Crofton Park · Lewisham
Live-in Care in Crofton Park
If any part of Lewisham is built for live-in care, it is Crofton Park. Nearly six households in ten had a spare bedroom at the 2021 Census, the highest share in the borough. The terraced streets either side of Brockley Road usually have the room. The questions are the stairs, the changeovers by Thameslink, and whether the person is ready for someone to move in.
Room to spare, stairs to climb
Crofton Park's streets were mostly built before the First World War as terraced houses for clerical workers, and the 1930s Wates houses on the old Brockley Hall site are family houses too. In 2021, 58.8% of households in the ward had at least one spare bedroom and 22% had four or more bedrooms. So the carer's room is rarely the obstacle. The obstacle is usually the single, straight staircase with the bathroom at the top. Many families move the person's bed downstairs while a stairlift is assessed.
A two-bedroom ground-floor flat in a converted terrace is also a good layout: level access to the street and a room for the carer. If live-in care will not fit, home care in Crofton Park is a short bus ride from our office.
Getting used to someone in the house
Many people who have lived alone in a big Crofton Park house for years find the idea of a carer moving in hard. It helps to start gently. Jackie meets the person first, not just the family, and talks through what the carer will and will not do, which rooms are theirs and how the day will run. Where we can, we introduce the carer before the first day. Some families first try live-in care as a short break for the family carer, which lets everyone see how it feels.
Changeover day at Crofton Park station
Crofton Park is on Thameslink, which suits a carer coming through St Pancras, Farringdon or Blackfriars. National Rail lists step-free access to both platforms, but crossing between them without steps is a long, steep route by road, so a carer with a case should arrive on the right side. Honor Oak Park, a short walk south, adds the Overground for carers coming from east London or Croydon.
Most streets have no parking controls: the council lists no Crofton Park zone, though the Honor Oak zone next door runs 9am to 5pm on weekdays.
Day centre days and the carer's time off
The council's Ladywell Dementia Day Service is on Dressington Avenue, near Crofton Park station, for people with mild to advanced dementia. On centre days the carer gets the person ready, takes a longer break, and is home when they return. Blythe Hill Fields has views to Canary Wharf and the City; Crofton Park Library, a Carnegie building from 1905, is community-run; and St Hilda's, the 1907 church, is close for anyone who wants to keep attending.
After a ward at Lewisham Hospital
Crofton Park residents are usually treated at University Hospital Lewisham, which the 122 and P4 reach via Ladywell. If the person cannot manage the stairs at home, ask the ward for an occupational therapy assessment before discharge, and let us know the date as soon as the ward gives it.
Homeowners and the means test
One Crofton Park household in five owned its home outright in 2021. For care in the home you live in, Lewisham leaves the house out of the means test; the charge depends on income and savings. If the council funds care, the money can come as a direct payment and buy live-in care. See our Lewisham live-in page for the detail.
Live-in care elsewhere in Lewisham
Living in Crofton Park
Homes and health services in Crofton Park
Homes in Crofton Park
Pre-First World War terraces built for clerical workers, some council flats and houses, 1930s Wates houses on the Brockley Hall site; some terraces split into flats, and flats above shops on Brockley Road.
NHS hospitals
University Hospital Lewisham and Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich
Memory and dementia
Lewisham Memory Service
Mum has the ground-floor flat of a converted terrace with two bedrooms. Is that suitable?
Often ideal: level access, no shared stair inside, and a room for the carer. Jackie will check the bathroom and kitchen too.
Both my parents live in a Crofton Park terrace. Can one carer support them both?
Usually, if their needs together are manageable for one person in the day and the nights are mostly quiet. Each needs their own council assessment if the council is to help.
Dad says he doesn't want a stranger in the house. What can we do?
Let Jackie talk to him directly about what it would be like. Meeting the carer beforehand, and agreeing which rooms stay his, often changes how it feels.
Nearby
Nearest areas to Crofton Park outside Lewisham
Closest first, measured in a straight line from the centre of Crofton Park.
