Respite care in Wallington and Carshalton: short stays at Bridge House for carers in Sutton, Hackbridge and Beddington

What respite at Bridge House is

Bridge House has 36 single rooms in a refurbished Grade II listed building, and a respite guest uses one for an agreed period, depending on assessment and whether a room is free. During the stay they have nurses day and night, their meals, the activities and the use of the conservatories, the well courtyard and the patio garden beside the River Wandle.

Carers in Wallington and Carshalton can turn to it when they need an operation, a holiday or a few nights of proper sleep. It also suits someone coming out of St Helier Hospital who needs step-down nursing for a few weeks, and a family wanting a trial period before making any decision about long-term care.

What a nursing home can do that a sitter cannot

Insulin by injection, catheter or stoma care, wound dressings and pressure area care are clinical jobs, and a sitting service may not be able to take them on. The same goes for swallowing problems, or dementia that keeps someone up and walking at night. Because Bridge House provides nursing care, a person with needs like these may still be able to have a break away from home, once the assessment has confirmed it.

What a stay includes

• A single room of their own, ready for the photographs and small things you bring from home.
• Nursing care from registered nurses 24 hours a day, alongside the care team.
• Meals and snacks, planned around any medical or cultural diet you tell us about.
• Activities, and places to sit: the conservatories with their raised flower beds, the well courtyard and the garden by the river.
• Medication given by nurses from the current prescription, with a conversation beforehand about how the GP stays involved.
• Family and friends can call in. Ask about visiting times when you arrange the stay.

Booking a stay

Give us the dates on 020 8647 8419 or through the tour request form. We assess the person before agreeing the stay, using the medication list, GP details and any hospital letters you have. Ask for the room, dates and weekly fee to be confirmed before you decide. When the day comes, bring the medication, named clothes, glasses and hearing aids.

Being a small home, Bridge House can only take a respite guest when one of its 36 rooms is free, so an early call gives you the best chance. In an emergency, ring regardless and ask what is possible.

Help from Sutton with the cost

Respite is usually privately funded, though the London Borough of Sutton has two routes worth trying. The person you care for can request a needs assessment under the Care Act 2014. Eligible needs can lead to council-arranged respite, subject to a means test that uses the 2026/27 limits of £23,250 and £14,250. You can request a carer's assessment too. It focuses on you, your health and what you can keep doing, and you do not need to know the other person's finances to ask for it, though any replacement care it leads to may carry a charge. Families living in Croydon, Merton or Surrey apply to their own council.

For anyone assessed as needing a registered nurse, NHS-funded nursing care applies: £267.68 a week in 2026/27, paid to the home, pro rata for shorter stays, and deducted from the fee. More detail is in our Sutton funding guide.

Day care for shorter breaks

For a gap of hours rather than weeks, there is day care: lunch, company and activities at Bridge House during the day, then home with no overnight stay.

After the stay

A respite stay ends with the person going home. On the last day, ask the nurse how the stay went for eating, sleep and getting about, and whether the GP should hear about anything. If long-term care does come up later, it deserves its own visit and its own decision.

Where we are

Bridge House Care Centre is at 280 to 282 London Road, Wallington SM6 7DJ, on the banks of the River Wandle opposite Beddington Park. Hackbridge station is about half a mile away and Wallington under a mile, with the A237 and A232 nearby. It is handy for carers in Carshalton, Beddington, Sutton, Cheam, Mitcham and Purley.