Member Article

Heathcotes to develop supported living alongside residential services

Heathcotes Group is increasing its capacity to provide a full care pathway for service users with plans to establish independent supported living accommodation in every region.

The first of a series of new developments will commence this month with the construction of supported living apartments in Nottingham and Leicester for service users who no longer require full-time residential care. In 2017 Heathcotes helped 25 individuals to move into a more independent setting and the company’s success in supporting service users to complete the transition has driven the decision to increase its provision of self-contained accommodation, which currently includes properties in Wakefield, Northampton and Stoke Mandeville.

Heathcotes Managing Director, Brendan Kelly, said:

“Heathcotes are renowned for supporting some of the most complex individuals in a residential setting but we are now responding to the changing market and looking to develop more self-contained provision. This accommodation is available for individuals who have progressed through their care pathway, but it can also be used for individuals who require a single-person service due to their complexity and inability to live with others. Our current self-contained provision operates as a core-and-cluster model with independent supported living located within the grounds of our residential services. This means individuals that live there can still access support and interaction with others, should they desire. This will be the plan moving forwards as we continue to develop this type of accommodation.”

“We’ve had some real success in helping individuals to increase their independence and it is a clear outcome we are able to evidence to our external stakeholders such as families, commissioners and care managers. As part of our admission assessment process we discuss short, medium and long-term outcomes. If the long-term outcome is independent supported living we work towards that goal from the outset of individual’s admission to Heathcotes. Some individuals may need our full-time residential care services for a short period of around six to twelve months in order to bridge a move from hospital. For others it may take longer, but we never lose sight of the ultimate aim to help them achieve greater independence and, as soon as they are ready, we facilitate a move to supported living.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sam Jones .