Live-in Care in Bloomsbury

Yes, we provide live-in care in Bloomsbury. A carer moves into your spare room and helps one person, or a couple, with washing, dressing, meals, medication and getting out, working from a care plan that Jackie, our registered manager, draws up after a free assessment at home. The one thing a Bloomsbury flat must have is a second bedroom, so that is where the assessment starts.

Can a Bloomsbury flat take a live-in carer?

It depends on the building. Bloomsbury's older residents mostly live in three kinds of home, and each gives a different answer.

• A floor of a Georgian house. The flats carved out of the terraces on Gower Street, Doughty Street or around Mecklenburgh Square are often deep, with a back room behind the front room. That back room can become the carer's bedroom if it has a door, a window and space for a bed.
• A mansion flat. Many of the red-brick blocks have two-bedroom flats, which usually suit live-in care well once the second room is cleared of boxes and books.
• A council or Brunswick Centre flat. Many are one-bedroom. Where that is the case, a live-in carer cannot work there, and we will talk through visiting care in Bloomsbury or longer sit-in visits instead.

Stairs, small lifts and getting a bed up

Live-in care tends to begin when someone needs more equipment: a profiling bed, a commode, a wheelchair, sometimes a hoist. In Bloomsbury the obstacle is usually the way in. A narrow Georgian staircase may not take a hospital bed in one piece, and some mansion-block lifts are too small for a wheelchair with a person and a carer inside.

Two things are worth knowing early. A stairlift on a shared staircase usually needs the freeholder's agreement, because the stairs are not part of your flat. And much of Bloomsbury is listed, so fixed alterations may need listed building consent from Camden. With a carer living in, it is often simplest to set up a bedroom on the flat's entrance floor. We check this at the assessment and can point you to an occupational therapy assessment through Camden Adult Social Care.

Coming home from Euston Road or Queen Square

Bloomsbury has two major hospitals within walking distance: University College Hospital, the usual discharge hospital, and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery on Queen Square, both run by UCLH. People coming home from Queen Square after a stroke, or with Parkinson's, MS or another neurological condition, often need help that does not fit into a few short visits: moving safely through the day, keeping up the therapists' exercises, and someone there in the evening. A live-in carer suits that kind of discharge. Nursing and clinical work remains with the NHS teams.

Phone us as soon as a discharge date is mentioned, so the assessment and the carer's room are ready before the date is set. More on our hospital discharge support page.

Changeover day inside the Congestion Charge zone

Every few weeks the carer hands over to a relief carer. In Bloomsbury we plan that handover around public transport: Euston, St Pancras and King's Cross mainline stations are all within walking distance, and Russell Square, Goodge Street, Holborn and Tottenham Court Road cover the Piccadilly, Northern, Central and Elizabeth lines.

Driving is a different matter. A carer who drives in pays the Congestion Charge during charging hours and still needs somewhere to park. Camden residents can buy short-stay visitor permits through their Camden parking account, but in WC1 the Tube is nearly always the simpler choice.

Where the carer spends their break

A live-in carer has a protected break every day, and Bloomsbury is a good place to take one. Russell Square has a café in the gardens. St George's Gardens, the walled former burial ground between Handel Street and Heathcote Street, is quiet and flat. Holborn Library is on Theobalds Road.

The same places work for the person being cared for. A carer can push a wheelchair round Russell Square, go along to the shops on Marchmont Street or Lamb's Conduit Street, or take someone to the British Museum, which is free to walk into. If your relative lives with dementia, Age UK Camden runs Dementia Befriending and a Dementia Wellbeing service, both worth asking about alongside live-in care.

Paying for live-in care in Bloomsbury

Bloomsbury is in Camden, so a council needs assessment and means test go through Camden Adult Social Care; the online referral form is the place to start. Our live-in care in Camden page explains the means test and direct payments. Where needs are mainly health needs, for example after a serious stroke, ask the ward at UCH or Queen Square about an NHS Continuing Healthcare checklist. Private payers get a written quote after the free assessment; see live-in care in London for how the service works.

What we can help with in Bloomsbury

• 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