Quality Account 2019-2020

This Quality Account, our third annual report, covers the year to 31 March 2020. The final quarter of this reporting year saw the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic which had a significant impact on the lives of our employees and those we support. So, whilst we once again are pleased to share many achievements, we also acknowledge that this period was impacted by the actions we took to ensure we prepared eﬀectively for the pandemic.

Read our Quality Account for more details about our successes, learnings and priorities for the coming year.

Quality Account 2019-20

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Quality Account 2019-20 Easy read

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Katie joins the Voyage Care family!

Katie is a person we support at one of our supported living services. When she joined us in 2022, she ...

Teresa takes back control of her life!

For some people, food, (cooking and eating), is an exciting and enjoyable part of their day. For others, food is ...

Jade’s transition from child services to adult services

Jade is a person we support at one of our supported living services. After receiving support at a children’s service ...

autism

Paulina exceeds all expectations in her brain injury rehabilitation journey

Meet Paulina! Paulina is a person we support at Summerfield Court, one of our Headway accredited brain injury rehabilitation services ...

Neils completes his rehab journey!

Meet Neils! Neils is a person we support at our brain injury rehabilitation care home, Rossendale Road. In February 2021, ...

Claire achieves independence as she moves into her own bungalow!

Meet Claire! Claire is a person we support at Landau Lodge, one of our residential services in Yorkshire. She enjoys ...

Margaret’s story: Managing a learning disability with anxiety

Meet Margaret! Margaret is a person we support at Treddinoch, our residential care home in Falkirk, Scotland. She has been ...

A story of success! Meet Michael, our published author

Meet Michael! Michael is a person we support at Welby Close, a residential care home located in Kent. He has ...

Rebuilding Nicola’s confidence

Meet Nicola! Nicola is an autistic person we support at Dudley Street, one of our National Autistic Society (NAS) accredited ...

Irene’s story: Back in the community

Meet Irene! Irene is an individual we support at one of our supported living services in Dumfries, Scotland. With the ...

Rob thrives in supported living

Rob is a person we support at one of our supported living properties in Liverpool. He is incredibly sociable, enjoys ...

Revisiting David’s wellbeing and mental health journey

Looking back Nearly a year ago, we spoke to David, a 56-year-old friendly individual with a learning disability, diabetes and ...

Using person-centred care to improve Andy’s mental wellbeing

Meet Andy! Andy is 57 years old and has been living in our residential care home, Orchard Leigh, for over ...

How life at Oaklands helps Ryan to live an independent life!

Meet Ryan! Ryan lives at Oaklands, one of our adult residential care homes in Theale, Reading. Before moving to Oaklands, ...

Nothing will stop Matthew from having a smile on his face

Meet Matthew In 2009 Matthew’s* life turned upside down when he was cycling back from his girlfriend’s house and became ...

Helping Helen to expand her horizons!

When the residential care home where Helen* lived closed, she began a transition to Hunters Lodge, our residential care home ...

Complex care for Mimi after 11 years without

Mimi is Christine Ikyemtu’s youngest child. During her pregnancy, birth and even in the first few days after she was ...

Caring for Cleo’s complex care needs

Having a baby can be a magical experience. But for new parents Jess and Charlie, it has also been the ...

Getting to know Charlotte and her new ambitions

This week we spoke with Charlotte, a resident at Mandalay , our all-female residential care home in Essex. When we ...

The importance of a daily routine for Jessica

Jessica* is a person we support at our acquired brain injury residential care home, Carville Road, in Tyne and Wear. ...

Quality care for Jonathan and his family

Jonathan is 25 and has a variety of complex care needs including quadriplegic cerebral palsy, scoliosis and epilepsy. To enable ...

How The Laurels is the perfect fit for Lottie

This week we spoke to Lottie*, a person we support in Hampshire at our residential care home, The Laurels. When ...

Transition spotlight: Gwen moves out of county

Gwendolyn, age five, is supported by our Children’s Complex Care (CCC) team. She was born with spina bifida and vocal cord palsy. This means ...

Restoring David’s wellbeing and mental health

This week we spoke to David, a person we support at Cote House, our residential nursing care home in Wiltshire. ...

Developing a person-centred care plan for Megan

Meet Megan Megan first moved into Broadview, one of our National Autistic Society accredited residential care homes in Hampshire, back ...

Sean’s road to recovery and independence

Sean is a person we support at Devonshire House in Manchester. Devonshire House is our flagship brain injury rehabilitation service ...

Shirley’s new lease of life is helping her achieve her goals

Shirley lives at one of our supported living properties in Norfolk. She became unwell in November 2018. She was unable ...

Making friends at Mandalay

Meet Charlotte Charlotte is an autistic person we support who also has learning disabilities. As a young woman in her ...

Jack’s Sensory Paradise

At Voyage Care we understand the impact a change of environment may have on somebody. Jack has autism and challenging ...

Brain injury support at Cedar Road

As part of Brain Injury Week we spoke to Susan Guest, Service Manager at 48 Cedar Road. This brain injury ...

Adam continues to defy health barriers!

Adam is 22 years old. Like most young men his age, he loves watching his favourite football team and socialising ...

Baby Eva – Complex care from birth

Eva was delivered via emergency caesarean section in November 2018. Her parents, Esther and Sam, were both full-time teachers and ...

Helping Prodige to remain at home

12-year-old Prodige has complex care needs that mean he is vulnerable to everyday illnesses. As a result, he has spent ...

How Leah is keeping busy during lockdown!

Meet Leah, a 26-year-old artist with Down’s syndrome who lives in one of our supported living properties in Reading. We ...

Supporting Chris to live a happy and healthy life at Esmer House

Chris moved to Esmer House, our specialist Prader-Willi syndrome service in February 2020. Living with Prader-Willi syndrome Chris has Prader-Willi ...

Tom’s transition to supported living during COVID-19

Meet Tom! He lived at one of our residential care homes in Walsall. In 2020, he decided that it was ...

supported living

Harry has found the right living accommodation at Lavender House!

At Voyage Care we want the people we support to feel settled in their home and learn skills at their ...

Music helps Jamie shape his understanding of the world

Jamie attends our BROCS autism day service in West Yorkshire. He’s visually impaired and non-verbal, so the sounds he hears ...

How Esmer House has changed Lauren’s life for the better

Lauren moved to Esmer House, our specialist Prader-Willi syndrome service In January of 2020. Since living here, she has achieved ...

How Wey House became Sam’s safe haven

Moving into a new home can be difficult. When Sam* moved into our specialist nursing care home, Wey House, in ...

Mary moved into supported living during COVID-19!

Sometimes moving to a new home can take time, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it makes it all worthwhile. ...

James’ journey to independence!

James joined Westwood House, a residential care home in Wiltshire, in 2016 when he was just 19 years old. It ...

COVID-19 won’t stop these three friends moving into supported living!

Meet Emily, Emily and Leanne, the ladies who moved into one of our new supported living properties in Somerset mid-lockdown. ...

My Choice, My Voice – Helping Karen to become more independent

Meet Karen Karen lives at Heather House , one of our residential care homes in Tyne & Wear. She has learning ...

The road to independence

When Westwood, our residential care home in Coventry, received an emergency referral for a new resident, they were working against ...

Supporting Josh to transition from hospital into his new home

Josh* had been in multiple residential care homes and supported living accommodation but nothing had worked out quite right. With ...

Shaun’s seaside stopover!

Since moving to residential care home, Westwood, in 2009, Shaun has been on quite the journey: from home bird to ...

Andrew’s exciting move during lockdown

Andrew is autistic, this means his routine and having regular people in his life is very important for him because ...

Ayesha’s life changing transition journey

Ayesha and her staff team decided that she needed a change. She was living at Spring Grove Road, another Voyage ...

Ross is learning independent living skills at home

Ross, who lives at Sonnet Court – one of our supported living properties, enjoys studying independent living skills at Totton ...

Never stop fighting

Jason sustained a brain injury five days after his 18th birthday when he was involved in a car accident. The ...

Dave’s dedication to recovery

Dave joined us at John Cabot house in April 2017 after incurring a brain injury. Dave had bilateral neck injuries, ...

Life after brain injury

After sustaining a brain injury, Sharon joined us at Maeres House with the goal of becoming independent again. Her brain ...

On the road to recovery

Albert* transferred to Glasshouse from a rehabilitation centre in Derby. Albert* suffered a cardiac arrest whilst at home, he was ...

Neil’s time to shine

Neil sustained a brain injury in his 20’s after a road traffic accident. We were pleased to have him join ...

Helping Thomas overcome his fear of animals

Please note: all social activities and interactions mentioned in this piece took place prior to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. All ...

Relocation, relocation, relocation – for the better!

We support Matt* at one of our residential care homes in Somerset. Matt* has physical disabilities and needs full support ...

Small steps to a brighter future – Adam’s story

Adam*, an autistic person we support, first came to one of our services in the South East, in September 2017. ...

Scoring and soaring, above and beyond in quality!

Earlier this year we caught up with one of our care home managers, Kelly Barnard, about their recent quality audit ...

Staff bring Dan and his father back together, after a long 14 years

Dan*, a gentleman we support, unfortunately lost contact with his paternal family when he moved into one of our care ...

60 seconds with an apprentice

Zofia is a support worker at Mimosa Lodge. She shares her story about taking the plunge and completing a diploma… ...

How an apprenticeship helped Kayleigh progress in her career

I am a senior support worker at Redmond House, I have always wanted to progress and develop my job role ...

Moving on and moving in – just in time for the new year!

One of our residential care homes in Somerset supports up to 11 people. Our home is made up of three residential ...

What makes me proud of our Apprenticeship Programme

Rob Brady is the Director of People and Development at Voyage Care. He shares some of the things that make ...

A small yet life-changing move for Sally

Sally* is a happy and thriving adult, whose independence and sociability is at a great level. But rewind to 2011, ...

A day in the life of a VQ Assessor

The high quality of our apprenticeship’s rely heavily on the hard work of our VQ Assessors. But what exactly does ...

The right path for Peter

Peter became part of Voyage Care’s Young Apprenticeship Programme in October 2018. Since then he’s been at Dryad Spinney, ...

On the home run for Darren

2017 was a life changing year for Darren*. A normal day in the summer quickly turned sour when an innocent ...

Daniel’s hard drive towards independence

Daniel moved to one of our specialist autism care homes in Portsmouth, in 2014. He’d always been keen to gain ...

Developing together: How the Elmsmead team have gone from good to fantastic

We caught up with Saskia, Service Manager at one of our autism specialist homes, Elmsmead, about the autism journey herself ...

Jen is back in education – thanks to Children’s Complex Care!

Education is vital to every child’s development, but Jen*, who has severe physical disabilities and a life limiting illness, was ...

“Staff don’t see limitations when they support me”

Tim* is one of the people we support at who lives in a supported living bungalow. After a year in ...

Ruth’s career progression from nurse to manager

Why Voyage Care? I started my journey with Voyage Care over 24 years ago now and it was purely by ...

staff and recruitment

Ann’s bus trip – How the team in Eastleigh have helped Ann face her challenges

About Ann* Ann* is a lady with a severe learning disability and autism who, at times, exhibits very challenging behaviour. ...

autism

Stan’s adventurous day out

About Stan* Stan*is a gentleman with a severe learning disability and autism which includes a hypersensitivity to noise and issues ...

autism

Making big improvements since the autism specialism to Reading services

Sarah, service manager at one of our Reading services, has shared the major improvements they’ve made at the home since ...

autism

How the autism accreditation journey has changed Zavier’s life

Since starting their NAS autism accreditation journey, the team of staff and the people we support at a service in ...

autism

First time flyer at Ling Crescent

Jackie and Helen are two people we support at Ling Crescent in Hampshire, one of our 33 specialist autism services ...

autism

Service spotlight: Our Romford Services takes a walk in their residents’ shoes

One of our services in Romford is a residential care home that supports 6 people with learning disabilities, many of ...

Jack’s climbing the ladder to independence

We began supporting Jack* at one of our specialist brain injury rehabilitation services in the West Midlands, 9 years ago following ...

Chaos to calm – Tara’s Prader-Willi syndrome story

The words “blood test” were whispered between staff at our Uttoxeter services, who were carefully devising a way to make ...

Onwards and upwards for Amy

Amy* was happy living at home with her mum but always said that she wanted to live more independently and ...

Evan – Timid to transformed in less than two years!

With a small audience of our staff and other people we support, Evan* tells a funny story in a way ...

Ant’s living a better life, thanks to our Scotland services

Ant*, who we support in Scotland, was previously supported by another provider up until early 2016 – and since then, ...

Rich’s journey to remember

Rich* suffered a brain injury in November 2015. It is believed the brain injury was a result of a fall ...

Sascha keeps progressing at Sadlers Place

In 2015, Sascha joined Voyage Care as a support worker at Sadlers Place in Walsall and since then her career ...

“In this industry, you are constantly learning”

I’ve always wanted to work within care. When I completed my GCSE’s, I started a youth training scheme apprenticeship in ...

This is the most supportive and caring company I have worked for

Beverley Malpass – Regulatory & Registrations Manager I have worked for Voyage Care for over 10 years. This is the ...

It was great to know that someone believed you had the potential

Chelsea Hennefer – Quality & Compliance Administrator I began working at Voyage Care in April 2014 in the accounts payable team. ...

Sam is building on his skills for a bright future

Congratulations are in order for Sam*, who we support in Norfolk, as he is due to gain his level one ...

Enabling Harry to venture into the community

Harry* has a learning disability and took a tenancy at one of our supported living properties in Berkshire 18 months ...

Brian is overjoyed to be walking into his new home

Brian*, who lived at one of our homes in Merseyside, acquired his brain injury when he was involved in a ...

Successful transition: supported living in Wolverhampton

St Brides, our newly acquired supported living property in Wolverhampton, is home to eight people with learning disabilities and behaviours ...

Justin moves into his own flat

In 2012, Justin* was shot through the head and right eye while serving as a soldier in Afghanistan. He was ...

Kelly’s inspired by our autism specialism

Kelly Barnard, service manager at one of our services in Scarborough, supports one autistic person with extremely complex needs. After implementing ...

autism

How Michelle found new ways to communicate

Michelle* lives in one of our homes in Scarborough. She is autistic and has extremely complex needs as she is ...

autism

“We are over the moon with the changes in Samson”

Samson* is autistic and lives in one of our services in the West Midlands, which is working towards Autism Accreditation ...

How Liam’s family was reunited

Liam*, who lives at our one of our homes in Leicester, has made contact with his family in Gambia for ...

Nathan’s story

Nathan*, who lives at one of our homes in Southampton, was reaching a crisis point. He was getting drunk every ...

Aiding Connor to live in his own home

Connor*, who has learning disabilities, ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and fragile X syndrome, has been supported by Voyage Care ...

Transforming Sue’s way of life for the better

Sue* was diagnosed with learning disabilities along with epilepsy. She grew up living with her mum, dad and brother, Barry. ...

epilepsy

Kicking off Tom’s goal out in the community

Tom*, who lives in one of our residential care homes in Kent, has learning disabilities and autism. Tom’s* autism results ...

How Paul increased his independence

Paul* has learning disabilities, autism and complex needs and has lived in various residential homes and hospitals from a young ...

Aaron’s story

Aaron* currently lives at one of our homes in the North West. He has Korsakoff syndrome and paranoid schizophrenia. Before ...

case study

Pat’s story

Pat* has moderate learning disabilities and a borderline personality disorder. She lives at one of our homes in Yorkshire. Eighteen months ...

Mike’s story

When Mike* was young, he dived into the sea from the beach and hit a sand bank. The accident left him ...

Rachel’s story

INREACH support for a complex ventilated lady Background Rachel* was a sociable family lady who enjoyed life to the full, ...

Meg’s story

A complex girl with an acquired brain injury Background Meg* is a girl that we have supported since June 2015. ...

How Bill’s negative experience ‘evolved’ for the better

Bill* has lived in the West Midlands for many years. He has a moderate learning disability and scoliosis of the ...

Supporting Drew on his adventure holiday

Drew* is living in one of our supported living services in Kent. He is non-verbal with a diagnosis of learning ...

Martin’s story

24/7 Complex Child Supported In Challenging Family Environment Background Martin* has been supported by Voyage Specialist Healthcare since July 2016. A ...

cerebral palsy

A step change in Andy’s recovery

Hello everyone, Let me tell you a little about myself. My name is Andy* and in 2010 I suffered a ...

acquired brain injury

Our son, Wil

Our son Wil* moved into a Voyage Care residential home in Somerset 10 years ago, after finishing his education at ...

New lease of family life for Valerie

Valerie* has learning disabilities and had been in care since she was three years old. She transitioned from a hospital ...

Aiding Arnie to reduce his anxiety

Arnie* is autistic and had high levels of challenging behaviour when he came to live at one of our homes. ...

How house rules made a happy home

Alison* and Lola* shared a house with some other tenants. The household was becoming unhappy, as each tenant believed they ...

Holistic approach stopped Dean’s challenging behaviour

Dean* lives in a specialist supported living service. When he moved into his new home from a specialist school placement, ...

Ethan gets active at our day centre

Ethan lives with his parents and his younger sister. He has a learning disability and autism. He does not use ...

Moira’s move to supported living

Moira has learning disabilities and had always lived at home with her parents. Her behaviour was becoming increasingly difficult for ...

Supporting Peter to overcome alcohol abuse

Peter has a brain injury due to childhood abuse and he was adopted as a child. He was very close ...

Finding Katie’s culinary flair

Katie lives with learning disabilities and Asperger’s Syndrome, an autistic spectrum condition. Katie likes to feel in control of her ...

Finding a shared language with Sarah*

Sarah* is a selective mute and has limited methods of communication to express her needs and wishes. This left her ...

Getting Danny* ready for college

Danny* is a young man who is supported by Voyage Care in a residential home. He has mild learning disabilities ...

Murray’s amazing recovery

Murray* was hit by a taxi in 2009 and suffered a brain injury, numerous fractures and internal injuries. His mother ...

Barry moves back into the community

Before Barry’s referral, he had been living in institutional care from a very young age due to his perceived uncontrollable ...

supported living

Rory* gets his first paid job

Rory* is one of the people we support in Warwickshire and he has been volunteering at one of our day ...

“I am very happy living with my friends”

Jeni* had lived with her parents until she was 47 years old. When her mother was taken ill and went ...

Bike crash left Owen in coma for 8 months

Owen* has made a miraculous recovery after a motor bike accident five years ago. From being in a coma for ...

brain injury

Alcohol left Kim with brain injury

Kim* was already receiving community support to tackle her alcohol misuse when she was admitted to hospital with encephalopathy. Encephalopathy ...

Moving back home after a brain injury

Lucas* suffered a cardiac arrest, which left him with a hypoxic brain injury. This gave him problems with his memory, ...

Sebastian uses music to tell his story

Sebastian* lives at a Voyage Care residential service in Gloucestershire. He has an acquired brain injury following a road traffic ...

Joan’s journey

Joan’s* goal was to live independently again and return to fitness following a brain injury resulting from a cardiac arrest. ...

case study

Sam made small changes for big results

Sam* had very limited independent living skills and relied heavily on support staff to maintain his home. Without the high ...

community support

Meeting Tariq’s cultural needs

Tariq* is a practicing Muslim and he has a learning disability and autism. He is currently living in a shared ...

Helping Greg to eat well

Greg* currently lives independently in his own home. Previous to this, Greg* was reliant on staff in most aspects of ...

community support

“I love the work I do”

In my early 20’s, I worked for a local landscaping company in Scotland. The job was below minimum wage at ...

“I would recommend it to anyone”

I joined Voyage Care after many years of working for the NHS, I needed a more flexible working life and ...

Training on the job worked for Linda

I started working in care around five years ago, after seeing a close friend struggle to look after her son ...

Helping Dylan to get back on his feet

Dylan* was involved in a high speed collision and sustained a brain injury in his twenties. The accident left him ...

acquired brain injury

Moving on with Voyage Care – Andrea and Riley’s story

Andrea* and Riley* both wanted to move out of a Voyage Care residential placement in Merseyside to be closer to ...

Annie’s story

Annie* came to a Voyage Care service in West London after a difficult start to her life. Emotionally and sexually ...

Olivia and Lisa Blue Hair

Olivia* moved into a service in Sussex in April 2017. Prior to this she lived at home with her parents ...

Voyage (DCA) London East rated ‘Outstanding’ by the CQC!

Voyage (DCA) London East provides essential support for people with learning disabilities and complex care needs in supported living properties, ...

supported living

Our new Prader-Willi specialist care home is opening soon!

We’re pleased to announce we’re opening a new Prader-Willi specialist care home! Mason House in Nottinghamshire will provide tailored care and support for ...

How our person-centred approach to autism helps navigate change

Routines are often important to autistic people. When change happens, they can find it difficult to adjust to a new ...

SVG Layer Quality Account 2019-2020

Voyage (DCA) London East rated ‘Outstanding’ by the CQC!

Our new Prader-Willi specialist care home is opening soon!

How our person-centred approach to autism helps navigate change

Quality Account 2019-2020