Live-in Care in Shooters Hill

We arrange live-in care on Shooters Hill: a trained carer moves into the home and looks after one person or both partners, and we organise the carer's journey in, their daily break and cover when they are on leave. It begins with a free assessment at home with Jackie, our registered manager, and a written care plan.

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

Often, yes, and Shooters Hill houses lend themselves to it. Many of the larger interwar and Edwardian homes on the hill have a bedroom to spare, so the couple can keep their own room and the carer has one of theirs. A common pattern is that one partner needs full personal care while the other needs a hand with meals, shopping and the stairs. The care plan sets out each person's needs separately, and we match the carer to the heavier set.

It works less well when both partners need two people to move them, or when either needs help through most nights. We will say so at the assessment, and suggest what would work instead.

Memory problems and the Memorial Hospital

Where one partner has dementia, the other often becomes a full-time carer without noticing. The Memorial Hospital, on the hill itself, is the base of Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust's Community Mental Health Team for Older People. A live-in carer can go with the person to appointments there, follow the team's advice at home, and give the healthy partner time to rest. For advice and carer workshops, Greenwich Dementia Support, run by South East London Mind, is the borough's dementia service. See also our dementia care page.

Big house, long staircase

The same houses that give a carer a room tend to have a long flight up to the bedrooms and bathroom, and sometimes steps from the pavement to the front door. Two arrangements work well:

• Carer's room on the same floor as the person, so they hear if help is needed in the night.
• A downstairs bedroom for the partner who struggles with stairs, with the carer's room nearby, if there is a ground-floor toilet or space for a commode.

If the stairs become unsafe, the council's occupational therapists can assess for a stairlift, and for rails at the front steps. In the post-war flats lower down the slope towards Woolwich, the questions are instead the lift and whether there is a second bedroom.

No station on the hill: how carers arrive

Shooters Hill has no railway station, so changeovers are planned around the buses. The 89 runs from Lewisham station, close to our office, via Blackheath and over the hill towards Bexleyheath. The 486 links North Greenwich, on the Jubilee line, with Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the top of the hill. Both run over the top of the hill along Shooters Hill Road. Carers arriving by train can use Welling or Falconwood on the Bexleyheath line, or Woolwich Arsenal, and finish by bus.

Parking is the easy part. Royal Greenwich's list of controlled parking zones has no Shooters Hill zone, so a carer who drives can usually park near the house without a permit. The council does run a Falconwood zone, to the south-east of the hill.

The carer's break, among the oldest woods in London

Every live-in carer needs a break each day away from the house. On Shooters Hill the ancient woodland of Oxleas Wood, Jack Wood and Castle Wood is a short walk from most homes, with the Green Chain Walk and the Capital Ring running through. Eaglesfield Park, near the summit, has wide views across London. While the carer is out, a relative or a short visit from us can sit with the person who needs care if they cannot be left.

Home from Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Queen Elizabeth Hospital sits on Stadium Road, just below the hill, and is where most residents are treated. When one partner is in hospital, the other is often managing alone and visiting daily. A live-in carer arranged for the discharge can support both of them from the first night. Call us once a date is likely; our hospital discharge page explains how we work with the ward.

Funding live-in care for a couple

If you ask Royal Greenwich for help, each partner has their own needs assessment. The council route, and how it treats the family home for care at home, are on our Greenwich live-in care page. NHS Continuing Healthcare may fund care where needs are mainly health needs. For self-funders, we put a figure in writing after the free assessment. Our home care on Shooters Hill page covers visiting care, and live-in care in London explains placements in general.

What we can help with in Shooters Hill

• 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