Live-in Care in Golders Green

Yes, we provide live-in care in Golders Green, across NW11. We start with a free assessment in the home and a written care plan, then a trained carer moves in and supports the person, or both people in a couple, day to day. Golders Green is close to an hour from our Lewisham office, which makes no difference once the carer is living there.

Can one live-in carer look after both of us?

In many Golders Green homes the person who needs care is not living alone. A husband with Parkinson's, a wife with dementia, a partner who has been doing everything for two years and is now worn out. Splitting them up for a care home is often the outcome nobody wanted.

One carer living in can look after both partners, at different levels. For one, that might mean washing, dressing, medication and help in the night only when the care plan allows for it. For the other, it might mean cooking, the shopping on Golders Green Road and company on a walk. We write down which tasks are for which person, so the carer's day is realistic and nothing falls between them. If one partner's needs grow beyond what one carer can safely manage, we will say so and talk through the options.

Mansion flats and the second bedroom

The red-brick mansion blocks lining Finchley Road and Golders Green Road often have two bedrooms, and that is where a couple's plans usually turn. If the couple share the main bedroom, the second room can become the carer's, and live-in care works well. If the second room is a study, or the bedroom one partner moved into to sleep better, it needs to be freed up. A carer cannot live from a sofa bed in the dining room.

Blocks without a lift raise a second question: whether the person can still get down to the street. A live-in carer can help with steps on a good day, but a wheelchair user on an upper floor of an unlifted block may struggle to get out at all. The Edwardian and 1920s houses behind the main roads usually have a spare room and a garden, and the questions there are about the staircase, as they are elsewhere in Barnet.

Shabbat, festivals and the eruv

For an observant household, the care plan needs to cover more than the kitchen. A few points that matter specifically to live-in care:

• Changeovers. We schedule a carer's arrival and departure outside Shabbat and festivals, so the household is not dealing with a handover, a suitcase and a new face on a Friday night.
• Getting to shul. Golders Green lies within the North West London Eruv, which is checked each week. Whether the household relies on it, for example to push a wheelchair to synagogue on Shabbat, is a question for the family and their rabbi. The carer follows whatever the family decides, and we write it down.
• Food and preparation. A live-in carer is there on Friday afternoon, so they can help get food ready before Shabbat begins, in the way the household does it.

We cannot promise the carer will share the family's faith, and we do not claim to. What we do is brief every carer on the household's practice before they start. For community support, Jewish Care, headquartered on Golders Green Road, runs day centres and dementia services that a carer can take the person to.

Arriving in Golders Green

Changeover is easy here. Golders Green Tube station sits next to one of north London's larger bus stations, and the National Express Golders Green coach station is on the same forecourt, which suits a carer travelling in from outside London. Parking is harder, because controlled parking zones blanket the roads around the station and shops, so if family drive over for handovers, buy Barnet visitor permits beforehand.

For the carer's daily break, Golders Hill Park and the Hampstead Heath Extension are both within walking distance. Golders Green Library, at 156 Golders Green Road, is a council library with somewhere to sit indoors.

Funding for a couple

When a couple both need care, the council assesses each partner separately, and each has their own financial assessment. NHS Continuing Healthcare may cover one partner if their needs are mainly health needs. We quote for the couple in writing after the free assessment. The Barnet council route is on our Barnet live-in care page, and the London live-in care page explains how live-in care works in general. If only visits are needed for now, see home care in Golders Green.

What we can help with in Golders Green

• 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