Live-in Care in Eltham

Can one live-in carer look after both my parents in Eltham?

Often, yes. The interwar semis of Middle Park, Eltham Park and the streets off Court Road were built as family homes, so a couple who have stayed on after the children left usually have a bedroom free for a carer. Where one partner needs help to wash, dress and get up the stairs, and the other copes but is worn out, one live-in carer can give full personal care to the first, lighter support to the second, and cook and run the house for both.

What decides it is the heavier set of needs. If one partner needs two people to move them, or is awake and unsettled most nights, a single live-in carer will not be enough, and we will tell you at the assessment. The care plan sets out each person's needs separately, so nobody's care gets folded into the other's.

The house: box rooms, bathrooms and the stairs

In an interwar Eltham semi the third bedroom, often a box room, is usually free, and a single bed and a chest of drawers are enough for the carer. In the larger Edwardian houses of the Eltham Park estate space is rarely the problem.

The practical issue is the upstairs bathroom. A straight staircase usually takes a stairlift, and the council's occupational therapists can assess for one, along with rails and a shower seat. If stairs become unsafe, some families move a bed downstairs into the front room, with a commode at night. The carer's room stays upstairs, so we plan how the carer will hear the person at night, for example with a baby monitor.

On the Progress Estate (Well Hall) the cottages are smaller and the staircases narrow. A spare room is less certain, and bulky equipment can be hard to get in. Measure before ordering a bed or a hoist.

Changeovers through Eltham station

Eltham station is on the Southeastern Bexleyheath line, a short run out from Lewisham, and Mottingham, on the Sidcup line, serves the streets to the south. A carer arriving with a suitcase can do the whole trip by train. At the changeover the outgoing carer stays to hand over: what changed this rotation, how the medication went, what the person likes for breakfast this week. The family and the person being cared for meet each new carer before they take over.

A break in Eltham: for the carer and for the person

The carer's daily break is protected. Eltham gives them good places to take it: Well Hall Pleasaunce with its gardens and ponds, Eltham Park North and South, and the High Street. Eltham Library on Archery Road is a quiet indoor option in bad weather.

For the person, live-in care makes outings possible again. A carer can go with them to Well Hall Pleasaunce, to the shops on the High Street, or to church on a Sunday. If a partner wants an afternoon to themselves, the carer stays with the person who needs care while they go.

After Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Emergency admissions from SE9 mostly go to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich. Follow-up therapy and outpatient appointments are often at Eltham Community Hospital on Passey Place, which has no A&E. Live-in care suits a discharge here for one reason in particular: when one half of a couple comes home frailer than before, the other is often in no state to manage alone. A carer who is already in the house can look after both from the first night. More on planning this is on our hospital discharge page.

Funding

For a couple, the council assesses each partner separately, and charging is worked out on each person's own finances. The council route, the means test and how a home is treated are covered on our Greenwich live-in care page. If either partner's needs are mainly medical, raise NHS Continuing Healthcare with their GP or the hospital team. Our written quote follows the free assessment. For how live-in care works more generally, see live-in care in London, and for visiting care, home care in Eltham.

What we can help with in Eltham

• 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