Heritage Care is a UK national Charity providing community based care and support provider. Starting out in 1993 as an Industrial and Provident Society it was formed out of the Community Care Division of Newham Health Authority which provided health services for Newham London Borough, which has some of the highest levels of social deprivation in England.
Contents
Its formation was typical of many of the earlier voluntary sector community care providers in the UK that were outsourced from Local Authority or Health authority in-house provision. During this period this type of outsourced arrangement was to many people a controversial development and it was tagged as a "privatisation" of public services, a view that still persists amongst some today. Its subsequent growth has largely been due to further services transferred from Local Authorities and the NHS into the voluntary sector across the South and Midlands areas of England. This early growth was overseen by its Chair at the time, Stuart Etherington, who is the longstanding Chief Executive Officer of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.
Activities
Their aim is to provide personalised social care services designed with the people they support. As a Group it provides care and support services to people with "Learning Disabilities", Older People and People with Mental Health Support needs which is a notably wide range of client groups.
As a charity regulated by the Charity Commission its purpose must demonstrate "public benefit" and to meet this aim the vast majority of the people it provides a service to are those dependent on state funding for their care and support arrangements. Like many organisations in the voluntary sector who provide services to disavantaged people, 2011 has proved to be a challenging time with UK public sector spending cuts being imposed by the Government to unprecedented levels in modern times.
The Charity focusses on personalised services for people with Learning Disabilities and supporting people with individual budgets. In 2008 they were a pilot provider under the "In Control" project which aims to create a fairer society where everyone needing additional support has the right, responsibility and freedom to control that support.They have also partnered local authorities in personalisation transformation projects.
The Charity's Older People services specialise mainly in Dementia Care. The UK is facing potentially a national crisis in its shortfall of community based provision for older people, particularly those with dementia, due to the growing number of people living longer and the Demography of the United Kingdom
Campaigning
Heritage Care is a member of the Association of Supported Living (ASL) and Kim Foo, Heritage Care CEO, is currently Chair of the ASL. In June 2011 the ASL issued a press statement(which was followed up in writing to every MP in the country) calling for community based supported living services to replace institutional services for people with learning disabilities. This was in response to the much BBC Panorama programme aired in May 2011 about levels of abuse in a private secure hospital for people with learning disabilities.
In October 2011 Heritage Care and a number of other leading UK care providers voiced concerns over some of the changes proposed in the Government's document ‘Housing Benefit Reform – Supported Housing’. Their belief was that the changes proposed could have severe implications for some of the most vulnerable people in UK society and on their ability to live an independent life in the community.