Live-in Care in Westminster

Yes, we arrange live-in care anywhere in the City of Westminster. A trained carer moves into the home, has their own bedroom, and supports the person through the day with personal care, medication, meals and company. It starts with a free assessment at home and a written care plan, and the one thing the home must have is a spare bedroom for the carer.

Does the flat have room for a carer?

In Westminster this is the first question, and often the deciding one. Most older residents live in flats, and many of those flats have one bedroom. A live-in carer needs a bedroom of their own with a door that closes; a sofa bed in the living room is not suitable for weeks or months of living and working.

Where a spare room exists, it tends to be in particular kinds of home:

• The villas, semi-detached houses and larger mansion flats of St John's Wood, where whole houses are still common.
• Belgravia townhouses and lateral flats, some of which already have staff rooms.
• The bigger two- and three-bedroom Edwardian mansion flats along the avenues of Maida Vale.
• Family-sized flats in Marylebone, Bayswater and Pimlico, where a grown-up child's old bedroom is free.

If the home is a one-bedroom flat on an estate such as Lisson Green, Hallfield or the Mozart Estate, live-in care usually isn't possible as things stand. Visiting home care or a council-arranged alternative is the more likely route, and we'll say so at the start.

Getting a hospital bed up to the fourth floor

Live-in care often follows a decline in mobility, which brings equipment: a profiling bed, a hoist, a commode, a perching stool for the kitchen. In a Maida Vale or Marylebone mansion block, check the lift's internal size before anything is ordered. Some older lifts will not take a stretcher, a folded wheelchair with someone in it, or a bed frame in one piece. Stucco conversions in Pimlico and Bayswater often have no lift at all, and Belgravia mews houses tend to have narrow, steep staircases. Estate blocks such as Churchill Gardens are more likely to have working lifts, but ask what happens when one is out of service.

We go through access, the bathroom and where the bed can go at the assessment, so the carer arrives to a set-up that works.

One carer for a couple

When one half of a couple in a Westminster flat needs a lot of care, the standard alternative is a care home for that partner and an empty home for the other. A live-in carer can give full personal care to one person and lighter help to the other: meals for two, a steadying arm on the stairs, the shopping, and somebody else in the flat at night if there's a fall. We assess both people, so the plan covers what each of them needs.

The carer's break and days off

A live-in carer works a full day, but not a 24-hour one. They need a proper break of a couple of hours each day, and a night's sleep without being woken regularly. During the break the person they look after should be safe alone, or someone else needs to be there. Family can cover it, or you can arrange a short sit-in visit; in the south and centre of the city that is something we can usually staff from Lewisham. If someone needs help through most nights, the plan needs a second carer or night cover, and we will tell you so.

When the carer takes holiday, we arrange a replacement in advance and introduce them before the handover.

Why the distance from Lewisham doesn't matter

For visiting care, journey time decides what's possible. For live-in care it barely matters: the carer travels in once, at the start of a placement, with a bag. That's why we can offer live-in care in Queen's Park or St John's Wood as readily as in Pimlico. And for the reviews and visits we make during a placement, central Westminster is only a direct Southeastern train from Lewisham to Charing Cross or Victoria.

How much does live-in care cost in Westminster?

We give you a written figure after the assessment, because the cost depends on how much help is needed, whether it is for one person or two, and what happens at night. We don't give prices over the phone.

Funding can come from more than one place. If the person may be eligible for help from the council, start with a needs assessment through the council's adult social care referral form or on 020 7641 2500. A financial assessment then decides what they pay, and a personal budget can be taken as a direct payment to use with us. If their needs are mainly health needs, for example after a serious stroke or towards the end of life, ask the hospital team or GP about NHS Continuing Healthcare, which for Westminster residents is the responsibility of NHS West and North London Integrated Care Board. Our guide to paying for care in London sets out the rest.

Live-in care or a care home?

If the council arranges residential care, it follows the same Care Act assessment, and the social worker will discuss which homes could meet the person's needs and what they would pay towards it. A care home usually means leaving the neighbourhood: the church, the market on Church Street or Tachbrook Street, the GP who knows the person. Live-in care avoids that, provided there's a spare room and the needs can be met safely at home. For a couple, one live-in carer can cost less than two care-home places; our written figure after the assessment lets you compare it with the homes the social worker suggests.

What we can help with in Westminster

• 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