Home & Visiting Care in Lewisham

Lewisham • South East London

Flexible hourly visiting care at home in Lewisham

Not everyone needs round-the-clock support. For many people in Lewisham, the right help is a familiar face who calls in at the times that matter, to lend a hand with the things that have become a struggle and then to leave them to enjoy the rest of their day. Our home and visiting care is built around exactly that: flexible calls that can be as short as 30 minutes or as long as you need, once a day or several times a day, so a parent in Catford or an aunt in Forest Hill keeps their independence with just the right amount of support.

We will be straight about how we work. Protocol Healthcare Services is based in the South of England with national reach, so we do not run a shopfront on Lewisham High Street. We do coordinate vetted, trained Care Professionals wherever they are needed, and everyone we place has completed enhanced DBS and right-to-work checks, references and training before their first visit. Wherever possible the same familiar faces return to you, because good visiting care depends on trust and knowing the person, not just ticking off a task list.

What visiting care in Lewisham can include

• ✓ Short drop-in and check-in visits from 30 minutes
• ✓ Help getting up, washed and dressed in the morning
• ✓ Medication prompts and reminders
• ✓ Preparing meals and drinks, and light nutrition support
• ✓ Shopping, errands and help around the house
• ✓ Companionship and help getting out and about
• ✓ Bedtime and settling calls in the evening
• ✓ Regular welfare and reassurance visits

Care that fits around your day in Lewisham

The strength of visiting care is that it bends to fit the person. A morning call might help someone in Brockley get up, showered and dressed, take their tablets and have a proper breakfast before the day begins. A lunchtime drop-in in Hither Green could mean a hot meal and a check that all is well. An evening call in Sydenham might help with supper, medication and getting comfortable for the night. Some people want a single companionship visit a week to get out to Lewisham Market or Manor House Gardens; others want four calls a day. We build the rota around the routine that already works, rather than asking anyone to fit ours.

Family often tell us the greatest value is peace of mind. When you live across town, or juggle work and children, a reliable check-in visit means someone is laying eyes on your relative every day, spotting a chest infection before it worsens, noticing when the fridge is empty, and letting you know how things are. That steady rhythm is frequently what keeps someone safe and confident in their own home for far longer than they could manage alone.

Staying independent, and support after hospital

Independence is the whole point of visiting care. A little regular help with the tasks that have grown difficult, and prompt encouragement to keep walking, cooking and getting out, often makes the difference between coping and struggling. We keep in close contact with families and, where relevant, district nurses and GPs across the borough, so that changing needs are picked up early.

Visiting care is also a gentle way to settle back home after a hospital stay. Many of the people we support have recently been discharged from University Hospital Lewisham, run by Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust just off Lewisham High Street. Short daily calls in those first weeks can support medication, meals, mobility and confidence, and many families start with several visits a day and taper them down as recovery takes hold.

Funding hourly care in Lewisham

Visiting care is usually priced by the hour or by the visit, and we will always be clear about costs before we begin. Many Lewisham families self-fund a few hours a week, and you may also be entitled to help. The London Borough of Lewisham, based at Laurence House on Catford Road, can carry out a free care needs assessment followed by a financial assessment to see whether the council can contribute. Our team is happy to explain how the routes fit together, and there is more detail on our paying for care guide. If your needs grow, we can move seamlessly to more visits, overnight support or full live-in care.

Areas of Lewisham we cover for visiting care

We arrange hourly visiting care across the whole borough and the surrounding SE postcodes, including:

• Catford
• Blackheath
• Brockley
• Deptford
• Ladywell
• Hither Green
• Lee Green
• Forest Hill
• Sydenham
• New Cross
• Crofton Park
• Downham