Voyage Care welcomed Alex Norris, the member of Parliament for Nottingham North when he visited Arnold Road Residential Care Home in Bestwood on 22 September.

Voyage Care provides care and support for people with learning and physical disabilities, brain injuries, autism and complex needs.

Norris, who is Labour’s shadow minister for policing, met with residents and their care workers, and discussed what improvements they’d like to see in the sector.

He was given a tour of the home and spoke with Hayley Evans, operations director at Voyage Care, and Gemma Wain, operations manager, to discuss issues in adult social care.

Voyage Care stated it is determined to reframe the debate around adult social care so that it “focuses on those of working age being supported as much as those who are older or those needing to be discharged from hospitals”.

Andrew Cannon, chief executive 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 policymakers 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 system-wide 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.” 

Norris said: “It was great to meet with staff and service users at Arnold Road Residential Care Home to hear about their experiences of the care sector. High-quality social care is a vital part of our healthcare system and it was good to see first-hand the specialist support being provided at Arnold Road for people with learning disabilities, autism, brain injuries and complex needs.”

Voyage Care supports 3,500 people across the UK and employs more than 11,000 staff.