Live-in Care in Merton Park

Yes, we arrange live-in care in Merton Park, SW19. A trained carer moves in, takes their own room and supports one person or a couple day and night, so our distance from Lewisham makes no difference. Everything starts with a free assessment in the home, usually with Jackie, our registered manager, and a written care plan.

Does a Merton Park home have room for a live-in carer?

The carer needs a bedroom with a door that closes, a proper bed and storage. John Innes built houses of very different sizes a few doors apart, so the answer depends on the street.

• The villas on Mostyn Road, Dorset Road, Sheridan Road and Melrose Road usually have a spare room.
• The cottage terraces on Church Lane and Church Path are small, and some won't have a room that can be spared.
• The flats and maisonettes include Wycombe Lodge on Langley Road, built in 1959, the flats made from the Victorian school building on Church Lane, and newer flats near the Kingston Road end of Dorset Road. Two bedrooms is often enough; one is not.
• The interwar streets to the south, around Poplar Road, Aylward Road and Kenley Road, are mostly semis and terraces where a three-bedroom house usually has space.

Where there is no spare room, the choices are visiting care if we can staff it (see home care in Merton Park), a move, or care in a relative's house.

Level pavements, steep staircases

Merton's own conservation area appraisal records a height difference of barely more than a metre across the whole area, so a wheelchair is easy outdoors. Inside is another matter. The larger houses often have the only bathroom upstairs, and a stairlift may not suit a staircase with a turn. A hoist needs floor space beside the bed, and sometimes the safest answer is a bed in a ground-floor room. Sort out equipment before care starts, so the carer arrives to a house that is ready.

Handover day: getting the carer in and parked

At a changeover the two carers meet at the house to go through the care plan. By public transport, Merton Park tram stop serves the western streets, and Morden Road tram stop the eastern side, both on the line from Wimbledon, where the District line, Thameslink and South Western Railway meet.

If a carer drives, look up your street on the council's CPZ list first; the Merton Park zones run from MP1 to MP4. Many houses here have driveways in what were front gardens, and that solves it. Otherwise, use visitor e-permits. Before you can buy them you need a free "visitor voucher qualifier" from the council. Approval can take up to two weeks, and you can buy up to 10 e-permits while you wait, so apply before the first changeover. Each e-permit is booked against the car's number plate; the council's visitor permit page walks through each step.

The carer's daily break, and outings for you

A live-in carer has a protected break every day, and the care plan says who sits with the person meanwhile. John Innes Park, entered by the lodge on Mostyn Road, holds a Green Flag award, and Wimbledon town centre is two tram stops away. The National Trust's Morden Hall Park lies a little further east, beyond Morden Road.

Outings for the person go into the care plan too: a Sunday at the Church of St Mary on Church Path, a coffee in Wimbledon, or a weekday at the council's Eastway Day Centre in Morden, which serves older people and can arrange transport (020 8274 5755).

Caring for a couple in one of the bigger houses

In the larger villas, a couple can often keep their own bedroom and still give the carer a room on the same floor. One carer can then support both: personal care for one, and meals, shopping and a steady arm on the walk to John Innes Park for the other. If either of you needs two people for every transfer, one live-in carer is not enough, and we will say so at the assessment.

Who pays for live-in care in Merton Park?

We give a written figure after the free assessment. A large house in the conservation area doesn't by itself mean you pay everything: for care at home, the home you live in is normally left out of the council's financial assessment, which looks at income and other savings. Merton's First Response Team arranges the needs assessment that comes first. Our live-in care in Merton page sets out that route, the savings thresholds and the direct payments team. Where needs are mainly medical, ask the GP or ward about NHS Continuing Healthcare, which NHS South West London assesses for Merton residents. Our live-in care in London page describes the service.

What we can help with in Merton Park

• 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