Torus Group is celebrating the near completion of its newest supported housing scheme, Heathside in St Helens, for people with complex social care and emotional needs, addressing the lack of appropriate accommodation in the borough.

Partly funded by an NHS Capital Grant of just over £1.1 million, the £1.7 million scheme, was developed in collaboration with NHS England (St Helens Integrated Care Board) and St Helens Borough Council. Heathside will provide secure, state-of-the-art homes for people with a learning disability and or autism, some of whom are living in NHS facilities or who may need to move back to St Helens from out of borough placements. There was an identified need for appropriate accommodation that is safe, has additional design features and is close to families. This will enable people to have a tenancy and live within the community accessing 24hour specialist support.

Heathside is the first supported living scheme developed by Torus in direct partnership with the NHS. It has seen a redundant section of Alexander Court - a Torus sheltered scheme in Thatto Heath – transforming the former care home into a unique, supported living scheme with eight 1 - bedroom apartments which will benefit from round-the-clock care provision, provided by Creative Support.

To mark the new development, representatives from Torus welcomed partners from NHS England, St Helens Borough Council, and contract partners, HMS, to site.

Cheshire and Mersey Integrated Care Board’s Housing Lead, Sarah Houghton-Grimshaw said:

“Heathside is the first collaboration Torus has undertaken with the NHS to accommodate people with learning disabilities and or autism who need a more specialist environment and support to enable them to return to a home in their community. This could enable people to hold their first tenancy or to be discharged from hospital into their first home."

Paula Underwood, Torus Group Head of Torus Support Network, added:

“There were many challenges in refurbishing the building and creating a safe and appropriately design home for the new residents. But we are excited to see how the community within the scheme is shaped and what a change this will make to people’s lives."

Heathside is a ground-breaking scheme, which will offer not only a beautiful place to live, but is also fitted with bespoke, specialist, innovative, and integrated technologies from Tunstall Healthcare designed specifically to ensure vulnerable residents are safe and supported in their homes. These include new ways of using telecare to integrate with a range of anti-ligature devices, fall detectors sensors, epilepsy sensors, and access controls to maximise the independence of the residents in a safe environment.

Paula continued:

“It was important to us that the residents could live with the least number of restrictions in place. The telecare solution we sought, not only needed to provide an emergency call system, but also needed to assist in providing discreet technology enabled care, and most importantly, be a non-invasive way of keeping people safe in their home.

“The innovative system allows the staff to be alerted to the movements of residents and to respond to those movements without restricting people unnecessarily.

“We are grateful to telecare providers, Tunstall, who worked with Torus, HMS and the other specialist companies to use technologies in innovative and unique ways.”

Talking about the project, Programme Director, Cheshire, and Mersey Transforming Care (NHS), Pauline McGrath, said:

“It has been a privilege to lead on the application for the NHS England capital funding to support the development of Heathside, which will provide much needed supported homes for people with learning disabilities and/or Autism in St Helens.

“Heathside is a huge achievement and could only have been achieved through ground-breaking collaborative working between Torus, the NHS and St Helens Council and it’s been an honour to be involved in the project and working with such a dedicated team from across many agencies to make it a success.”

Councillor Marlene Quinn, St Helens Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Integrated Health and Care, said:

“Torus continue to create safe and stable homes for our most vulnerable residents. Heathside is an exceptional development that will promote good health, independence, and care for those with complex social care and emotional needs, embedding them within our communities and providing access to the care and support that will help them to live healthy, happy lives.”

The seven apartments will provide long-term accommodation, with one apartment set aside to provide a transitional apartment to enable people to leave hospital whilst awaiting changes to their existing or new housing. Heathside also features modern communal spaces, which will be used for group activities, to support the residents to enjoy social and wellbeing activities together.

Works were completed by award-winning construction company, HMS. Discussing Heathside, HMS Managing Director, Paul Worthington, said:

“As a contractor we not only care about the quality of the scheme, but about the people who will eventually live in the homes we build. Heathside is a fantastic example of how the team are working in new ways, collaborating with numerous providers to create a development that is not only unique but leading the way in creating a fully integrated offer that provides people with the best care and support available.

“We’re proud to have led the construction of this development and create a scheme that will not only physically transformed the area but will go onto have such a positive impact on the lives of the people who move into Heathside.”

Final works to complete the scheme are underway, with residents due to move in early 2024.

Further works to Alexander Court are due to start later this year, which thanks to Homes England funding, will see 10 new additional general needs, over 55s Sheltered apartments and improvements to the communal area for existing residents.