Burnham's new care business to alleviate NHS pressure

Local businesswoman, Dunni Ilori, has just launched a new in-home care company. Visiting Angels will support the elderly and vulnerable as well as combat the rise in loneliness that residents are facing, even more so now in the wake of COVID-19. Alongside her Registered Care Manager, Anna Homer, the pair are ready to rise up to tackle the crisis head on.

“Whilst many businesses have had no choice but to close, we were determined to carry on with our launch,” says Dunni, who moved to Windsor 18 months ago. “This is the time when people need us the most and I am determined to put my knowledge and experience of delivering great quality care to good use. I can help and be one of the ones providing a solution right now – why would I delay that? My first love is to help people – I get extreme satisfaction from helping others and making them happy. Visiting Angels is my way of doing just that.”

Initially from the US, Dunni has owned and operated a care business in the States for over 15 years. She visited Windsor with her husband and children in 2017 and instantly fell in love. She remembers telling herself they would all live there one day! ‘One day’ turned out to be just two years later, and the family moved to the UK in 2019. Determined to put her passion and experience to good use, Dunni began preparations for the launch of Visiting Angels soon after.

Dunni says that Visiting Angels is a care business with a difference - committed to a ‘carer-centric’ approach. Put simply, this means treating carers with utmost respect, valuing them for their commitment and rewarding them well financially for the support they provide to clients.

“I’ve seen it myself; care staff are often paid minimum wage, given very little support and stretched to the extreme. We want to change that and believe in investing in our carers, empowering them to be the best they can be. We commit to taking them through an extensive training programme to ensure they are right for the role. Once they’ve been through that process, we continue to champion them with great pay, a strong team culture and a suite of benefits. This has an impact on their attitudes towards work, which in turn improves the quality of care they deliver. Our carers feel valued and appreciated. And a happy carer is a good carer.”

On the 11th March, Dunni and Anna received registration from the Care Quality Commission. Located on the High Street in Burnham, Visiting Angels is now on the hunt for local care workers to satisfy the growing demand for its service. Dunni hopes to bring over 30 jobs to the community within the next 12 months.

Amidst the ever-evolving coronavirus outbreak, Visiting Angels hopes to alleviate pressure on local hospitals by helping to get people back into their homes, freeing up beds for virus patients. Classified as Essential Workers, Dunni’s team will work tirelessly in the community to provide care and companionship to the elderly are vulnerable who are self-isolating – as well as those whose families can no longer support them due to their own isolation or illness.

“I’m proud to be in the position where I can serve my community and make a difference to people’s lives. In the current situation, it’s imperative for us to focus on the health and safety of our care workers and clients, whilst ensuring that this vital work gets done. We will assess each situation carefully, highlight the ways in which we can help and showcase the measures we have in place to make it as safe as possible. Together, we can win the fight against this virus.”

Visiting Angels Windsor will serve the families of Maidenhead, Windsor and Slough. For more information, visit www.visiting-angels.co.uk/berkshire or call Dunni on 01628 308 333.

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For more information, or to speak with Dunni or Anna directly, contact Liam on 07395 641 523 or liam@revpr.co.uk

Images attached: Dunni Ilori (Managing Director) in front of Visiting Angels offices.


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About Visiting Angels

In 2017, the Visiting Angels brand came to the UK under the expert leadership of Dan Archer. A franchise veteran and passionate ambassador for quality care at home, Dan launched the first UK office in October 2017. In less than 12 months, Visiting Angels Sheffield proved to be one of our most successful new franchises. Ever. Dan and his team were awarded ‘Best International Office’ at our 2018 Annual Conference in recognition of their exceptional performance and commitment to the Visiting Angels UK mission. Most care businesses, and in turn, most care franchises, will tell you that they put their clients first. And whilst we don’t disagree with the sentiment, we take a slightly different view on how to achieve it. We believe that to truly be successful in this pursuit, and to change the future of social care in the UK, we must actually put our carers at the heart of the business. For without them, there is no business. We describe this approach as "carer-centric".