Dementia & Specialist Care in Greenwich

Greenwich • South East London

Specialist dementia care at home in Greenwich

When someone is living with dementia, where they live matters enormously. The familiar home, the same rooms, the photographs on the mantelpiece, the view down a street they have known for forty years, all of it does quiet, invisible work to steady memory and calm anxiety. That is the case for dementia care at home, and it is why so many Greenwich families choose it over a move into residential care. Protocol Healthcare Services arranges specialist support that lets a person with dementia, Alzheimer's or another complex condition carry on living in the home they know, in Blackheath, Charlton, Eltham or wherever they have put down roots.

We should be open about how we work. Our offices are in the South of England, so we are not a local shopfront in Greenwich. What we run is a national service that carefully matches vetted, DBS-checked Care Professionals to families, with a consultant on hand around the clock. For dementia in particular, that matching matters: we look for the right temperament and experience, and we keep the same faces returning so that trust and familiarity, which are so important in dementia care, have the chance to grow.

Specialist and complex care we support in Greenwich

• ✓ Dementia and Alzheimer's care at home
• ✓ Parkinson's and movement disorder support
• ✓ Stroke recovery and rehabilitation support
• ✓ Palliative and end-of-life care at home
• ✓ Complex, nurse-led and continence care
• ✓ Medication management and monitoring
• ✓ Waking and sleeping night support
• ✓ Routine, reassurance and meaningful activity

How the familiar home helps memory and routine

People with dementia often cope far better with the known than the new. A person who might become disoriented and distressed in an unfamiliar care home can remain settled at home because the environment itself provides cues: the kettle in its usual place, the chair by the window, the walk to the shops they have made a thousand times. Our Care Professionals work with those routines rather than against them. A gentle, predictable rhythm to the day, meals at the usual times, a familiar walk near Greenwich Park or along the river, reduces confusion and agitation, and helps the person hold on to a sense of who they are for as long as possible.

We also support the whole family. Dementia changes relationships, and it is exhausting and often frightening for those closest to the person. We share what we notice, keep families informed, and adjust the support as the condition changes over time, whether that means more visits, overnight support, or moving to full live-in care.

Live-in or visiting dementia care across Greenwich

Specialist care at home can take whatever shape the situation calls for. In the earlier stages, visiting calls to prompt medication, prepare meals and provide companionship are often enough to keep someone safe and independent in Westcombe Park, Maze Hill or Kidbrooke. As needs grow, we can add overnight support, or move to live-in care so a Care Professional is present day and night. Where there are clinical needs alongside the dementia, such as a syringe driver in palliative care or complex medication, our NMC-registered private nurses can be involved too. We cover the whole borough, from SE10 and SE3 through SE7 and SE9 to Woolwich, Plumstead, Abbey Wood and Thamesmead in SE18.

Coming home from hospital in Greenwich

A hospital admission can be particularly disorienting for someone with dementia, and getting home to familiar surroundings quickly is often the best medicine. We regularly support people discharged from Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, run by Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, helping to re-establish routine, manage new medication and settle back in. We keep in close contact with community and memory teams so that the transition home is as smooth and safe as possible.

Funding specialist care in Greenwich

Specialist care is priced on an individual assessment, because dementia and complex conditions vary so much from one person to the next. Many Greenwich families self-fund, but support may be available: the Royal Borough of Greenwich can carry out a care needs assessment, and where needs are primarily health-related, NHS Continuing Healthcare funding may apply. Care at home in England is regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Our team is happy to explain the routes, and our paying for care guide sets them out clearly.

More than home care: specialist staffing across Greenwich

We are also an REC-affiliated healthcare staffing agency. Care homes, supported living and NHS teams across Greenwich draw on our mental health and learning disability specialists, nurses and support workers. If you run a service in the borough, see our staffing services overview.

Areas of Greenwich we cover for specialist care

We arrange dementia and specialist care across the borough and its surrounding communities, including:

• Greenwich Town
• Blackheath
• Charlton
• Westcombe Park
• Maze Hill
• Kidbrooke
• Eltham
• Woolwich
• Plumstead
• Greenwich Peninsula
• Abbey Wood
• Thamesmead