Live-in Care in Chelsea

Yes, we arrange live-in care across Chelsea, from Sloane Square to World's End. A carer moves into a spare bedroom and helps with washing, dressing, meals, medication and getting out, with a daily break and holiday cover that we plan. Jackie, our registered manager, visits first for a free assessment and writes the care plan with you.

A house off Flood Street or a flat at World's End

Chelsea's homes fall into two groups when a live-in carer is on the table. The first is the terraced house, Georgian or Victorian, on streets like Oakley Street, Glebe Place or the roads behind the Royal Hospital. These usually have more bedrooms than an older couple now uses, so the carer's room is already there. The second is the flat: a floor of a converted stucco house, a mansion flat, or a home on the World's End Estate. Here, count bedrooms before anything else. Two bedrooms is enough. One isn't, and a sofa bed in the sitting room doesn't count.

If the flat has only one bedroom, visiting care in Chelsea is the realistic choice, and we'll tell you honestly how well we can cover your end of the King's Road.

Front steps, basements and five floors

A tall Chelsea house can work against someone who is becoming unsteady. The bedroom may be two floors above the kitchen, the bathroom on a half-landing, and the front door up a flight of stone steps from the pavement. With a carer living in, you can rearrange the house around the person:

• move the bed down to the ground or first floor, with the carer's room next door so they can hear a call;
• keep a commode near the bed if the bathroom is a flight away;
• ask an occupational therapist whether a stairlift fits the staircase or whether a rail on the front steps is the bigger gain;
• avoid putting anyone to sleep in a basement flat reached only by the area steps.

On the World's End towers, the question is the lift instead: if it goes out of service, can the carer still get the person to an appointment, or does the plan need a fallback?

Handover day: Sloane Square, then the bus

Live-in carers work a stretch and then hand over to a colleague, so two carers meet at the house for a proper handover. Sloane Square (District and Circle lines, one stop from Victoria) is the easy arrival point for the eastern half of Chelsea. West of the old town hall, the incoming carer takes a King's Road bus such as the 11 or 22, which run the length of the road to World's End, because the walk from any station is long.

Parking is the awkward part. Kensington and Chelsea doesn't issue visitor permits, so a carer arriving by car with a suitcase has to find a pay-to-park bay or a car park, because the residents' bays in the side streets are for permit holders. Walking the last stretch from the bus stop is usually less fuss.

Where does a live-in carer take their break in Chelsea?

A live-in carer needs a proper daily break, away from the house. Chelsea is generous with places to go. Chelsea Library is inside the Old Town Hall on the King's Road. The Embankment gardens run along the river by Cheyne Walk, and the Royal Hospital's grounds, including Ranelagh Gardens, are open to visitors. The cafés of the King's Road and Duke of York Square are close by for a coffee alone.

The same places make good outings together. The Chelsea Physic Garden on Royal Hospital Road has a café (entry is ticketed, and it's closed on Saturdays). If the person can't be left alone during the break, a family member can sit with them, or we can discuss a sit-in if a carer is free.

Back from the Brompton, the Marsden or Chelsea and Westminster

Three hospitals sit on Chelsea's northern edge. Chelsea and Westminster on the Fulham Road is the A&E and general discharge hospital for Chelsea, while the Royal Brompton and the Royal Marsden treat heart, lung and cancer patients. A live-in carer suits the weeks after a stay at any of them: the person is home, but tired, and not safe alone overnight on the stairs. In a tall house, the question at discharge is which floor the person will live on for the first few weeks. Settle it with the ward's occupational therapist before the date is fixed, so the bed can come downstairs before the carer arrives, and ring us while there is still time to assess. The council's short-term reablement may come first. See hospital discharge care.

Husband and wife in the same house

Where a husband and wife still share the family house and one of them now needs a lot of help, one carer can usually support both: full personal care for one, and meals, shopping and company on the walk to the river for the other. The care plan sets out what the carer does for each of them, and if either needs help often through the night, we'll say at the assessment that one carer isn't enough.

Paying for live-in care in Chelsea

We quote in writing after the free assessment, not over the phone. Owning a Chelsea house doesn't rule out council help with care at home, because the means test for home care looks at savings and income, not the house you live in. The needs assessment comes first, from Kensington and Chelsea Adult Social Care, requested through People First or on 020 7361 3013. Where the main need is medical, ask about NHS Continuing Healthcare. Our Kensington and Chelsea live-in care page covers the funding routes, and live-in care in London explains how placements work.

What we can help with in Chelsea

• 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