Lee Rowley, MP for North East Derbyshire, has visited Voyage Care’s care and support facilities at Cecil Road Autism Specialist Service in Dronfield.

The MP was given a tour of the Voyage Care home, meeting with team members and those who Voyage Care supports. He then spoke with Lyn Pickering, manager, and Antonella Oliver, managing director, to discuss key issues in adult social care.

Andrew Cannon, chief executive Officer at Voyage Care, said: “We see it as our duty to raise awareness of the issues that exist within social care. By inviting politicians and policy makers to meet with the people we support, we can showcase the extraordinary work our colleagues do every day to enable them to live as independently as possible.

“Enabling access to high quality specialist adult social care is fundamental to the lives of those we support and also helps to reduce the systemwide pressure on wider public services, such as the NHS, housing and other social care. Among our ideas is calling for the government to introduce a new Commissioner for Adult Social Care with a legal mandate to promote and protect the rights of those relying on the adult social care system.”  

Lee Rowley, MP for North East Derbyshire, said: “A huge thanks to Lyn and all of the team at Voyage Care for letting me visit the Cecil Road service. As the MP for Dronfield, its hugely important that I find out what is happening across the town, including work that not everyone sees every day. It was a real privilege to spend a bit of time at the service and to find out more.”

Voyage Care is a sector leading specialist provider for people with learning disabilities, autism, brain injuries and complex needs, supporting 3,500 people across the UK. It employs more than 11,000 team members to enable people to lead more independent and fulfilled lives.