Oldham-based care company Visiting Angels eyes National Award

A care company working within the Oldham, Tameside, Rochdale, Saddleworth and East Manchester that encourages its staff to treat clients “as families” is in line to receive the Great British Care Awards at the Birmingham International Convention Centre.

Visiting Angels delivers such a dedicated service to people with care needs, including disabilities, dementia, and terminal illness, that it even allows the person being cared for to interview and vet their carer. 

Managing Director of Visiting Angels, Roxie Taj, said: I was drawn to this profession because of the difficulties I faced with community care providers when trying to support the needs of my daughter, who has Down's Syndrome. I experienced carers were either late, didn’t turn up or they turned up with their own emotional baggage resulting in half of the care time being taken up in listening to the carer’s issues. Poor service delivery surrounded me. I decided that if you want a job done, then do it yourself. When I launched Visiting Angels, I was determined to raise the standards of in-home care for those who need it."

The company's extraordinary personal care has now landed them a place in the Innovation berth of the Great British Care Awards (Birmingham International Conference Centre on March 22) and a date with presenter Rylan Clark following their regional win. 

"It’s such a huge honour to receive the Care Innovator Award at this year’s Regional Great British Care Awards. To be recognised with such a prestigious award after less than a year of operating shows just how hard we work as a team, and we feel incredibly proud of the impact that we’re having on our community. This recognition is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our entire Visiting Angels team – not just myself," Roxie said. 

The social care system in Britain has endured a huge crisis before, during and after the pandemic. There are still 152,000 unfilled vacancies in the profession, and the turnover rate for staff is almost twice the national average.

"I believe that our visionary approach to providing person-centred care and unwavering support for our staff in adapting to the evolving needs of service users leaves Visiting Angels ideally placed to bag the National title, too," Roixie added. 

Fellow founder Badar Usmani says: “It is bizarre how while older people slowdown in their lives, councils expect their carers to speed up. It often boils down to a care assessor looking at a client’s needs and believing carers are only there to give out medication and check things are okay. They think that can be as little as 15 minutes of work, but sometimes it can take 15 to get the person “with it.

“Furthermore, “companionship” doesn’t exist in the council’s dictionary. High volume care is commissioned to “cheaper” providers who then offload onto carers with back-to-back client calls and minimum wage. Carers are given little or no travel time, and mileage is not paid. So, a carer could be out for six hours but only paid for four “working” hours.

Consequently, good carers are forced to adopt bad habits, making the public perceive care as bad overall.”

Badar continued: “It should be about establishing trust, confidence, and relationships, not who can finish first. Visiting Angels deliver a minimum one-hour visit and place a greater value on the benefit of companionship. Visiting Angels will collaborate with local councils if they raise their standards to ours, which means providing the resources to help us pay higher wages and improve our retention.”

Badar and Roxie aim to use the award to continue with their Carer-Centric approach to make caring and carers count – seeing them as “the original front-line workers before medical professionals.”

"Carers working for Visiting Angels feel valued and respected for their commitment to this important job. Through both financial rewards and opportunities for career development, we are determined to address issues surrounding the industry, which often leaves carers feeling little to no appreciation," they shared.