Live-in Care in Mottingham

Will an LCC cottage take a carer?

Mottingham's homes are mostly two-storey houses from the London County Council's 1930s estate and the post-war Coldharbour estate. Many have two or three bedrooms, but the rooms can be small. In the 2021 Census, about six in ten households in Mottingham ward had a spare bedroom, fewer than in most of Bromley. So we check the floor plan before anything else.

A three-bedroom house nearly always works. In a two-bedroom house, the couple or person keeps one room and the carer has the other, which only works if nobody else is living there. With one bedroom, a carer cannot live in, and visits are the alternative; see home care in Mottingham.

More than a quarter of households here rent from a council or housing association. If so, let Clarion, Greenwich or whoever your landlord is know about the carer before they arrive, and ask their permission for any rails or a stairlift.

One bathroom, one narrow staircase

The cottage-style houses usually have one bathroom upstairs and a narrow, straight staircase. That is good news for a stairlift, which fits a straight stair more easily. Until one is in, a carer can help with the climb, or the bed comes down to the front room with a commode. The council that covers your address assesses for equipment: Bromley for most of the estate, Greenwich for the streets by the station and Coldharbour.

Changeovers: step-free station and the 273

Carers with heavy cases appreciate Mottingham station: no steps to either platform, and direct trains from Charing Cross and Cannon Street. The 273 runs directly from Lewisham station, and the 126 and 161 link Mottingham with Eltham, Bromley and Chislehurst. Swap day can be planned around whichever is easiest from where the incoming carer lives.

Which council, which hospital, which hospice?

Bromley residents ask Bromley Adult Social Care for an assessment through its care assessment page; Greenwich residents call Royal Greenwich on 020 8921 2304. A hospital stay could be at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, on the 161, at University Hospital Lewisham, or at the Princess Royal University Hospital at Farnborough. Tell us which when you call about a discharge, and ring while the plan is still being made so we can see the house first.

At the end of life, St Christopher's Hospice covers Bromley and Lewisham. For Greenwich addresses, ask the GP which hospice team covers your street. A carer living in is the steady presence between the nurses' and hospice team's visits.

The carer's break near home

• The Tarn, a small wooded park with a lake, bird sanctuary and eighteenth-century ice well.
• Mottingham Library at 31 Mottingham Road.
• Eltham High Street, a few stops away on the 126 or 161.

When a son or daughter has been doing it all

Census figures for 2021 put Mottingham ward above the Bromley average for people caring 50 hours a week or more. Often that is a son or daughter living at home who has quietly become a full-time carer. A resident carer can pick up the washing, dressing and evenings in, so the family member can go back to work, or simply sleep. Bromley Well's carers service, on 0808 278 7898, supports Bromley carers in their own right.

Paying for live-in care in Mottingham

Bromley or Greenwich, whichever covers the street, decides eligibility and any contribution, and can pay its share to you as a direct payment. For Bromley council contacts, see live-in care in Bromley; for Greenwich, see live-in care in Greenwich.

How live-in care works →