Barchester Healthcare Gets Moving For Charity

For the third year running, Barchester Healthcare staff and residents have come together to take part in an inclusive, company-wide initiative to raise funds for Barchester’s Charitable Foundation. ‘Get Barchester Moving’ is a week where all of Barchester’s homes and hospitals across the country plus support offices log their ‘move minutes’ and get stuck into all kinds of different fund-raising activities to show their support for the Foundation.

The ‘move minutes’ that staff and residents register can be any kind of activity from armchair yoga to line dancing, a gentle stroll or a tai chi session. Everyone is invited to take part and this year Barchester residents, patients and colleagues logged a total of 665,999 move minutes or 462 days in one week alone!

Barchester’s Charitable Foundation supports older people and other adults living with a disability or a mental health condition by helping them to connect or re-connect with others in their local communities. Get Moving Week 2026 raised £3,050 for the Foundation through staff and resident-led activities which included all kinds of different escapades such as a 24 hour 50 mile overnight hike across the South Downs calling at six different homes in Barchester’s South East Division by a group of intrepid walkers.

Not to be outdone, Regional Director, Cosmin Lemnaru, decided to log his move minutes by facing his fear of heights to take on the Mürren Via Ferrata, a breath-taking 2.2km cliff edge trail. Clipped to a steel safety cable running along the Mürrenfluh cliff face, Cosmin navigated exposed rock ledges, vertical ladders and a wobbly suspension bridge, at one point standing roughly 600 metres above the floor of the Lauterbrunnen Valley with uninterrupted views across to the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.

Chair of Barchester’s Charitable Foundation and Chief Commercial Officer, Simon McCall, commented: “Get Barchester Moving Week is a fantastic initiative which brings together our residents, patients and staff teams and gets everyone taking part which is what the Foundation is all about – helping people to participate in community activities and combating isolation. The fundraising element is the cherry on top but ultimately it is about wellbeing and connection. Every year the move minutes go up which shows that people are enjoying taking part, I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who gave up their time and who got involved.”