A visit from Australia

Exploring global systems of residential care for a population who experience homelessness.

In November, Framework hosted Zoe Jordan from Australia, on her global study tour exploring international residential care provision for people with ‘chronic experience of homelessness’ who also have complex care needs, including Severe and Multiple Disadvantage (SMD).

I was one of the lucky people who spent time with Zoe on her visit, and I also attended a multi-agency roundtable hosted by Kings College, London.

Zoe is a Quality Manager at a specialist residential care setting called Wintringham. They provide housing and support for people aged 50+ who have experienced homelessness, right through to ‘end of life’. Zoe visited America, Canada, Thailand, England, Ireland and Scotland to gather insights on how different systems address the challenges of this very disadvantaged and at-risk population.

We were delighted to welcome Zoe to Framework to see one of our unique services, a specialist CQC regulated care home called Edwin House. The Edwin House team support people at risk of homelessness who have experience of alcohol and substance use with care needs. Edwin House is so unique that it was the only service outside of London that Zoe visited in England.

We explored how our collaboration with partners helps us to offer the best level of support to those we work with. We felt that it was important that Zoe understood the cooperative network which supports our Edwin House residents, so in addition to visiting Edwin House, Zoe attended a SMD partnership meeting, visited Nottingham Recovery Network (NRN), and met with members of Changing Futures Nottingham. She also visited The Level, our residential detox service.

While the approaches, systems and policies vary across locations, when I met Zoe, it was clear that a common thread had already emerged…

A universal recognition that residential care available to this group is sparse, fragmented, and misunderstood. By ‘misunderstood’, there was reflection about choices made by people who have capacity, that aren’t desired decisions by others, and how we ensure that choices are respected.

It seems all areas identify a need for specialist residential care support for people who are aged 50+ and have experienced homelssness, but it was notably sparse, locally, nationally and globally. With increasing demand for support, it feels pertinent to talk about this gap, as the providers offering this are almost invisible globally.

This ‘invisibility’ featured in a discussion at Kings College in London, with everyone agreeing there is a need to look at this systemically – both nationally and internationally. There was a real appetite to develop this work. There was also a realisation that in the pockets where we have services, we need to be proactive sharing the value of a model that we know works.

Katie Walker, Edwin House Manager reflected: “It was great to have an organisation ‘just get what we do’ and it is fascinating that the organisation is literally on the other side of the world!”

We are grateful to have met Zoe and understand the work she delivers, which is literally changing lives. We intend to maintain contact to share good practice, as despite differing systems, the support approaches have common ground.

We are pleased to have an ally in Australia, but surely, we need to get this concept better understood, so that the people that ‘get what we do’ aren’t 10,500 miles away.

Further reading from the Kings College, London, Roundtable.