Positive Impact award 'real boost' for Home Instead Norwich

Home Instead offers a range of care to people in their own homes, from companionship and home help to personal care and more specialised care for people with long-term health conditions. 

Chris Carter, director of the Norwich branch of Home Instead, said winning the award had been “a real boost” for the whole team. 

“It’s given everyone a lift, especially as we had tough competition on the night. The East Anglian Air Ambulance and the Big C are two fantastic organisations. To be in a category with them was a massive achievement, to come away with the award was a real lift.” 

Applying for the Positive Impact in the Community category was a “no-brainer” as it’s at “the heart of what we do” said Chris, who set up the Norwich branch of Home Instead with his wife Akie in 2010. 

“Our business is all about positive impact in the community, improving people’s lives, enriching them, in three key ways.” 

Those ways include providing care services, primarily for older people; employing a large team of people and working hard to look after and develop them; and offering free community activities, including dementia training, companionship cafe and producing and distributing a ‘What’s on where?’ guide. 

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Chris said seeing his grandparents’ and aunt’s experience of ageing was part of what inspired him to set up the Norwich branch of Home Instead. 

“I realised it was really important to try to keep people at home in their familiar surroundings, engaged in their community and with their children, grandchildren and friends they had known for a long time.” 

He recognised that encouraging people to keep doing things like the washing up, for example, gave them a sense of pride and wellbeing. 

“We were quite keen to give that support to a wider audience, helping older people in Norwich maintain their independence.” 

Showing concern for people in the local area comes naturally to Chris, who originally trained as a community pharmacist. 

“There’s something special about being part of the local community and helping others, it’s really rewarding. That’s what I’ve tried to take forward with Home Instead.” 

Looking ahead, with an increasingly aging population on the horizon, Chris and his team plan to continue to try to help people to stay in their own homes. 

Home Instead helps to keep people in their own homes (Image: Home Instead Norwich)

“We have recognised that the NHS is becoming more challenged, with more work to do. We are investing in our team so that they can provide certain health tasks on the frontline such as wound care and diabetes care.  

“Healthcare at home will be the future. We won’t want to visit the hospital unless we have to.” 

Chris Carter, director of the Norwich branch of Home Instead (Image: Stuart Beard)

Home Instead also partners with people who offer technology for use in the home, and use the information gained to help assess people’s care needs. 

He explained that sensors in someone’s home can tell if they’re spending a lot of time sitting down for example, or that they’ve boiled the kettle but forgotten to drink the tea they have made.  

Home Instead can then respond to the need which has been identified. As the technology develops this will become an increasingly important part of holistic care provision. 

Chris will also be upgrading the systems used behind the scenes.  

“We will be investing in the back office, investing in new systems to make sure we are efficient in what we do, as safe as possible, delivering high quality care and offering best value for money.” 

Everything Chris and his team at Home Instead do is with the community in mind. 

“Care at home can be a bit unseen. Developing that community aspect of the service has been really important to me.” 

For more information, visit homeinstead.co.uk/norwich