New ‘extra care’ service opened at Charlie Ratchford Court
Camden Council has opened a new ‘extra care’ service in Chalk Farm.
Charlie Ratchford Court features 38 purpose-built homes and a care service designed to support residents of all ages with social care needs to live independently.
Camden’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for a Healthy and Caring Camden, Cllr Patricia Callaghan, led proceedings at the opening event held yesterday (Monday 29 November).
Among the guests were Charlie Ratchford Court residents and staff and London’s Deputy Mayor for Housing and Residential development, Tom Copley.
Charlie Ratchford Court staff offered guests tours of the new building, which features a café-style dining area and multipurpose, fully-accessible indoor and outdoor spaces where residents, their families, and the local community can come together for a programme of activities and social events.
The building is part of Camden’s Community Investment Programme and has been delivered with support from the Mayor of London through the Care and Support Specialised Housing fund. It has been designed to run on renewable energies and includes a shared lounge, a health and wellbeing suite, a green roof, and a guest suite for when family and friend visit.
The ‘extra care’ model will focus on resident’s strengths and what matters to them most, rather than the things that they cannot do.
Staff will be available around the clock and will work closely with residents to understand their personal needs and to co-deliver the support that is provided.
This tailored care model is designed to support residents to maintain their independence, keep a connection to the wider community and to assist them to access local services that will help to reduce loneliness and isolation.
In Camden we want to support each of our residents to live a healthy, active, and independent life for longer. We also want to develop new and better ways of caring for our residents.
This is precisely what we are delivering at the new Charlie Ratchford Court where we are proud to be opening a unique, innovative and intergenerational service that will help residents to live independently and enjoy the connections, services and activities that are available to them in the community.
Residents and their families are at the heart of what we are doing at Charlie’s and they will continue to shape the scheme so that it remains a place that will benefit residents and the community for years to come.
Charlie Ratchford Court is a fantastic example of how in Camden - thanks to our Community Investment Programme - we are able to continue delivering the housing that our residents need, and new state-of-the-art community facilities, at a time when our funding from government has been cut in half.
At Charlie’s, and across the 1,100 new council homes we are building, we are creating fit-for-purpose homes in partnership with residents that are designed specifically to meet their needs.
These are homes that are helping residents to continue to live independently for longer, providing more space for our families to grow as we tackle overcrowding, and greener, more sustainable homes that are helping Camden do its part in tackling the climate crisis.
Charlie Ratchford Court is the latest project to be delivered by Camden’s Community Investment Programme, which has built 991 new homes and provided new council homes to over 1,000 residents, including 453 children, many of whom previously lived in overcrowded homes.
The programme has also delivered some of the most energy efficient homes in the UK – helping residents cut their fuel bills and carbon emissions – and has built three new school buildings, two community centres and refurbished two homeless hostels.