Live-in Care in Epsom and Ewell

Yes, any address in Epsom and Ewell can have live-in care from us. Our carer takes the spare room, helps with whatever the plan sets out between getting up and going to bed, and has agreed rest periods. Before that, someone from our team visits for a free assessment. Lewisham is a long way off, yet that makes little difference here, since the carer comes once and stays.

Why staying at home matters more in Epsom

Epsom and Ewell has strikingly few care home places for its size. Surrey County Council's planning profile for the borough, published in October 2025, counted 124 residential care home beds and 206 nursing home beds in April 2025, for about 8,000 residents aged 75 and over. That is 15.5 residential beds per thousand people of that age, against 36.7 across England, and 25.7 nursing beds against 38.1. Surrey works out that by 2030 the borough would need about 160 more residential beds and over 110 more nursing beds just to match the England rate.

The same report says neighbouring Kingston and Sutton are short of residential beds too, so looking over the border doesn't always help. Live-in care keeps the person in their own house, on their own street, with their own GP. It isn't right for everyone, and we will say so if needs have gone beyond what one carer can safely manage, but it is worth weighing before a move out of the area.

Houses, flats and the spare room

What the carer must have is a room to sleep in that is theirs, storage, and access to the bathroom and kitchen. In this borough that is often possible. The 2021 Census counted roughly 26% of homes as detached and 35% as semi-detached, so many families here have a spare bedroom, or a box room that can take a single bed. Measure it before the assessment.

The harder cases are the fifth of homes that are purpose-built flats, conversions near the town centre, and the older cottages in Ewell village where the second bedroom is tiny. The newer estates on the old hospital sites west of the town, such as Manor Park and Noble Park, are a mix: some houses have space to spare, some flats do not. If there is no room, ask anyway. A dining room can sometimes become the person's bedroom, freeing theirs for the carer. Sometimes the honest answer is that live-in care won't work in that home, and we will tell you.

If a hoist will be used, check floor space in the room where it will be, and think about bringing the bed downstairs in a house with steep stairs. Surrey's occupational therapists assess for equipment, and the borough's Home Improvement Agency can help with grant-funded adaptations once an OT has recommended them.

One carer for a couple

Live-in care can look after two people in the same home. A wife recovering from a stroke and a husband who is mostly independent but can no longer cook, for example, can share one carer and one care plan. One carer supporting both at home means neither has to move, and nobody has to choose between two care homes.

One carer is enough only if nights are mostly settled and nothing needs two people at once. Hoisting usually does. We work that out at the assessment and write it down.

Working alongside the GP and Surrey Downs nurses

Nursing isn't part of what we do, and our carers aren't nurses. Community health care in the Epsom area comes from Surrey Downs Health and Care, a partnership of local GP federations and the Epsom and St Helier trust, working with Surrey County Council, that has run adult community services here since 2019. It includes the district nurses and an evening nursing team for Epsom and Ewell.

The carer becomes the person who notices changes first, keeps the notes the district nurse reads, and rings the GP or 111 when something is wrong. When someone is nearing the end of life, the GP or district nurse knows which hospice team serves the address and can refer; our carer then follows the plan that team puts in place.

Dementia: a carer at home and a day at the Hub

The borough council's Dementia Hub on Sefton Road, until recently called Wellbeing Daycare, offers full and half days for people aged 50 and over living with memory loss or dementia, or with confusion after a stroke or from Parkinson's. There are music, memory and pet therapy sessions, help with medicines, and assisted bathing in the same building. The council's own vehicles collect people from home.

A live-in carer and the Hub work well together. On Hub days the carer can take part of their break, and the rest of the week they keep the same routines going at home. The council offers a free assessment for a place on 01372 727583.

Changeover days in Epsom

Carers rotate every few weeks. Epsom station has South Western Railway trains to Waterloo and Southern trains to Victoria and London Bridge, so an incoming carer can usually arrive by train. Ewell West and Stoneleigh are on the Waterloo line too, and Ewell East has trains to Victoria through Sutton.

If the outgoing and incoming carers meet for a handover and one of them drives, check whether your road has residents' permit parking; the council's 2019 list put most zones near the town centre and Ewell village. Surrey's visitor permits are single-use, tied to your address, and not valid in council car parks, so order a few before the first changeover.

Extra care housing: the other option you'll hear about

Surrey's profile lists two extra care schemes already open in the borough, Lower Mill Apartments and Nonsuch Abbeyfield, both in KT17, and a much larger retirement community with planning approval on part of the Epsom Hospital site. In extra care the person has a self-contained flat and staff in the building. It still means moving, and Surrey's figures show the borough is short of affordable extra care flats. For anyone set on keeping their own front door, a carer at home is the alternative.

Paying for live-in care in Epsom

There is no price list on this site. What live-in care costs turns on how much help is involved, and on whether one or two people need it, so we put a figure in writing once we have visited.

If Surrey finds eligible needs, its financial assessment decides what the person pays. The council's share can come as a direct payment, which Surrey normally pays monthly into a prepaid account and checks every three months; the Surrey Independent Living Charity helps people manage one. If the main problem is a health one, ask the GP, ward or social worker to start the NHS Continuing Healthcare checklist, because that funding can cover everything. Our paying for care guide covers Attendance Allowance and the rest.

How live-in care works →