matters more than most buses here. It stops near Beckenham Beacon, the community hospital on Croydon Road with an urgent treatment centre, x-ray and outpatient clinics. The other way, it ends up at Farnborough's acute hospital. A carer can go with someone to a clinic at either on one bus. Coming home on the 358 after a stay? Let us know before the date so the first visit is already booked.

The library, for now

Shortlands Library's building at 110 Shortlands Road is closed for safety reasons, with a temporary library running on Mondays and Saturdays from St Mary's Church House on Kingswood Road; check the council's library pages before you go, as arrangements may have changed. Queensmead Recreation Ground on Glass Mill Lane is a gentle outing. A companionship visit can include either.

Getting a council assessment

Shortlands is in the London Borough of Bromley. Ask Bromley Adult Social Care for a needs assessment through its care assessment page; the council's Early Intervention Service says it will contact you within five working days. Eligible people are then means-tested, and any council share can be paid to you to spend with the agency you prefer. The full council route is on our Bromley page.

Where a Shortlands house has a spare bedroom, live-in care in Shortlands can replace a long day of visits. Family carers can call Bromley Well on freephone 0808 278 7898.

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