Live-in Care on the Golden Lane Estate

385 flats, 174 maisonettes: which can take a carer?

Golden Lane was planned in the 1950s for single people and couples working in the City, and its 559 homes still reflect that. Of the 554 homes first built, 359 were studios or one-bedroom flats. The 16-storey Great Arthur House is all one-bedroom. The bigger homes are mostly among the 174 maisonettes, some with up to three bedrooms.

• Studio or one-bedroom flat, which covers every home in Great Arthur House: no, since there is nowhere for the carer to sleep.
• Two-bedroom flat or maisonette: normally fine, provided the smaller room is emptied and furnished for the carer.
• Three-bedroom maisonette: possible, and there may be room for a couple and the carer.

If the flat has only one bedroom

Putting a carer on a fold-out bed in the lounge is not something we do: they would be exhausted within a week. For a single-bedroom home, think instead about:

• Several visits a day, adding calls as things change; carers walk in from Barbican station a few minutes away. See home care on Golden Lane.
• A sit-in service, where a carer stays for a block of hours on the riskiest part of the day.
• A talk with the Corporation if the person is a council tenant whose needs have outgrown the flat. Because the Corporation is both their landlord and their social care authority, the housing officer and the Adult Social Care Team can look at it together.

Maisonettes: a floor each

In a maisonette, both floors can help. The carer has their own space on one level and the person keeps their bedroom on the other, for as long as they manage the stairs. When they no longer can, the usual move is a bed on the entrance level and a commode, then an occupational therapy assessment for anything permanent. Because the whole estate is listed, with Crescent House at the higher grade, a stairlift or anything fixed to the building needs the Corporation's approval first, as landlord for tenants and freeholder for leaseholders.

Dying at home on the estate

Many people who have lived on Golden Lane for decades want to stay to the end. Live-in care is often what makes that possible in a maisonette, alongside two NHS services that cover the City. Homerton Healthcare's district nurses visit housebound patients between 8:30am and 10pm every day, including for end of life care, but not overnight. The community palliative care team at St Joseph's Hospice, based in Mare Street, helps with pain and breathlessness at home and supports the family. A carer living in covers the hours in between and the night, within their rest rules. Push for the hospice referral weeks ahead, not days.

Carer changeovers on Golden Lane

Carers change over by public transport. From our Lewisham office, TfL's planner gives about 50 minutes to the community centre on a weekday morning, by Southeastern to London Bridge and Thameslink to Farringdon, or by Underground to Barbican or Old Street. Driving is impractical: the one accessible bay on the estate belongs to a resident, and the streets round it fall inside the City's parking controls. Our changeovers are all by rail.

Keeping the week the person already has

A live-in carer should fit into the person's routine, not replace it. On Golden Lane that might mean the Forget Me Not Memory Cafe at the community centre on Tuesdays, 2pm to 4pm, Age UK City of London's activities for people 55 and over, or a swim at Golden Lane Leisure Centre. The carer can walk them across and collect them, and use that time for their own daily break.

Hospital and coming home

St Bartholomew's in West Smithfield is the nearest hospital, about a 15-minute walk south, and the nearest full A&E departments are at the Royal London in Whitechapel and University College Hospital on Euston Road. A maisonette with the bedroom upstairs is hard to come home to after a broken hip; a carer who sleeps there can steady someone on the stairs and get up with them at 3am. Ring us once the ward mentions a date; see hospital discharge support.

Funding

Since the boundary moved in 1994, Golden Lane households are assessed by the Corporation's social workers; Islington plays no part. The Corporation's charging and direct payments are explained on our City-wide live-in page. If the problems are mainly medical, ask the district nurse or GP about NHS Continuing Healthcare screening. Otherwise the cost is private or shared with the Corporation, and our figure comes in writing after the visit.

How live-in care works →