Belong

Challenge

Many older people, including those with dementia, are unable to live completely independently. But finding suitable care can be a challenge. Building design, specialist team members, bespoke training, staffing ratios and organisational culture all affect the quality of provision, but traditional settings may not be geared up to focus on supporting people to live well with dementia.

Approach

Belong create village communities to enable older people to live the lives they choose and in particular, to enable people living with dementia to retain choice and independence in as many areas of their lives as possible. The villages provide a range of support and housing options for older people, as well as extensive amenities at the village centre.

The Rathbones Charity Bond Support Fund (in which Big Society Capital invested £30 million) invested in the £50m Belong charity bond enabling Belong to expand its services and build new villages in Chester and Birkdale which are due to open in 2021/22. The bond will be repaid through income generated from the accommodation and care services that Belong provides.

Impact

Belong provides support for older people through a number of options depending on their needs. Twenty-four-hour care, including nursing and dementia support, is provided in households for up to 12 people, while apartments are available for those looking to retain some independence with the reassurance of being part of a caring community. Outreach services are offered to people in the wider area, including home care and day-care. In 2019/20, Belong supported over 1,000 people across its seven villages, ran 4,700 experience days and 7,900 planned events and activities. Over 63,400 hours of home care were also provided. Despite having to close villages to members of the public during lockdown in 2020, services continued as close to normal as possible.