Barbican · City of London
Live-in Care in the Barbican
A carer who lives in your parent's two- or three-bedroom Barbican home, there through the day and close by at night. Before anyone is matched, Jackie visits to look at the layout, the stairs and what the listing allows.
Which Barbican flats can take a live-in carer?
The estate has over 2,060 flats, from studios up to three-bedroom flats and maisonettes. What decides it is a spare room the carer can sleep in. Studios and one-bedroom flats have none, so visiting home care in the Barbican is the option there. Two bedrooms or more usually can.
- A flat on one level, as in Cromwell, Shakespeare and Lauderdale towers and many terrace-block flats, is the easiest set-up. The carer's room is a few steps away, so help at night is close.
- A split-level maisonette works too, but think about floors. If the person's bed comes down to the living level, the carer may be better sleeping on that floor than in the spare room upstairs.
- A study or box room can become the carer's room once it has been emptied and kitted out as somewhere to sleep.
Hoists, beds and stairlifts in a listed flat
A profiling bed, a hoist or a commode chair needs floor space and a clear path round it, and Barbican bedrooms and hallways were not designed for them. We measure up at the assessment. Mobile equipment is usually simpler than anything fixed, because the estate is Grade II listed. Under the Corporation's rules, a leaseholder needs Landlord's Approval from their House Officer for alterations, and some work also needs listed building consent. A ceiling track hoist or a stairlift on a maisonette stair falls into that category, so start the conversation with the House Officer and the occupational therapist early. Order loan equipment before the carer arrives, so it is in place for the first night.
Heart and cancer care next door. St Bartholomew's Hospital, the specialist heart and cancer hospital for Barts Health, is a few minutes' walk from the estate. After heart surgery or a round of chemotherapy, a live-in carer means meals and medicines handled, someone in the flat at night, and company on the walk back for check-ups. Ring us when the ward first mentions going home; see hospital discharge support.
Changeover day: suitcases, concierges and the car park
Carers turn up with a case on wheels, coming up to podium level from Moorgate, Barbican or Liverpool Street. TfL's planner times the trip from Tower House, our Lewisham base, to the Barbican Centre at about 46 to 49 minutes on a weekday morning. We plan the handover so the outgoing and incoming carers overlap and the person is never left alone.
If a carer or a relative helping with a changeover drives, the estate car parks are the place, not the street. They have a 24-hour concierge, and each Barbican property gets five free hours of visitor parking before charges start. Payment is through RingGo, using the car park's location number. The concierge can give you a card with it, as the Corporation's estate parking page explains. For a weekly changeover, rail is still easier.
Somewhere for family to stay nearby
When a new carer is settling in, a son or daughter often wants to be close for a few days. The Golden Lane Estate's guest rooms in Crescent House, a short walk north, can be booked for guests of Barbican residents as well as Golden Lane's, for up to 14 days, through the Golden Lane estate office on 020 7253 2556. The rate for Barbican guests is higher than for Golden Lane's; the Golden Lane Estate page has the details.
Time off for the carer, outings for the person
Each day of a placement includes rest hours for the carer, written into the plan along with who, if anyone, keeps the person company. On this estate the break often doubles as the person's outing: a concert or film at the Barbican Centre, an hour in Barbican Library, or one of Age UK City of London's digital help surgeries. If the person is happy to be left for an hour, the carer takes their own time while they are there. If they cannot be left, cover has to be planned, and we set it up before the placement starts.
Nurses, the GP and the night
The estate is well placed for health care. The Neaman Practice, the only GP surgery in the City, is in Half Moon Court on the estate's south-west edge, and it has a Carers Care Coordinator for relatives registered there. Homerton Healthcare's community nurses visit housebound Barbican residents from 8:30am until 10pm, every day of the week, for dressings, injections and end of life care. After 10pm there is no community nurse on duty and NHS 111 takes over. That gap is often what tips a family towards live-in care: the carer is asleep down the hall, not a phone call away.
Two people, two bedrooms
For a couple to stay in their Barbican flat with a live-in carer, they need two bedrooms: one for them and one for the carer. One partner may need help in the bathroom while the other mainly needs meals cooked and the shopping carried; the same carer does both. In a maisonette, we also check that the partner who still uses the stairs has a safe way up and down, and that the night routine does not leave either of them stranded on the wrong floor.
Funding live-in care for a Barbican resident
As a Barbican leaseholder or tenant, Mum's council is the Corporation; how it assesses, means-tests and offers direct payments is on our City-wide live-in page. A resident recovering from major heart or cancer treatment at Barts may have mainly clinical needs, in which case the ward or GP can screen for NHS Continuing Healthcare. If the bill is yours, Jackie sets the figure out on paper after her visit.
Live-in care elsewhere in City of London
Living in Barbican
Homes and health services in Barbican
Homes in Barbican
Over 2,060 flats with more than 4,000 residents (Corporation estate history), from studios to three-bedroom flats and maisonettes, in 19 named blocks including the three 42-storey towers (Cromwell, Shakespeare, Lauderdale); residential blocks built 1969-76 on a raised podium, Grade II listed since September 2001. Many homes are split-level maisonettes with internal stairs. Leaseholders need Landlord's Approval (via the House Officer) and possibly listed building consent for alterations.
NHS hospitals
St Bartholomew's Hospital and Royal London Hospital
Memory and dementia
Mum's Lauderdale Tower flat has a second room she uses as a study. Will that do?
It will once the desk and books make way for a bed, a wardrobe and some drawers. The carer needs to be able to close the door and rest, so it has to be theirs for the placement.
Where does the carer park on changeover day if they drive?
In the estate car park, as a visitor. Each property has five free hours, then the Corporation charges. Most carers come by train, which avoids the question.
Dad's terrace-block maisonette has the bathroom on the upper floor. What are the options?
For now, a bed and commode on the living level, with the carer sleeping on the same floor, while the occupational therapist looks at a stairlift or other changes. Because the estate is listed, get Landlord's Approval before ordering anything fixed.
Can we book a guest room for my brother while the first carer settles in?
Yes. Crescent House on the Golden Lane Estate takes bookings from Barbican residents' guests, for up to 14 days, at a higher rate than for Golden Lane residents. Book through the Golden Lane estate office.
Nearby
Nearest areas to Barbican outside the City of London
Closest first, measured in a straight line from the centre of Barbican.
