ABOUT US
Since 1987, Crossroads Care Richmond and Kingston upon Thames has provided high-quality home and community respite care services to carers and the people they care for – babies, children, young people, adults and the elderly.
Our History
Crossroads Care was named after the British soap opera Crossroads which ran on ITV from 1964 until 1988, and again from 2001 until 2003. In the show, Meg Richardson (Noele Gordon), cared for her disabled son Sandy at home. This storyline provoked a lot of interest from real carers as it highlighted the lack of support for unpaid people who were also looking after loved ones.
In 1973, local Rugby man, Noel Crane, who was being cared for by his mother, saw the programme and wrote to the producer, ATV, complimenting them on their portrayal of the needs of someone with a disability. ATV took him on as an adviser on disability issues and shared his concerns about the lack of support for people, such as his mother, whose life had undergone significant change as a result of his accident.
In 1974, ATV donated £10,000 to set up a pilot project in Rugby, Warwickshire, with the aim of supporting carers in a practical way.
This became the first branch of Crossroads Care. In the first year of operation, Crossroads Care supported 26 families. By 2012, Crossroads Care was supporting over 43,000 carers and their families through a network of local Crossroads Care schemes.
What We Do
Crossroads Care Richmond and Kingston upon Thames has been providing bespoke, high quality home and community projects and respite services in Richmond and Kingston for over 35 years.
Our team are not volunteers; they are highly trained, paid and experienced care support workers dedicated to delivering the very highest standard of care and services.
We care for babies, children, young people, adults and the elderly with all health and social care conditions and needs, including specialist, complex care and support services.
What we Provide
Subject to an assessment:
- Holistic, bespoke, high-quality respite care
- Full assessment and integrated care support plan
- Skilled, trained and experienced care support workers
- Continuity of care support workers
- Home and community support
- Care for the whole family including siblings
- Specialist care including dementia and palliative care
- Personal care
- Moving and handling
- Medication administration
- Emergency drugs including buccal midazolam for epilepsy
- Specialised tasks e.g. oxygen, suctioning, nasal gastric and enteral feeding
Hours
- 2-hour respite minimum break: Crossroads Care believes that respite care cannot be delivered in less than 2-hour breaks
- Comprehensive Care Packages: meeting the needs of the carer and the person they are caring for
- 24/7: anytime of the day or night (subject to staff availability)
Accessing our Services
- Commissioned Services (paid for by statutory services, health or social care)
- Richmond and Kingston Charitable support/care (subject to funds)
- Self or Match Funding; subject to funds or match funding through direct payments
Making a Referral
- Self-referral: contact us directly
- Third-party referral (family member/friend)
- Through Social Services (adult and children’s teams)
- Through Continuing Care nursing teams
- Other voluntary organisations e.g. Alzheimer’s Society, Carers Centre
- Other statutory services
Vision, Mission & Values
Crossroads Care Richmond and Kingston upon Thames is committed to providing a practical and emotional support in the home and community in order to enable carers to have a break from their caring responsibilities.
Our Vision
- For the role and contribution of unpaid carers of all ages to be recognised, and for them to have access to the support and services they need to live their own lives.
Our Mission
- Provide services that respond to the needs and desired outcome of carers and those they support.
- Work with service users and other stakeholders to influence service innovation and growth.
Our Values
- Trust: we understand that our services only respond to carers’ needs when they trust us to care for the person they support.
- Involvement: carers and the people they support drive our service design and development.
- Quality: we ensure that our services are high-quality, flexible, responsive and continually improving.
- Family Friendly: we recognise that our services impact on families and friends – not just the carer and the person they support – so we design it with that in mind.
- Availability and Accessibility: we work to make our services available and accessible to as many carers and people they support as possible.
- Dignity and Respect: we always treat carers and the people they support with dignity and respect.
- Duty of Candour: we will be honest, open and transparent in all our dealings with service users, including when things go wrong.
- Partnership working: we will be honest, open and transparent in all our dealings with service users, including when things go wrong .
- Partnership working: we actively explore opportunities for establishing joint projects and relationships with other organisations that will improve services for carers and the people they support.
- Learning: we learn from the good practice of others in order to improve our services for carers and the people they support, and we encourage others to learn from us.
Philosophy of Care
Crossroads Care Richmond and Kingston upon Thames respects the individuality of carers and those with care needs, and seeks to promote their choice, independence, dignity and safety. We believe carers should have access to high-quality services that enable them to fully benefit from a break from their caring responsibilities.
We respect the privacy and personal choices, lifestyles, customs, cultures and values of each person who receives a service and seek to involve carers and their cared-for in this process.
Crossroads Care Richmond and Kingston upon Thames:
- seeks to provide a high-quality, person-centred and user-led service
- carries out two annual service user satisfaction surveys
- ensures our staff are trained, supervised and supported to deliver services to people (including adults and children) with a wide range of disabilities and illnesses
- seeks to provide a flexible service delivering care and support when it is most needed
We provide specialist-quality home and community care and support services that give carers and their cared-for peace of mind.
In 2022-2023, we provided over 53,839 hours of respite care and support to over 1,010 carers and the people they care for.
