For many elderly people, especially people suffering from profound conditions such as dementia or sensory deficits, the thought of leaving their home to go into permanent residence elsewhere is incredibly distressing, not to mention very expensive for either themselves or their families. VIP Day Care, therefore, provides an exemplary solution. Affordable, empathetic, and reliable, its person-first work gives its service users back control over their own care.

With a deep commitment to people, and to valuing everyone as an individual, VIP Day Centre is a holistic day care centre that provides high quality services to local communities, giving those with dementia, sensory impairments, and other disabilities a place to go where they will be seen, heard, and respected throughout their stay. Nominally, each professional who works for VIP Day Centre is committed to giving its clients an experience wherein they will be stimulated and supported in a comprehensive and empathetic manner, with their needs seen to and a care plan developed to give each person the opportunity to enjoy activities, social interaction, and skill maintenance at the centre.

Therefore, the activities it plans are all interactive and highly accessible. It will develop these things with each person who attends in mind, with the staff on hand to give them any additional help that they may need to help them fully immerse themselves in the task at hand, promoting ability developing and enhanced independence. In this manner, no matter how debilitating a condition one is living with, VIP Day Centre can help the person living with it to thrive instead of just survive by boosting their self-esteem with skill development programmes and the like.

The Director, Natalie Allcock, has been keen to implement these things, as they directly follow her own goals and values. She has worked in various care settings over the course of her 14 years in the industry, supporting dementia patients, those with sensory struggles, and a variety of other disabilities that make it hard for them to go through their day to day without a designated care provider there with them. When her own family member became ill with dementia – her Grandmother – Natalie realised just how little affordable support was available in her area, and did not want to go against her Grandmother’s wishes in order to have her put into residential care.

Thus, instead of this, Natalie developed her own daily care centre that would allow people to access the affordable and empathic help they need during their day-to-day without the cost and heartbreak of having to move away from their own home and into assisted living. At present, there are no other day care centres for older adults open in her area, and they are desperately needed. Nursing homes, on average, cost at least £2000 a week and domiciliary care usually charges at least £30 an hour; this is completely not achievable for many people, and it recognises this, only charging £10 an hour for access to its daily care facilities and enrichment activities.

With the population aging more and more, the latter half of the 20^th century and the beginning of the current have only put further pressure on an already highly pressurised industry in terms of care for older people. In 2016, 18% of the population were over 65, and the trajectory of this is only going to be rising in the coming years – with dementia being one of the highest risk factors to the population as a result – and elderly care becoming more of a priority for local authorities. However, said authorities have increasingly tight budgets, meaning that they are looking more and more towards the private sector to full certain gaps, and VIP Day Centre hopes to be a force for good in showing that private care doesn’t always have to break the bank; indeed, sometimes it is both necessary and far more accessible.

This is set to become more pivotal than ever in a world where the specialised and challenging needs of people living with dementia are changing on the daily, and VIP Day Centre is spearheading a movement into finding a more effective way to offer care in a way that fits a variety of different needs and lifestyles as a result. Moreover, members at VIP Day Centre regain control over their own healthcare and day to day life thanks to this. Allowing them to maintain autonomy and agency ensures dignity and respect is continually afforded to them at every turn, and in this manner, they can take advantage of various benefits such as attendance allowance, carers allowance, and direct payments that can be given if approved by a local social work team.

Currently, its centres can be found in both Bromsgrove and Redditch, but it welcomes clients from all over the country. Accessible by motorway and public transport, it has situated itself specifically to make itself as accessible as possible but hopes to continue making itself even more available to its clients with its future plans of VIP Franchising. This is a big part of its current driving goal, and it promises that as it continues to grow, clients will be able to continue enjoying the personalised, individual, and highly empathic services offered by its team, as well as the increased independence, peace of mind, and dignity that goes hand in hand with this.

A large part of the activities and exercises it offers within its day care focus on creating the right environment to suit the future goals of a service user. Striving to work with agencies, families, and other support workers, VIP Day Centre makes the client the expert of their own care plan, implementing in any cultural or linguistic requirements that might be appropriate, and including them in the decision-making process when changes must be made. VIP Day Centre, therefore, plies its trade to give both mental and social interaction within its day care, with regular visits from hairdressers and chiropodists being the norm so that its clients can feel looked after from head to toe.

Having been in operation since 2014, it has been receiving a vast volume of calls from up and down the UK since its inception. The market segment has welcome it with open arms, with peers recognising its good work and its clients dependably going on to leave it glowing reviews, as well as referring it to family, friends, and colleagues as a fantastic way to get elderly relatives the support they need without having them move into full time assisted living. Responding to feedback and listening to the comments of its clients, it strives to keep making its impeccable service even better going forward and looks forward to continue expanding and welcoming in many more fresh faces in the future.