Tanya Baddeley

A unique social enterprise that supports your local hospice

Established just over ten years ago as a social enterprise and wholly owned subsidiary of The Oakhaven Trust, Oakhaven Care Ltd now provides 24-hour ‘live-in’ care in addition to ‘visiting’ home care - and each year contributes to the funding of Oakhaven Hospice.

Oakhaven Care Ltd was born out of the desire to create a care agency for the wider community that would have the same consistently high-quality standards of care as Oakhaven Hospice. At the same time, to provide income to help fund the specialist palliative and end-of-life care at Oakhaven Hospice.

The idea, to run home care as a social enterprise and wholly-owned subsidiary of The Oakhaven Trust, was innovative and unique. A decade on, Oakhaven Care Ltd remains the only home care organisation in the area that funnels all its profits into a local charity rather than into the pockets of investors!

Visiting home care and live-in care

Today, Oakhaven Care Ltd provides 24-hour live-in care in addition to visiting care (which can range from 30-minute ‘drop-ins’ to multiple daily visits). Care is tailored to the needs and wishes of each client, helping them to remain independent with companionship and support in the comfort of their own home.

Oakhaven Care Assistants can provide help with daily life including personal care; support with medication, nutrition and fluids; help with getting up and going to bed; light domestic duties; and outings to appointments, shops and social activities.

Live-in care provides full-time support, companionship - and reassurance for loved ones. It can be an excellent alternative to having to move into a residential care home, providing more independence and choice, in familiar surroundings.

Our team is fantastic

Becky Prince has worked with Oakhaven Care for nine out of its ten years. Starting as a Care Assistant, she is now a Manager, based in Lymington.

“Oakhaven Care started small to embed a very high standard of care, grew quickly and was able to move to a model that included permanent contracts. All of the carers attended a specially designed training programme before working with clients and, importantly, we were one of the first agencies to pay carers for travel time.

It is great to see how the business has grown over the years. We now have over fifty carers and an office in Totton as well as the one in Lymington. In addition to visiting care, we also now offer 24-hour live-in care for clients. And, because we select each live-in care assistant to suit each client, our live-in care extends well beyond the local area.

In addition to private home care, we also now work in partnership with Hampshire County Council and NHS England ‘Continuing Health Care’ (CHC) patients, enabling them to receive care in their own homes. Sometimes we have to provide care packages within 24 hours and although this can be tricky, we always go the extra mile to ensure it can be achieved.

Our team is fantastic. Right from the start, Oakhaven Care has felt like a family. Every single Care Assistant loves what they do - we all passionately believe that caring is a calling, not just a job, and I think that shines through in the high-quality care and companionship that all our clients receive. Attention to detail is everything and we all recognise that sometimes it is the smallest things that can make the biggest difference.

Oakhaven Care looks after its team. I’m not the only one who’s been here for years! We very much believe in developing our people and looking out for each other. There is a lot of understanding and mutual respect. It is a great company to work for, with an excellent atmosphere and a fantastic ethos.

All of the office staff have previously worked as carers, so we fully understand the life of a carer and the challenges it can bring - and, importantly, we can go out and help out at the drop of a hat, whenever required. Our ‘Out of Hours’ contact number continues to be manned by members of our office team, who apply their extensive knowledge to help our carers and clients around the clock.

We provide extensive training for all our Care Assistants, enabling them to develop their qualifications and continually update their knowledge. This is helped enormously by our links with the Learning and Research team at Oakhaven Hospice.

Above all, Oakhaven Care’s strong link with Oakhaven Hospice means so much to all of us. Carers and clients alike, we are all proud of the fact that we support Oakhaven Hospice.”

We love that we raise money for Oakhaven Hospice

Erica Longyear said; “I have been Managing Director of Oakhaven Care for nearly 5 years, from the moment I first started I knew we were different. We support clients with high-quality care and also have a family feel within our staff team by being a great employer. We are very passionate about helping clients to remain living in the comfort of their own homes. We also love that alongside caring for our clients we raise money for Oakhaven Hospice.”

On receiving respite care from Oakhaven Care Ltd, one client said; “Thank you so much for all the help that you gave me to regain my confidence. I’m doing well now but I know where you are if I need you again!”

Another Oakhaven Care client reflected; “Thank you for all the care, compassion and support you have provided me and my husband over the last two years. Your commitment and patience, sometimes in challenging situations, enabled my husband to stay living at home with me for so much longer than would otherwise have been possible. This extra time living together as husband and wife has been tremendously important to us both and has enabled us to share more memories together.”

A family member of an Oakhaven Care client said; “I will always remember how you cared for Mum with friendship, laughter and dignity. I am deeply grateful to you all.”

To find out more about Oakhaven Care Ltd services and careers, call us on 02381 800 505 or 01590 646440, or email info@oakhavencare.co.uk.