Respite care in Hornchurch: short stays at Moreland House for carers in Emerson Park, Upminster and Romford

Respite at Moreland House

A respite stay here is a short, planned admission to one of our 50 rooms, 49 of them en-suite, over three floors of a home purpose-built in 2014. The length is agreed with the family, subject to assessment and availability, and includes nursing, meals, activities and the use of the home's facilities. Admission is from age 60.

A carer may need a holiday, surgery or just sleep. Someone may be leaving Queen's Hospital in Romford and want a few weeks of support before managing alone. Or a family may prefer to try a short stay before weighing up a permanent place.

Who it suits

Because Moreland House is a nursing home, people with clinical needs can be considered for respite: injections including insulin, catheters and stomas, wound dressings, pressure area care. The assessment before the stay decides whether we can meet them.

What is included

• A furnished room, nearly all of them with their own bathroom. Bring photographs and small things from home.
• Nursing care around the clock, with care staff across the three floors.
• Meals and snacks, with medical and cultural diets agreed beforehand.
• The activities programme, the lounges, sensory rooms and reminiscence areas, and outdoors the fountain, gazebo, lawn and patio.
• The hydraulic and hydrotherapy baths, and access to the hairdressing salon (ask whether any charge applies).
• Medication given by our nurses from the current prescription. Ask how GP cover works for the stay.
• Visits from relatives and friends, with times explained when you book.

How to book

Ring 01708 442654 or use the tour request form to give us your dates. An assessment comes first, so please have the medication list, GP details and recent hospital letters ready. Ask for the room, dates and fee to be confirmed before you decide, and check nothing is missing from the bag: medication, named clothes, glasses, hearing aids. In an emergency, ring anyway and ask what can be done. It depends on a room being free.

Help with the cost from Havering

Many families pay weekly and privately, and two public routes are open. The person who is cared for can approach the London Borough of Havering for a needs assessment, after which eligible people can have respite arranged by the council, with a means test using the 2026/27 capital limits. The carer, meanwhile, can request a carer's assessment about their own health and wellbeing. That request does not depend on the other person's finances, although any replacement care may be charged for. If the person lives in Redbridge, Barking and Dagenham or Essex, their own council is responsible.

A person who needs a registered nurse during the stay may qualify for NHS-funded nursing care: a weekly contribution paid to Moreland House, pro rata for part weeks, and removed from the fee. Our Havering funding guide goes further.

Day care for shorter breaks

A day a week may suit some carers better than a fortnight away. Moreland House offers day care: the person spends the day here, has lunch, joins in, and is home by evening.

After the stay

The agreed dates come to an end and the person returns home. Before you collect them, ask how they ate, slept, moved and settled, and whether anything should go to the GP. A permanent move, if it ever comes up, is a separate choice.

Why a nursing home rather than a sitting service

A sitting service gives real help when the needs are companionship and personal care. It may not be the right answer once someone needs a nurse during the night, or when a carer cannot rest without knowing one is there. Moreland House has registered nurses on duty 24 hours, which takes that particular worry away.

Where we are

Moreland House is at 5 Manor Avenue, Hornchurch RM11 2EB, a quarter of a mile from Gidea Park station on the Elizabeth line and under a mile from Emerson Park. It is within reach of carers in Hornchurch, Upminster, Elm Park and Romford.