Home Care in Bromley: A Family's Guide to Arranging Support at Home

What is home care?

Home care, also called domiciliary care, is support in your own home. It can be one visit a day to help with washing and medication, several visits through the day, or live-in care, where a carer lives in the home with agreed breaks. The aim is to help someone stay safe and comfortable at home rather than move into a care home.

This is a practical guide to arranging that support in the London Borough of Bromley: who to contact, what happens after a stay at the Princess Royal University Hospital, what care costs, the funding that can help, and where families and carers can find local support.

For the national picture, start with our home care explained guide. Families on the Croydon side of the border have their own guide to arranging home care in Croydon.

Which parts of Bromley do you cover?

We provide home care across the borough, including Bromley North, Bromley South, Bickley, Shortlands, Sundridge, Bromley Common, Hayes and Keston. We also provide home care in Beckenham and Orpington, and each town page lists the neighbourhoods we visit there.

Our only office is in Croydon, at Airport House on Purley Way. By road it is about six miles from Beckenham, about eight from Bromley town centre and about ten and a half from Orpington. Orpington is the edge of our area, so please call first if you live there and we will confirm we reach your road.

Our local pages on home care in Bromley, home care in Beckenham and home care in Orpington have more detail on each town.

How do you arrange home care in Bromley?

There are two ways in, and many families use both. You can ask Bromley Council for a care assessment, which may lead to council-funded support, or you can arrange care privately, which is usually quicker. Here is the usual order of events:

• Ask Bromley Council for a care assessment, using its online form or by contacting adult social care by phone or email. The council's assessment is free and looks only at what help is needed.
• If the assessment finds eligible needs, the council carries out a financial assessment to work out what it pays and what you pay.
• If someone is in hospital, tell the ward's discharge team you would like care at home before a discharge date is set.
• To arrange care privately, call us. We visit you at home, agree a care plan with you, and send a written quote before care starts.
• Visiting care usually starts within a few days of the first home visit, and live-in care usually within one to two weeks, depending on finding the right carer.

Coming home from the Princess Royal University Hospital

The Princess Royal University Hospital on Farnborough Common, run by King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, is the main hospital for Bromley borough, about nine miles by road from our office. When a discharge date is set, tell the ward's discharge team you would like care at home, then call us with the date. We plan backwards from it and work with the discharge team where it helps.

District nursing at home in Bromley is provided by Bromley Healthcare for people who are housebound, usually on referral from the GP or hospital. Reablement arranged by the council after the stay is free for up to six weeks in England. Our guide to care after hospital explains how that works, and our family discharge checklist covers what to ask the ward.

Orpington Hospital on Sevenoaks Road is the site of King's Elective Orthopaedic Centre, for planned bone and joint surgery. If an operation is booked, tell us the operation and discharge dates and we will plan care at home around them.

What does home care cost in Bromley?

Home care in Bromley with us costs from £26 an hour, the same rate at weekends, with bank holidays charged at double. Live-in care starts from £1,650 a week, not including cover for the carer's daily breaks, which family usually provide, or the council or NHS when they fund the care.

Your first home visit is free, the quote is in writing before care starts, and there is no minimum contract. Our guide to home care costs in Croydon and Bromley shows weekly examples and what changes the price, and our page on live-in care in Croydon and Bromley explains how a live-in arrangement works locally.

What help with funding is there in Bromley?

Bromley Council can contribute to the cost of care if its care assessment finds eligible needs and the financial assessment shows you qualify. If it does, you can usually take the money as a direct payment and use it with a provider you choose, including us.

In England there are two capital thresholds, which stay the same for 2026 to 2027. Above £23,250 you are generally expected to fund your own care. Below £14,250 your capital is disregarded in the means test, but you may still need to contribute from income. Capital between the limits can count towards your assessed contribution. The value of the home is not counted when care is being provided at home.

NHS Continuing Healthcare funds a full package of care for adults with long-term complex health needs, and it can be provided at home. It is not means-tested. In Bromley it is assessed by NHS South East London, the integrated care board for the area, which has a Continuing Healthcare team for the borough. Ask the GP, district nurse or hospital team about an assessment.

Attendance Allowance is a benefit for people at State Pension age or older who need someone to help look after them because of an illness or disability, and you do not need a carer to claim it. Our guide to paying for home care explains each route in plain English.

Where can Bromley families and carers find support?

Looking after someone at home is easier with local help behind you. These organisations serve the borough:

• Bromley Well runs health and wellbeing services for people living in the borough, including support for unpaid adult carers and for young carers aged 4 to 19.
• Bromley Council has a carer's assessment form for anyone looking after someone over 18, which looks at the carer's own needs.
• Age UK Bromley & Greenwich offers services for older people in the borough, from befriending to hospital aftercare.
• Bromley Healthcare provides district nursing at home for people who are housebound, usually on referral from the GP or hospital.
• St Christopher's Hospice serves Bromley and Croydon, with its hospice in Sydenham and Caritas House in Orpington, and supports many people who are living at home.

How do you choose a home care agency in Bromley?

In England, any agency providing personal care at home must be registered with the Care Quality Commission, the independent regulator that inspects providers and publishes inspection reports and ratings. Check that record before you decide, and ask each agency how it matches carers, how it covers absences, and what its written quote includes.

Fabulous Homecare is registered with the CQC and rated Good, and you can read our CQC record yourself. Our registered manager is a registered nurse, and our carers are employed directly by us and DBS-checked. Our guide on how to choose a home care agency lists the questions worth asking.

Talk to us about care in Bromley

If you are starting to think about support at home in Bromley, Beckenham or Orpington, we are happy to talk it through with no pressure. We are a CQC-registered, locally run home care provider based in Croydon, supporting families across Croydon and Bromley. Call us, or book your first home visit, which is free, and we will help you work out the next step.