Live-in Care in Hounslow

Yes, we arrange live-in care anywhere in the London Borough of Hounslow. One of our carers moves into the home and provides personal care, meals, medication support and company through the day, with their own room and proper breaks. It starts with a free home assessment, usually with Jackie, our registered manager, and a written care plan.

A carer who lives with you, so the commute doesn't matter

Our office is on Lewisham High Street, and Hounslow is at the other end of London: well over an hour to Chiswick and up to an hour and a half to Feltham by public transport. That distance rules out much of our visiting care here. It doesn't affect live-in care, because the carer arrives once and then lives in the house. We plan their changeovers and cover in advance, so the journey never cuts into the care itself.

For many Hounslow families that makes live-in care the most dependable kind of home care we can offer. If you also want shorter visits, see our home care in Hounslow page for an honest account of where we can staff them.

Is there a spare room? Hounslow homes, east to west

A live-in carer needs their own bedroom, somewhere to keep their things, and use of the kitchen and bathroom. In Hounslow, whether that is easy depends a lot on where you live.

• Osterley, Heston, Hanworth, Feltham and Bedfont are mostly interwar and post-war semis and short terraces, which often have a spare bedroom and room downstairs for a wet room or a bed if the stairs become too much.
• Cranford mixes semis and terraces with flats. Aircraft noise from the northern runway can matter for sleep, the carer's included, so we talk about which room faces where.
• Chiswick, Old Isleworth and central Brentford have more Victorian and Georgian houses split into flats, with steep shared stairs. A two-bedroom conversion can work well. A one-bedroom flat cannot take a live-in carer, and we will say so.
• Brentford's newer towers along the river and the Great West Road usually have lifts. Check that the second bedroom is a genuine bedroom and not a study, and ask the building about visitor parking for changeover days.

Two people, one carer

Live-in care often makes the most sense for a couple. When one partner needs a lot of help and the other needs a little, the usual options split them up: one goes into a home and the other stays behind on their own. A live-in carer can give full personal care to one and a hand with the shopping, the stairs and the cooking to the other. One carer supporting two people at home can cost less than two care-home places, though it depends on what each of you needs; we give you a written figure after the assessment.

The carer's breaks and nights

A live-in carer is entitled to a break during the day and an unbroken night's sleep. Agree with us at the start who sits with the person during that break. It might be a family member, a neighbour or a short cover visit. If someone needs help several times a night, one carer cannot do that safely day after day, and we will set up a different arrangement and explain the reasons. Cover for days off and holidays is planned with you in advance.

Staying at home or moving into a care home

In Hounslow the alternatives to live-in care are a residential or nursing home, often outside the borough, or the council's extra care housing, which offers a flat of your own with care on site. Each suits different people. Live-in care keeps someone in their own bed and their own kitchen, close to the places they know, whether that is Osterley Park or Bedfont Lakes. It also keeps a couple together. A care home makes more sense where someone needs two people for every transfer around the clock, or where the home cannot fit a carer.

For adults who need a different setting altogether, we also run three supported living homes. The nearest, in Whitton, is one stop from Hounslow station on the Hounslow Loop.

How do you pay for live-in care in Hounslow?

There are three routes, and families often combine them:

• Hounslow Council. Start with a care needs assessment through the Adult Social Care First Contact Team, online via the council's request support page or on 020 8583 3100. A financial assessment follows. The council's paying for care guide says people with savings or assets of £23,250 or more usually pay the full cost. Agreed funding can be taken as a direct payment and used to pay an agency such as us.
• NHS Continuing Healthcare. Where someone's needs are mainly health needs, the NHS may fund the whole package. In Hounslow that runs through NHS North West London Integrated Care Board. The NHS guide to Continuing Healthcare explains the checklist and assessment. Ask for a checklist before a discharge from West Middlesex if needs have changed a lot.
• Paying privately, after our assessment and a written quote.

Our guide to paying for care in London covers each in more detail.

What we can help with in Hounslow

• 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