Stroke Recovery Care at Home in Crawley

A stroke can change everything within hours. If your relative has just been admitted to East Surrey Hospital or Crawley Hospital, or is being prepared for discharge, you may be trying to understand what home care looks like — and how quickly you need to arrange it. That pressure is real, and this page is here to help you move through it clearly.

Stroke recovery care at home covers a wide range of support: help with personal care such as washing, dressing and continence; assistance with meals and medication; support with mobility and fall prevention; and — in some cases — rehabilitation exercises prescribed by a physiotherapist or occupational therapist that a carer can assist with during visits. The level of input your relative needs will depend on how severe the stroke was and how far their recovery has progressed.

In Crawley, home care after stroke is arranged through a combination of NHS discharge pathways managed by Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust (SASH), and — for longer-term support — the adult social care team at Crawley Borough Council. Some families will be eligible for NHS-funded support; others will arrange and fund care privately. Many will find themselves somewhere in between, managing a mix of funded and self-funded hours.

CareAH is a marketplace that connects families to CQC-registered domiciliary care agencies. Across the Crawley area there are approximately 54 CQC-registered home care agencies ^[4]. Finding one with genuine stroke recovery experience, the right staffing levels, and availability at short notice takes time you may not feel you have. This page explains what to look for and how the local system works.

Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust (SASH) runs both East Surrey Hospital in Redhill and Crawley Hospital. These are the two main NHS sites your relative is most likely to be discharged from following a stroke in this area.

When a patient is medically stable enough to leave hospital, the discharge team will assess which pathway is appropriate ^[8]. The four main pathways under the NHS Discharge to Assess (D2A) framework are:

• Pathway 0 — the person can go home with little or no additional support.
• Pathway 1 — the person goes home with a short-term package of community-based support, which may include NHS community nursing, therapy input, and home care visits.
• Pathway 2 — the person requires a short stay in a step-down facility before returning home.
• Pathway 3 — the person needs a longer period of nursing or residential care before home return is possible.

For stroke specifically, NHS England supports Early Supported Discharge (ESD) — a model where people who have had a mild to moderate stroke leave hospital sooner and receive intensive rehabilitation at home from a specialist multidisciplinary team. SASH's community stroke services can provide this kind of specialist input for eligible patients in the Crawley area.

Once the NHS-funded short-term support ends — which typically happens within six to twelve weeks — longer-term care becomes a means-tested arrangement through Crawley Borough Council's adult social care team, or is funded privately. Families should ask the discharge team explicitly what is being funded by the NHS, for how long, and what happens when that funding stops. The national NHS Continuing Healthcare framework sets out criteria under which some people may remain NHS-funded beyond the initial discharge period ^[2][3].

Understanding which pathway your relative is on before they leave hospital will shape every decision you make about home care.

Not every home care agency has meaningful experience of post-stroke care. The practical demands — supporting someone with hemiplegia, managing communication difficulties after aphasia, recognising signs of a secondary stroke — are specific. Here is what to look for.

CQC registration is not optional. Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 ^[6], it is a criminal offence to provide regulated personal care in England without registering with the Care Quality Commission ^[4]. An unregistered agency is operating illegally. Every agency listed on CareAH is CQC-registered. You can verify any agency's registration and read their most recent inspection report on the CQC website ^[4] before you commit to anything.

Beyond registration, look for:

• Evidence that staff have received training specific to stroke recovery, including manual handling, communication support, and dysphagia awareness if relevant.
• Experience working alongside NHS community rehabilitation teams — this matters when a physiotherapist or occupational therapist has prescribed a home exercise programme.
• A care plan that is written around your relative's specific deficits and goals, not a generic stroke template.
• Consistent care workers rather than a rotating rota — familiarity matters enormously during stroke recovery.
• Clear protocols for recognising signs of a secondary stroke and a documented escalation process.
• Willingness to attend a hospital discharge planning meeting or liaise directly with the SASH discharge team.
• Realistic availability — can they start on or before the proposed discharge date?

Ask each agency directly about these points. Vague answers are a signal worth noting.

How care is funded after a stroke in Crawley depends on medical need, financial circumstances, and how much time has passed since the stroke.

NHS-funded support may cover the initial period at home under a Pathway 1 or ESD arrangement. Some people with high ongoing health needs qualify for NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC), which funds care in full regardless of savings ^[2][3]. CHC eligibility is assessed against clinical criteria — if you believe your relative may qualify, you can seek free independent advice from Beacon ^[10].

Local authority support becomes relevant once NHS funding ends or if your relative was not eligible for NHS-funded discharge support. Crawley Borough Council has a legal duty under the Care Act 2014 ^[5] to carry out a needs assessment if requested. That assessment looks at care needs — not finances — first. A financial assessment follows. For 2026–27, adults with assets above £23,250 are expected to meet the full cost of their care; those with assets between £14,250 and £23,250 receive partial support; those below £14,250 are not charged for residential care ^[1]. Home care charging rules differ slightly — the council assessment will clarify the position.

For a Care Act 2014 needs assessment, search 'Crawley Borough Council adult social care' for current contact details and opening hours.

Direct Payments allow your relative (or a family member acting on their behalf) to receive the funding allocation directly and arrange care independently, including through domiciliary care agencies in Crawley ^[9]. A Personal Health Budget can work similarly for NHS-funded support.