SIGHT LOSS CHARITY AND LEADING CARE HOME GROUP ANNOUNCE NEW PARTNERSHIP
The future of a Norwich care home has been secured following the announcement of a new partnership between one of the region’s leading care home providers and Norfolk’s sight loss charity.
In a move announced today (Monday 11th October), Black Swan Care Group will take over Thomas Tawell House, a 37-bed care home currently run by Vision Norfolk. As part of the arrangement, Vision Norfolk will provide support for visually-impaired residents at all ten of Black Swan’s care homes in Norfolk, providing staff training and providing activities for residents.
Black Swan has previously worked in partnership with the charity to implement an improvement plan for Thomas Tawell House, which resulted in a ‘Good’ CQC rating in 2019, a rating which was confirmed at the most recent inspection in May this year.
Current residents will remain in the home and Black Swan will work with existing staff to ensure there is a continuation of high quality care provided to them.
“It has become increasingly difficult in recent years for organisations like Vision Norfolk to run stand-alone care homes, and the Covid pandemic has exacerbated that issue,” said Vision Norfolk co-chair Richard Hanson. “Increased regulatory demands and the well-publicised difficulty in recruiting care staff has made it more difficult to provide the quality of service to our residents that we would wish to.
“In addition, in the medium-term Thomas Tawell House – which opened in 1970 - will require investment to its fabric, which the charity is not in a position to provide.
“Black Swan is a very highly-regarded operator who already knows the home, and we are confident that the home will have a good future in their hands.
“The move will also allow us to expand the support we provide for visually-impaired people living in care homes. Initially this will be across the entire Black Swan Norfolk estate, but we have ambitions to roll out this support to every care home in Norfolk in the future.”
Black Swan managing director Tom Lyons said, “We are delighted to be adding Thomas Tawell House to our portfolio of care homes, and look forward to working in partnership with Vision Norfolk to improve the support given to our residents with visual impairment across Norfolk.
“We will be building on the work already done by Vision Norfolk to ensure all residents receive outstanding care.”
Black Swan has been involved in the care sector since 1991, purchasing its first care home in 1994. It currently runs 20 care homes across Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Lincolnshire – all of which hold a ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ CQC rating.