Live-in Care in Victoria

Behind Victoria Street, in the SW1P, SW1E and SW1H streets running down to Millbank and across to Vauxhall Bridge Road, we can place a carer to live in. They take the spare room and look after washing, dressing, meals, medicines and company, stopping for an agreed break each day. Jackie, our registered manager, comes to see the flat first without charge.

Is there a bedroom for the carer?

Census 2021 found a surplus bedroom in 38 of every 100 households across the Vincent Square and St James's wards, while two homes in five had a single bedroom. With almost nobody in a house, the building decides:

• Ashley Gardens and Morpeth Terrace, the mansion flats beside Westminster Cathedral, include generous flats with more than one bedroom, and many have porters.
• Newer apartment buildings on and off Victoria Street have two-bedroom flats with lifts and level access, which suit a carer and equipment well.
• The Peabody, Page Street and Millbank estates range from one bedroom to family size, so it depends on the address.

Where there's only one bedroom, our Victoria visiting service is the honest alternative, and visits here are among the easier ones for us to staff.

Stairs, lifts and getting equipment in

Late Victorian blocks were built around shared stairs, and plenty still lack a lift. A resident carer can keep someone safe and comfortable on the fourth floor, but getting them out may need a second helper or a booked plan. Before a profiling bed or hoist is delivered, measure the lift car or the tightest turn on the stairs; mansion block porters will know about goods entrances. Jackie walks the route from the pavement to the bedside when she visits.

Couples in SW1P

Vincent Square and St James's wards between them held 310 households in 2021 made up only of family members aged 66 and over. When one partner in a couple like that needs heavy care, a single carer can manage it and still help the other with cooking, appointments and the stairs. Jackie assesses each partner and will say if nights are too broken for one person.

Going home from St Thomas'

St Thomas' sits just across the river, and most Victoria admissions go there. A fall, a stroke or surgery tends to make the first nights home the riskiest, and a carer who is already living in is the simplest answer. Ring us at the first mention of discharge, and check with the ward whether NHS Continuing Healthcare screening has happened. For follow-up clinics, the 148 runs from Victoria and Great Smith Street to the stop outside the hospital, with the carer alongside.

For a terminal illness, Westminster residents can be referred by their GP or hospital team to St John's Hospice's Hospice@Home staff, who are free and usually come for a fortnight at a time. Laundry, prescriptions, shopping and the hours between those fortnights fall to the live-in carer.

Changeovers through Victoria and Westminster

Handovers here are about as easy as they get. Carers from our patch can ride the 185 from Lewisham to Rochester Row, or take the Jubilee line from London Bridge to Westminster and walk. St James's Park station is the nearest for Strutton Ground and Old Pye Street. Both carers spend time together in the flat so nothing about the routine gets lost.

Relatives who drive should note that zone D, covering Victoria, Westminster and Millbank, is inside the Congestion Charge area, that Westminster offers no visitor permits, and that estate car parks run their own permit schemes.

Where the carer can take a break

• St James's Park, north of Victoria Street, with the lake and plenty of benches.
• Victoria Tower Gardens, by the river next to the Houses of Parliament, a short walk from Millbank.
• The Abbey Centre on Great Smith Street, whose Wash House Cafe and over-50s activities also suit an outing together.

Strutton Ground's weekday market and Westminster Cathedral make good short outings together. If the person can't be left during the carer's time off, family can step in, or we can book a sitting visit.

Local support around Vincent Square

South Westminster has its own network of help that a resident carer can tap into. In-Deep Community Task Force runs activities and services for older people from Grosvenor Hall on Vincent Street. The Westminster Older People Community Mental Health Team, for over-65s with more advanced dementia or other mental health needs, is at 190 Vauxhall Bridge Road, usually reached through a GP referral. District nurses from Central London Community Healthcare visit people at home who can't get out to the surgery. The carer goes along to appointments and keeps everyone's notes in step.

Paying for live-in care

Jackie sends a written price after her visit, for one person or a couple. Live-in care can be council-funded in exactly the way visits can, through Westminster's needs and means assessments and a direct payment; Westminster live-in care has the detail.

How live-in care works →