The caring profession
Abbeyfield UK is carrying on the good work of its founder some fifty years down the line.
The Abbeyfield Society was founded by modern day philanthropist Richard Carr-Gomm in the 1950s in order to address the loneliness, isolation and vulnerability of the older people he saw around him. In fact, so moved was Carr-Gomm by the plight of those he saw ‘staring fixedly from windows’ in his Bermondsey locale that he resigned his commission in the Coldstream Guards and moved into a bedsit in Abbeyfield Road, Bermondsey, to become a home help, and ultimately spent his army gratuity on a house in nearby Eugenia Road, inviting four lonely elderly people to come and live with him. In a very real sense then, Carr-Gomm was Abbeyfield’s first permanent member of staff.
Today, the Abbeyfield Society consists of around 300 independent societies, which are together federated into the Abbeyfield movement. Each society independently provides housing and support, some provide care homes, but as a whole the federation forms a wider movement with shared ideals and beliefs.
More recently, in 2003 to be exact, Abbeyfield UK was founded, its intention to provide a professional staff group which would be able to take its care and support role further in line with increased government legislation, and ultimately higher quality services. So far 175 societies have merged into Abbeyfield UK, although all the groups are able to remain a part of the Abbeyfield society, whether amalgamated or not. According to director of business development, Meic Phillips: “In our supported sheltered houses, we see our role as filling the gap between sheltered housing and care homes by offering meals and an opportunity to engage socially, backed up, uniquely we feel, by our strong volunteer force.”
Abbeyfield UK typically, though far from solely, operates houses of around 12 residents and seeks to fill the gaps left by home helps, which are often no longer provided by social services in the age of best value. In this sense, existing as it does over and above sheltered housing, but below the levels of support provided in full-blown residential care accommodation, Abbeyfield Houses fill a unique niche in the market, especially with its volunteers providing a social function over and above the professional services offered by its paid staff. All in all, the society provides a complete spectrum of care for residents, from simple housing and accommodation through to complex dementia and nursing care.
The challenge of acting as both landlord and support provider may seem a tough one, but not so, says Phillips: “The main challenge we have on that level comes from being answerable to two different regulatory bodies, and having to provide the appropriate evidence of our performance to each, but it’s not a mountain to climb, and other than that it really makes sense to be both – it allows the service to more fully reflect the needs of residents.”
Another approach through which Abbeyfield seeks to identify and meet the needs of its clients is through its widespread use of peer support on top of the more formal care structures it employs. This, coupled with the organisations encouragement of ‘sponsors’ for its residents – usually a relative or friend – helps to break down the sense of institutionalisation that can often be associated with elderly care and underpins the approach of promoting quality of life and dignity in delivering person centred services. Perhaps as a direct result of this, says Phillips: “One of the most common words that features in our customer feedback surveys is ‘homely’.”
Phillips describes Abbeyfield as “at the start of a new phase of providing services for older residents.” New government strategy for an ageing society seems likely to pick up new trends in the sector, while Abbeyfield UK plans to double in size on the back of the new strategy. In the next five years, Phillips hopes to expand the operation from the current 200 houses, 20 care homes and 2,500 residents to be caring for around 4,000 residents. It sees mergers and the purchase of further care homes as its most likely methods of achieving this.
One emerging area which Phillips is not in a hurry to enter is that of telecare. He explains: “Of course there are certain benefits of tele support, and we fully expect it to become a lot more popular in future, but we’re ultimately very much a people-centred organisation, and we don’t want that to change. We’re not writing tele support off out of hand, but it’s something we’d only ever use to augment our one-on-one services, not to replace them.”
Abbeyfield’s emphasis on volunteers, sponsors, peer support and family members is a clear signal that it is dedicated to regular contact with residents as a way of helping them to achieve their goals. As Phillips says: “We are determined to provide much more than just housing and support, and are committed to addressing issues of isolation and loneliness among the elderly, and we
have a number of ways of doing that.”
Judging by the responses of Abbeyfield residents, it’s an approach that’s working, and a lot of lives are being made all the better for it.
