Live-in Care in Welling

Yes, we provide live-in care in Welling. A carer moves into your home with a room of their own and supports one person, or both of a couple, day to day. Welling is the part of Bexley closest to our Lewisham office, so the free home assessment is easy to arrange, and it is followed by a written care plan before care begins.

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

This is often the first question in Welling, where a husband and wife who bought their semi decades ago may now have quite different needs: one with dementia or after a stroke, the other managing but tired, perhaps not strong enough to help with washing or getting up from a fall.

One live-in carer can support both. In practice that usually looks like this:

• Full personal care for the partner who needs it: washing, dressing, toileting, medicines, moving safely around the house.
• Lighter help for the other: meals cooked for two, shopping, laundry, company on the walk to the High Street.
• The spouse can step back from being the carer and be a husband or wife again, while still in the same house.

It has limits, and we will tell you plainly at the assessment. If both partners need two people to move them, or one needs someone awake through the night, a single live-in carer is not enough, and we will say what would be. The partner who has been doing the caring is entitled to a carer's assessment of their own; Carers' Support Bexley carries these out for the council and can advise on support for them.

The third bedroom in a 1930s Welling semi

Most homes in Welling are 1930s semis and terraces off the old Dover Road, with council-built streets to the north. In a three-bedroom semi, the box room is usually enough for the carer. It needs to be cleared enough for a single bed and somewhere to hang clothes; it does not need to be large.

Couples who sleep in separate rooms may find all three bedrooms already used. Sometimes one partner's room can move downstairs to the back reception room, which also solves the problem of the stairs for them. A one-bedroom flat cannot take a live-in carer, and there visiting care in Welling is the route to look at.

A live-in carer can be beside someone on the stairs at bedtime and in the morning, but if the stairs have become unsafe, ask the council's occupational therapists about a stairlift, rails or a downstairs bed. Equipment and adaptations come through Bexley's adult social care, the same route described on our Bexley live-in care page.

Discharge from Queen Elizabeth Hospital

For Welling, Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich is the nearest A&E, run by Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust. When one half of a couple is admitted, the partner left at home is often the one who struggles: they may not be able to manage alone, and they may not be able to cope with the patient's needs on their return either. A live-in carer coming in for the discharge supports both of them through the first weeks at home. Tell us the moment a discharge date is mentioned, and see our hospital discharge support page.

Getting a carer to Welling and back

Welling station is on Station Road, just off Bellegrove Road, and Falconwood is one stop west; both are on the Bexleyheath line, with direct trains to Victoria, Charing Cross and Cannon Street, several of them via Lewisham. For a carer arriving with their luggage at a changeover, it is a simple journey, and it is easy for us to visit for reviews.

Parking depends on where you live. The side streets are mostly free, but three controlled zones cover the centre and the stations:

• Welling Town Centre (zone W): Monday to Saturday, 9am to 5.30pm.
• Welling Station (zone D): weekdays, 1pm to 3pm.
• Falcon Wood Station (zone F): weekdays, 10am to 11am.

Residents inside a zone can buy visitor scratch cards for a carer who drives; the council's controlled parking zones page shows the boundaries.

Paying for live-in care in Welling

If Bexley Council assesses the person as eligible, it means-tests them and may contribute; a direct payment lets you use that money with an agency of your choice. For a couple, the financial assessment is based on the person receiving care. Where needs are mainly health needs, NHS Continuing Healthcare may fund it. We give you a written quote after the free assessment and do not publish set prices. Our guide to live-in care in London explains more about how it works.

What we can help with in Welling

• 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