Live-in Care in Blackheath

Lewisham or Greenwich: which side of the heath is the house on?

Blackheath belongs to two councils. The Village, the station and the streets running down towards Lee are in the London Borough of Lewisham; Blackheath Standard, Westcombe Park and Kidbrooke are in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The boundary makes no difference to live-in care, but it decides who carries out the needs and financial assessments.

• Lewisham addresses start with Lewisham Adult Social Care on 020 8314 7777 or its online wellbeing check. See live-in care in Lewisham.
• Greenwich addresses go to the Royal Borough of Greenwich through its Ask for support with adult care and health form, or its Contact Assessment Team on 020 8921 2304. See live-in care in Greenwich.

Where does the carer sleep in a Blackheath house?

A live-in carer needs a private bedroom. In a whole Blackheath house the room is seldom the problem. The stairs are.

The Georgian and Victorian houses round the heath often run to three or four floors, with bedrooms at the top and sometimes a kitchen below ground level. The carer can sleep on an upper floor, while the person they look after may need to move down to the ground or first floor, near a toilet or shower room. Curved and narrow staircases do not always take a standard stairlift, so ask a stairlift company or the council's occupational therapists before assuming one will fit.

The large houses that were split into flats, such as the Paragon, and the low-rise post-war Span flats and terraces in their shared gardens, are a different case: the bedroom count and the communal stair come first. A two-bedroom ground-floor flat can be one of the easiest homes in the area for a carer to work in. With a single bedroom, live-in care will not work, and the alternative is visiting care, covered on our Blackheath home care page.

Changeover day: Blackheath station and the BHA zone

At the end of each rotation a new carer arrives with a suitcase and the outgoing one leaves. In Blackheath that is easy by train. Blackheath station sits in the Village, one stop from Lewisham, with Southeastern services to London Bridge, Cannon Street and Charing Cross. Westcombe Park, on the Greenwich side, has trains on the Greenwich line.

Driving is harder. Lewisham's Blackheath controlled parking zone (BHA), according to the council's operating times list, runs Monday to Saturday, 9am to 7pm, one of the few Lewisham zones that operates on Saturdays. Inside it, a carer who drives needs a visitor permit, and the council's carers' permit covers only four hours a day, which suits a relief carer covering a break more than a live-in carer's own car.

One date to plan around: the London Marathon starts on the heath each April, and the roads around it close for much of that Sunday, so it is worth keeping changeovers off that day.

The carer's break: the heath, the Village and Age Exchange

Every live-in carer has a protected break each day. Here the heath is on the doorstep, Greenwich Park is beyond it, and the Village has cafés and shops.

For the person being cared for, the most useful place in the Village is Age Exchange at 11 Blackheath Village. It is a charity hub with a community café, and it hosts Lewisham's Blackheath Village community library. Its creative and reminiscence work supports people at all stages of dementia, and their family carers. A carer can take someone there for a coffee and a change of scene, and if the person joins one of its activities, the carer can take their break close by.

Coming home from Lewisham or Woolwich

Lewisham-side residents are usually treated at University Hospital Lewisham, under two miles away. People on the Greenwich side may go to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich or to Lewisham. Someone living in helps most after discharge to a tall Blackheath house, because the first days home are when stairs, night-time toilet trips and medication changes go wrong. If a ward suggests a care home, say you want care at home considered, and see our hospital discharge support page.

How is live-in care in Blackheath paid for?

Our quote comes in writing once we have assessed. Before paying privately, check the other routes: a council needs and financial assessment (from Lewisham or Greenwich, depending on the address), a direct payment if the council agrees to fund care, and NHS Continuing Healthcare if the person's needs are primarily medical. Our paying for care guide and the London live-in care page explain each one.

What we can help with in Blackheath

• A carer living in, with their own room
• Care for one person or a couple
• Personal care through the day
• Medication support
• Cooking, housekeeping and laundry
• Dementia support at home
• Company, outings and appointments
• Cover arranged for the carer's breaks