Home Care in Sidcup

We can arrange home care in Sidcup, from a few visits a week for washing, dressing and medication to a carer who lives in. Sidcup-line trains run through Lewisham, where our office is, so visiting care is realistic here whenever we have a carer free for your times. We start with a free assessment in your home and agree a written care plan with you.

Queen Mary's is on your doorstep, but it is not an A&E

Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup has outpatient clinics, scans, day surgery and an urgent treatment centre, but no full accident and emergency department. A fall with a suspected fracture or a sudden serious illness means an admission elsewhere: Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, Darent Valley in Dartford, or for some households in south Sidcup and Foots Cray, the Princess Royal University Hospital at Farnborough in Bromley.

So when a parent is admitted, the discharge is likely to be planned by a hospital outside Bexley, working with Bexley's adult social care. The council follows a Home First approach, with assessments of longer-term needs often done after the person is back home. Let us know as soon as a discharge is mentioned, whichever ward it is, and read how our hospital discharge support works.

Edwardian villas, 1930s estates, flats by the station

Sidcup grew from a Kent village into a commuter town after the railway arrived in 1866, and the housing shows each stage. Near the centre and towards Lamorbey Park there are large Victorian and Edwardian houses. Spreading out from them are 1930s estates of semis, and around the station there are post-war blocks of flats.

The bigger older houses have room for a live-in carer but often several flights of stairs. The 1930s semis have one steep staircase and an upstairs bathroom. Station flats put everything on one level, though an upper floor with no lift makes getting out hard. We look at all of this at the assessment, because it changes what each visit involves.

Who pays for home care in Sidcup?

Either you pay privately, or Bexley Council pays part or all of the cost after assessing the person's needs and finances, or the NHS pays in full if the person qualifies for Continuing Healthcare. To ask the council, use the self-assessment or phone the Single Point of Contact on 020 8303 7777. Some assessments are carried out for the council by OneBexley, a partnership of local charities, so your first conversation may be with Age UK Bexley or Carers' Support Bexley instead of a social worker. We quote in writing after our own assessment and do not give figures over the phone.

Getting around

Sidcup station is north of the town centre, up Station Road, and Albany Park station serves the eastern side. Both are on the Sidcup line. Buses include the 51, 160, 229, 233, 269, 286, 321, 492, B14 and R11, and several of them call at Queen Mary's Hospital. The roads around the station and the High Street are in the Sidcup Station and Town Centre parking zones.

What we can do in Sidcup

• Personal care: washing, dressing, continence care and getting up or ready for bed.
• Medication support: prompts or help with medicines as set out in the care plan, recorded at each visit.
• Home help: shopping on the High Street, light cleaning, laundry and meals.
• Companionship and a sit-in service for someone who should not be left alone.
• Dementia care that works around day-centre days and familiar routines.
• Live-in care, well suited to Sidcup's larger houses with a spare room.
• Respite care so a family carer can rest or go away.
• Complex care, palliative care and support after a hospital stay.

Short breaks and live-in support

If you look after someone at home, you can ask for your own carer's assessment through Carers' Support Bexley (020 8302 8011) or the council. Respite from us can be regular visits that free up an afternoon, or a live-in carer covering a fortnight away. More detail on the council's role is on our Bexley home care page.

What we can help with in Sidcup

• 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