Live-in Care in Whetstone, N20

We can arrange live-in care anywhere in Whetstone. The carer lives in your home and works from there, so it does not matter that our office is in Lewisham, about 70 minutes away. It starts with a free home assessment by Jackie, our registered manager, and a written care plan agreed with you.

Before you sell the family house

Whetstone has a lot of people who bought their house decades ago and have lived in it ever since. When care needs grow, the suggestion is often to sell up and move into one of the retirement flats near the High Road. That can be right, but know one consequence first: a flat with a single bedroom leaves nowhere for a live-in carer to sleep.

The interwar semi off Oakleigh Road North, or the detached house up Totteridge Lane, usually has that room already. Staying put with a live-in carer keeps the garden, the neighbours and the routines. If a move is happening anyway, look for a two-bedroom flat and the choice stays open. If you are unsure, ask us to assess the current house first; it costs nothing.

One carer for a husband and wife

A husband and wife who have shared a Whetstone house for decades rarely want to be apart now. A single live-in carer can look after both. In practice it often looks like this:

• Full personal care, medication and help moving for the partner who needs most support, which may include someone living with dementia.
• Cooking, shopping, laundry and lifts to appointments that cover both of you.
• Company and a break for the partner who has been the carer until now, so they can sleep, see friends or get to their own appointments.

One carer has limits. If either of you needs regular help through the night, one person cannot also work the next day, and we will say so at the assessment and explain what extra cover would be needed. Read more on live-in care for couples.

How do relief carers get to Whetstone?

When the main carer takes time off, a relief carer comes in. Whetstone has two rail routes for changeover day:

• Northern line, High Barnet branch: Totteridge & Whetstone for the High Road and the Totteridge side, and Woodside Park for homes at the southern end.
• Great Northern trains to Oakleigh Park: from Moorgate and King's Cross, for homes on the eastern side towards Oakleigh Road North.

If the relief carer drives, check the street. Roads close to Totteridge & Whetstone station are in a controlled parking zone, and a relief carer parked in a permit bay during the controlled hours needs one of your Barnet visitor permits. Many N20 roads further from the station have no controls at all; check the signs at the end of your road or ask Barnet Council.

The carer's break on the High Road

A live-in carer has a break every day. Whetstone is a pleasant place to spend it: Swan Lane Open Space, entered from the High Road, has mown grass, big trees including giant redwoods, a reed-filled spring pond and a café, and Whetstone Stray, between Totteridge Lane and Laurel Way, is part of the Dollis Valley Greenwalk along the Dollis Brook. The High Road itself has cafés and shops for errands.

Outside the break, those places are for your parent too. A walk to the Swan Lane pond or a High Road coffee keeps someone part of the neighbourhood. For churchgoers, St John's is the parish church on the High Road; a carer can go with your parent to services if that is in the care plan.

After a stay in Barnet Hospital

N20 patients are usually treated at Barnet Hospital on Wellhouse Lane. When one half of a couple is coming home, the other is often too frail to manage alone, and the ward will want to know there is support in place. A live-in carer can be there from the day of discharge, so both partners are looked after. Call us while the ward is still planning, and see our hospital discharge support.

Will Barnet Council help pay for live-in care in Whetstone?

It may. The council assesses needs through Social Care Direct (020 8359 5000) and then means-tests what the person pays; a personal budget can be taken as a direct payment and used with us. For a couple, each partner is assessed separately. A spouse who has been caring can ask Barnet Carers for a carer's assessment of their own. The detail is on our Barnet live-in care page, and visiting care is covered on home care in Whetstone. We quote in writing after the free assessment.

What we can help with in Whetstone

• 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