Voyage Care Welcomes Rachel Reeves MP to Highlight the Impact of Great Care and Support

Voyage Care, provider of care and support for people with learning and physical disabilities, brain injuries, autism, and complex needs across the UK – has welcomed Leeds West MP, Rachel Reeves, to one of its West Yorkshire residential care homes.

Ms Reeves visited Summerfield Court, one of Voyage Care’s specialist brain injury rehabilitation services in her local constituency Bramley. She met with those living at the home and their support workers to discuss how the support provided enables them to live the life they choose.

Voyage Care colleagues spoke with pride about their Headway Approved Provider status and discussed the importance of adequate funding for social care services in Leeds – highlighting how some individuals in local communities can face a postcode lottery accessing the support they need to live happy and healthy lives.

Ms Reeves also met with Gary Franklin, Service Manager at Summerfield Court, who gave a tour of the home and discussed some of the wider issues affecting the sector with the MP.

Despite delivering lifechanging outcomes for those supported, the adult care sector in the UK continues to face a lack of funding, inequality and ongoing recruitment and retention issues, with a recent Skills for Care report showing that there are currently around 152,000 vacancies nationwide, with a turnover rate of 28.3%.

To help tackle these issues, Voyage Care is campaigning to raise the status of those working in the adult social care system to ensure there is parity of esteem with peers in the NHS. In addition to the creation of a national register of social care workers, Voyage Care is also calling for a more consistent social care commissioning model across all local authorities, to ensure that the individual needs of those requiring support are met in all cases, regardless of who is funding their care and where they live.

Shaun Parker, CFO at Voyage Care, said: “We were very proud to welcome Ms Reeves to Summerfield Court and I know that all the team and those we support appreciated the opportunity to share their stories and discuss wider adult social care sector issues with her. The people we support are at the centre of everything we do, which is why it is essential that the sector has the necessary support to ensure people are empowered to live their lives to the fullest.

“By discussing the key issues facing adult social care in the UK we hope to drive positive change and ensure high quality support is accessible to all who need it.”

Rachel Reeves, Leeds West MP, said: “It was a pleasure to visit Summerfield Court to see the excellent work that is taking place to enable individuals to have independence and autonomy over their lives.

“We know that the adult social care sector is currently facing a number of challenges and by working together with organisations such as Voyage Care, we can try to tackle these and ensure everyone gets the support they need, regardless of their circumstances.”