Building on a Strong Foundation – Our Strategy 2022-2027

Our past and present are deeply interwoven with that of wider Winchester, and we have cared for thousands of local people over the centuries in our almshouses and care homes. The charity has a deep-rooted caring culture, anchored by strong values. Our history, our people and our values are our strong foundation and over the next five years we aim to build on that foundation as the charity expands its accommodation and the community outreach services it offers.

We have succeeded in facilitating a supportive community of older people in well-maintained and often beautiful almshouses in Winchester to live well and independently for as long as possible. That mission will continue and has now been taken beyond our ‘four walls’ with community outreach services benefiting older people in Winchester and its surrounding areas. Our almshouses are targeted at older people with limited financial means, but our other services are available to all.

Our Vision and Goals

Our Vision is: Older people living well in Winchester.

We will deliver that vision by:

Building vibrant and supportive communities where older people can live well

• We have built 15 new almshouses and new community facilities on our Colebrook site. We completed this development in spring 2024.
• We have applied for planning permission to build a further 18 new almshouses on the site of our former Moorside Care Home. This will mean St John’s will have 114 almshouses, making us one of the largest almshouse charities in the UK.
• We have submitted a final application to become a registered provider of social housing which will give us access to grants and enable us to continue to further drive high quality housing standards and practices.
• We will continue the search for suitable sites in the meantime to further our aim of building new supportive communities of older people.
• We are registered with the CQC to provide registered care but as our community grows, we will expand our care offering both to our residents and to the community outside St John’s.

Helping older people to live well in the wider community

• Our Hand in Hand service is free at the point of use and supports older people in the wider community. Our Hand in Hand service is a wellbeing, signposting and befriending service which helps scheme members realise their goals with the help and support of over 35 befriending volunteers.

Providing care and support for older people and their families and carers to live well with Dementia

• Our Dementia Support service comprises of two part-time Admiral Nurses and a Support Worker. The service which launched in early October 2022, is free and its aim is to ensure that those with a diagnosis of dementia, and who are still living at home, along with their carers and family members, live as well as possible. We do this through a mix of ensuring that communication between the person living with dementia and others is as good as possible given the usual impact/trajectory of the disease, that homes are dementia friendly, and that families get full access to all relevant available services and benefits.

We aim to provide all our community support services within a 10-mile radius of Winchester and in future years, expand the geography still further.

To support those people we want to support, we will need to find further funding and so we will be launching a major fundraising effort in 2023.