Home Care in Walworth, SE17

Yes, we provide home care in Walworth, with carers visiting at agreed times for personal care, medication, meals and company. Care starts with a free assessment in your home and a written care plan. The 136 bus runs direct from Lewisham through Peckham to East Street and Elephant Park, so Walworth is within reach for visiting carers, subject to availability.

Estates, walkways and lifts

Many older people in Walworth live on council estates, some of them large deck-access blocks. The Aylesbury, one of the biggest estates in London, is being rebuilt in phases, so some residents face a move into a new block. Between the estates are older streets of Victorian terraces and the Pullens buildings, Victorian tenement flats set around workshop yards.

Each of these brings its own questions for care:

• Lifts. If the lift breaks, can your mum still get out, and can a carer still get in? We plan for it.
• Long walkways. On a deck-access block the walk from lift to front door can be the hardest part of coming home from hospital.
• Getting in. Door entry, fobs and key safes need sorting before the first morning visit.
• Rehousing. If a move to a new block is coming, tell us at the assessment so the care moves with the person.

Parking on an estate

Estate car parks in Southwark run their own permit schemes, separate from the street parking zones, and the council issues a separate carer permit for estate residents. If a relative drives over to help, that is the permit to look at. Visiting carers can come by bus, including the 136 from Lewisham, so the permit question mostly affects family.

Services available in Walworth

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

Is home care free in Walworth?

Not automatically. Southwark Council assesses needs first, then means-tests what you pay for any care it arranges. The council's care cost calculator gives an estimate before you apply. People with mainly health needs may get NHS Continuing Healthcare, which is free. After hospital, the council's reablement service is usually free for a few weeks. If you arrange care with us privately, we give you a written quote after the assessment. Our paying for care guide explains the rules.

To ask for an assessment, use the Older People and Physical Disabilities online referral or call 020 7525 3324 on weekdays. More on the council route is on our Southwark home care page.

Getting out: East Street and Burgess Park

East Street market, known locally as "the Lane", trades every day except Monday, and Burgess Park runs along Walworth's southern edge. For someone who has stopped going out alone, a carer on a companionship visit can make the market or a slow lap of the park part of the week again.

Live-in care and short breaks

Live-in care needs a spare bedroom, which many one- and two-bedroom estate flats don't have, so in Walworth regular visits are usually the starting point. Where there is a room, live-in care is possible. Southwark also runs flexicare schemes with care on site around the clock, which is worth asking the council about if visits are no longer enough. For family carers, respite can be a weekly sit-in or a short live-in stay.

What we can help with in Walworth

• 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