This week we’re celebrating Starts at Home – a campaign to shine a spotlight on our supported housing services. Today we’re looking at our Extra Care service, and sharing some stories from the team who work in our Extra Care schemes.
We have a number of schemes across our geography known as ‘Extra Care’. Extra Care does not mean it’s a care home. It simply accommodation designed to make independent living easier.
Here are some stories from our Housing Support Team who work in Extra Care.
Nigel's story
Nigel was in a situation that he was unable to get out of and needed urgent support. Nigel’s case was extremely sensitive and was a safeguarding issue. He was supported by several different agencies and it was a very long process. Nigel’s physical and mental health was very poor at this time, but he managed to reach out and accept the support offered to make his situation what it currently is today.
Nigel now lives in an Abri Extra Care property. He is safe and well and living in a clean and healthy environment. He has daily support from an outside provider and is managing daily life extremely well. Nigel never imagined he would have his own home again.
Nigel loves living in Extra Care. He has made some lovely friends, joins in the community activities, and has hot lunches in the dining room most days. Nigel’s physical and mental health has improved, and he is happy and enjoying life again.
In his own words, Nigel says (with tears in his eyes, “I am very happy and feel safe and well looked after. If it wasn’t for Abri then I don’t know where I would be today. I didn’t think I would ever laugh again.
Bill's story
This is Bill. Bill is 102 years old and lives in an Abri Extra Care property. He is very independent but sometimes struggles with understanding post and letters. His family live away so they are not able to support him with any issues that crop up.
Bill was referred to me as his state pension payments had stopped and he was very low on money. He didn’t know why his payments had stopped and didn’t know how to go about finding out. He became anxious and was tearful when I first went to visit.
The Department for Word and Pensions (DWP) wrote to people a while ago to inform them they would no longer pay state pension into a post office account. This would now have to be paid into a bank account. Bill had a post office account, and this is how he always got his pension payments. Bill was unaware of this change and didn’t recall ever getting a letter. DWP stopped his payments.
I contacted DWP and the post office and supported Bill with this transition. We closed the post office account and had DWP set up the payments to now go into his bank account. Bill had missed pension payments backdated and DWP paid him £1,820 into his bank account. I checked in following weeks to make sure regular payments were being made and this was now sorted.
Whilst I was there with Bill, I asked him how he managed his electricity. Prices have gone up, we are in a cost of living crisis and I wanted to support Bill. Having looked at an electric bill I could see that he was in credit by over £1,000. Bill asked for some of this money back. I supported him to contact the energy company and requested £500 to be returned to Bill. A week later this money had been refunded.
Bill has my phone number and knows he can self-refer any time he needs support. He’s extremely grateful for our service as he wouldn’t have anyone else to help him. Bill did self-refer a few weeks ago. He asked if I could support him with applying for a Blue Badge (yes, he does still drive!) Bill’s blue badge arrived this week. He can now park closer to the shops in town and remain independent doing his own shopping.