Live-in Care in Wimbledon Town Centre

Yes, we arrange live-in care in Wimbledon town centre. A trained carer moves into your relative's home, has a bedroom of their own, and helps with personal care, medication, meals and getting out, while a second carer covers their time off. Jackie, our registered manager, starts with a free assessment at the address and then writes the care plan with you.

Does a flat near Wimbledon station have room for a live-in carer?

It depends on the bedrooms more than the size. A whole Victorian or Edwardian house in the side roads off the Broadway almost always has a room to spare. The blocks by the station have fewer bedrooms, but they are often good places to give care: a lift to the front door, level floors, and sometimes a walk-in shower that makes a hoist or shower chair easy to use.

The carer needs a real bedroom with a door that shuts. A study with a sofa bed, or the living room, won't do for weeks at a time. So in a two-bedroom flat, live-in care usually works. In a one-bedroom flat it doesn't, and you have three honest choices: daytime and evening visits instead (our home care in Wimbledon page explains how that depends on carer availability), a move to a home with a second bedroom, or a short live-in stay somewhere else while you decide.

The simplest changeover in the borough

Live-in carers swap over on a set day, and the new carer often arrives with a suitcase. Wimbledon station makes that easy. It has South Western Railway and Thameslink trains, the District line terminus and Tramlink, so the incoming carer has several ways in and the outgoing carer several ways home. We plan the handover so the two carers overlap and the new one hears how the week has gone.

A carer who drives in will find the town-centre streets controlled, in zones such as W1 to W7 and H1 to H3. Two things help:

• Visitor e-permits. As a resident in a CPZ, your relative can buy virtual visitor e-permits, but only after getting a free visitor voucher qualifier, which needs proof of address and can take up to two weeks to approve. Up to ten e-permits can be bought while waiting. Set this up before the first changeover, not on the day.
• The carer parking permit. If your relative is housebound or holds a Blue Badge, Merton's carer permit costs a £10 admin fee for the year and lets a visitor park in the zone while visiting them.

Where the carer takes their break

Every live-in carer has a protected break each day, and in the town centre it doesn't take long to find somewhere to go. South Park Gardens, just off the Broadway with entrances on Dudley Road, Kings Road and Trinity Road, has ornamental gardens, a fountain, a kiosk and toilets. Wimbledon Library, a few minutes up Wimbledon Hill Road from the station, is somewhere quiet to sit indoors when it rains.

Those same places work for your relative at other times of day. A carer can push a wheelchair to the gardens, sit with someone in a café on the Broadway, or go with them to the library. The Wimbledon Guild runs activities, talks and its HomeFood Café, and some people like going to a group there while their carer has an hour off.

Home from St George's to a town-centre flat

Wimbledon residents are usually admitted to St George's in Tooting. Coming home can be the hardest week: tired, unsteady, new tablets, and a front door that suddenly feels a long way from the bus stop. A carer living in covers the nights as well as the days, which visits can't. When the ward starts talking about a date, ask whether Merton's Hospital to Home Team will be involved, and call us so we can say honestly what we can staff and from when. More on hospital discharge care.

Paying for live-in care in Wimbledon

We give a written figure after the free assessment and don't quote before it. Owning a flat or house in SW19 doesn't rule out council help, because the home your relative lives in is normally left out of the means test for care at home. To ask for a needs assessment, phone Merton's First Response Team (020 8545 4388). If health needs are the main reason for care, ask the GP or ward about NHS Continuing Healthcare. Our live-in care in Merton page sets out the means test, direct payments and how live-in care compares with a care home, and live-in care across London explains how the carer's week is arranged.

What we can help with in Wimbledon

• 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