Home Care in Sydenham

Yes, we provide care at home in Sydenham, from a few visits a week to full live-in care. SE26 is in the south-west of Lewisham, around 25 to 35 minutes from our Lewisham High Street office, so we confirm visiting times against carer availability before we agree them. A free home assessment and a written care plan come first.

Care at home near St Christopher's

Sydenham is home to St Christopher's Hospice on Lawrie Park Road, founded by Dame Cicely Saunders in 1967 and widely seen as the first modern hospice. Most of the people it supports are cared for at home, not on its wards. It serves Lewisham alongside Bromley, Croydon, Lambeth and Southwark; if you think its support could help, ask the GP or hospital team about a referral.

We are not part of St Christopher's and do not claim any arrangement with it. What we can do is sit alongside specialist palliative and district nursing teams: helping with washing, repositioning, mouth care, meals and medication prompts, and staying for a sit-in so a husband or daughter can sleep. If someone in Sydenham is nearing the end of life and wants to be at home, see our palliative care at home page and call us early, because these packages are better arranged before a crisis.

Upper and Lower Sydenham are different places to care in

Upper Sydenham climbs towards Crystal Palace. Around Jews Walk, Lawrie Park and Sydenham Hill the houses are large Victorian and Edwardian villas, many now flats, on gradients that make walking with a frame hard work. Sydenham Wells Park, where people once came to take the medicinal springs, is on the same slope.

Lower Sydenham and Bell Green, towards the Bromley border, are flatter, with interwar houses, some post-war council estates, and the retail park near the old Bell Green gasworks. Ground-floor rooms and level pavements make equipment and outings easier here.

Between the two runs Sydenham Road, the area's high street, with Kirkdale as the older high street up the hill and Mayow Park, Lewisham's oldest municipal park, nearby.

Is my Sydenham address in Lewisham, Bromley or Southwark?

Check before you contact a council. Most of SE26 is in Lewisham, but parts of the upper slopes fall in Southwark (parts of Sydenham Hill) or Bromley (towards Penge and Crystal Palace). The council named on your council tax bill is the one that does the needs assessment. For Lewisham addresses, start with the online check on the council's assessment page or phone 020 8314 7777; our Lewisham page explains the rest. We provide care on all three sides of the boundary.

Local health services

Sydenham Green Health Centre at 26 Holmshaw Close houses GP services alongside community services run by Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, including district nursing, blood tests and foot health. If you are setting up care at home, tell the GP and any district nurses so everyone knows who else is visiting.

For getting about: Sydenham station has Overground (Windrush line) and Southern trains, Lower Sydenham has Southeastern Hayes line trains, and buses including the 75, 122, 176, 194, 197, 202 and 450 run through the area.

Live-in care and short breaks

The bigger Sydenham houses usually have a spare bedroom, which is what live-in care needs. It suits couples, and it can suit people at the end of life who want someone living in the house, working alongside the hospice or district nurses. For family carers who need a pause, we offer respite care by the afternoon or as a live-in stay, and Lewisham's carers' service, run by Imago, can arrange a carer's assessment.

What we can help with in Sydenham

• 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