Live-in Care in London Fields

Yes, we provide live-in care around London Fields, for individuals and for couples. The carer has the spare room, and their day goes on washing and dressing, cooking, medicines and walks out, to a plan Jackie, our registered manager, writes with you after a free home assessment. Because one carer can support a husband and wife together, this page starts with couples.

Live-in care for two in E8

For a couple near the park, the point can come when one partner needs help washing, dressing and moving about, and the other is still managing but is tired, and should not be doing the lifting. A live-in carer can support both. The care plan sets out what each of you needs, so the partner with more care needs gets the personal care, while the other gets help with the shopping, the cooking and the jobs that have become a strain.

It also means neither of you is alone in the house at night if something goes wrong. When one partner is seriously ill, the carer can work alongside the district nurses and, where they are involved, the community team from St Joseph's Hospice on Mare Street, so the other partner can stay a husband or wife instead of becoming a full-time nurse. Our palliative care page explains how that works.

How is live-in care paid for when both of us need help?

We give one written quote for the household after the assessment. If you want to ask Hackney Council for help, each partner with care needs is assessed in their own right, and the means test looks at each person separately. Under the government's Care and Support Statutory Guidance, savings held jointly are normally treated as split equally between you (Annex B, paragraph 12), and only the cared-for person's own income is counted, with a starting presumption that a couple's shared income is split equally (Annex C, paragraph 5).

In practice, a couple's joint savings are not all counted against the partner who needs the care. Where one partner's needs are mainly health needs, ask the GP or the hospital about NHS Continuing Healthcare for that person. Our live-in care in Hackney page covers the council's request form, direct payments and Housing with Care.

Which homes near the park work for a live-in carer?

• A whole Victorian or Georgian house. The few terraces still lived in as single homes usually have a spare bedroom. The issue is the stairs: if the bedrooms are upstairs, you may need a stairlift or to bring a bed down to the ground floor.
• A flat in a converted terrace. More common, and harder. There may be a second bedroom, but often up a steep shared staircase. A stairlift on shared stairs usually needs the freeholder's or landlord's agreement, so ask early.
• An estate flat towards Haggerston or Mare Street. Couples who raised a family here may still have two or three bedrooms. A working lift matters, because the carer will be bringing shopping in and helping you out every day.
• A canal-side new build. Lifts and level floors, and often a second bedroom, though older residents are rarer in them.

Without a bedroom for the carer, live-in care cannot work, and visiting care in London Fields is the place to start.

The carer's afternoon off

Every live-in carer takes a daily break, and in London Fields they do not have to go far. The park itself has the lido café and public toilets, including an accessible one. Broadway Market runs on Saturdays from 9am to 5pm and Sundays from 10am to 4pm. Hackney Central Library, at 1 Reading Lane off Mare Street, is open six days a week and has a lift and accessible toilets.

When the carer is on duty, the same places make good outings for a couple: a slow walk round the park, coffee on Broadway Market, or a seat by the canal at the bottom of it.

Before the first carer moves in

We will ask about your routine as a couple: who gets up first, what you eat, who visits, how the house is run. That shapes how we choose and brief the carer. Weekly fixtures, such as a lunch club, church or a swim, are planned in. If the match does not work, we change it. For more on live-in care across the capital, see live-in care in London.

What we can help with in London Fields

• 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