Live-in Care in Forest Hill

Can live-in care work on Forest Hill's hills?

Yes, and the hills can be a reason to choose it. When the walk up from the South Circular to Dartmouth Road has become too much, a person can spend whole days indoors between visits. A live-in carer is there to go out with them when they feel up to it, at a pace that suits the slope, and to help with shopping and appointments that would otherwise wait for a relative's weekend.

Villas, conversions and mansion blocks: finding the carer's room

A live-in carer needs their own bedroom. Forest Hill's housing makes that easy in some homes and impossible in others.

• Whole Victorian houses and long terraces. Where the person still owns the whole house, there is usually a spare room for the carer, often on the top floor. The person themselves may need to move down a floor.
• Villas split into flats. Many of the large villas on the roads towards the Horniman and Honor Oak are now two, three or four flats. A garden flat with two bedrooms can be excellent for live-in care, since there are no communal stairs and sometimes level access to a garden. A one-bedroom flat at the top of the house does not have room for a carer.
• 1930s mansion blocks and post-war flats. Check the bedroom count and whether there is a lift before anything else. Two bedrooms plus a reliable lift makes room for a carer, a hoist and a wheelchair.

For a one-bedroom flat, the options are visiting care (see home care in Forest Hill), or a move to a home with a second bedroom.

Stairlifts, hoists and the shared stair

A live-in carer cannot make an unsafe staircase safe. In a whole house, a stairlift is often the answer, as long as the stair is straight and wide enough. In a converted flat, fitting a stairlift on a shared communal stair usually needs the freeholder's agreement and the other residents' cooperation, and some halls are too narrow. Getting a hospital bed or hoist up a conversion stair can also be tricky.

Lewisham Council's occupational therapists assess for equipment and adaptations through a needs assessment. At our own assessment we look at the stair, bathroom and front steps and tell you what needs a specialist opinion.

Changeovers on the Windrush line

When one carer's rotation ends and the next begins, both need to get to and from the house with luggage. Forest Hill station has London Overground Windrush line trains north through Surrey Quays to Highbury & Islington and south to Crystal Palace and West Croydon, plus Southern trains to London Bridge. The main entrance is at the bottom of the South Circular, with a second entrance on Perry Vale, and buses 122, 176, 185, 197 and 356 serve the station. Honor Oak Park, one stop north, serves the streets at the top of the hill.

Parking is easier than in central Lewisham. The council's list of controlled parking zones includes an Honor Oak zone (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm) but no Forest Hill zone. Many SE23 streets have no permit restrictions, but check the yellow lines and bays near the station and shops before a carer arrives by car.

The carer's break, and outings worth the climb

Every live-in carer takes a daily break. In Forest Hill they can walk to the shops and cafés around the station and Dartmouth Road, or to Forest Hill Library on Dartmouth Road, a community library run by Calico Libraries with study space and Wi-Fi.

For the person being cared for, the obvious outing is the Horniman, up on London Road. Entry is free, and the museum's access page says wheelchairs can be borrowed at no charge from the ticket desk and access companions visit free but need to book a ticket. It is honest about the hills too: the path from the main gate to the entrance runs about 150 metres uphill, with benches, and some garden paths are very steep and unsuitable for wheelchairs when wet or frosty. There are two Blue Badge spaces inside the grounds, first come first served, and the path from them to the entrance slopes downhill.

After a hospital stay, and who pays

Most Forest Hill residents are discharged from University Hospital Lewisham, and Lewisham Council handles social care whichever hospital it is. A carer living in matters after discharge to a hilly street, because the first trips out, to the GP or the pharmacy, are exactly the ones a person cannot yet make alone. Tell the ward early if you want care at home; see our hospital discharge page.

On funding: Lewisham Council can assess needs and finances and may contribute through a direct payment, and NHS Continuing Healthcare can fund care where needs are mainly health needs. The Lewisham live-in care page explains the rules, our London live-in care page covers how it works, and we give a written quote after the free assessment.

What we can help with in Forest Hill

• 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