For our family and for yours
Avanti Homecare was set up by Lucy Middleton with her brother Taras Johnson and his partner Elisabeth Clark in 2018 with a simple aim:
We wanted to create a care business and a team that we would trust to look after our own family if it was needed.
Words are great, but what really mattered to us was understanding what that meant in practice. If we allowed carers into our parents’ home, what would make us feel comfortable?
What would make us feel comfortable?
-
Arrive on time
We would always want a carer to arrive on time.
-
Know who would be coming
We would want to know who would be coming to the house and for those people to be introduced by someone we already knew.
-
Take the time to understand
We would want people who took the time to understand exactly what would best help our family member.
-
Call us if there is an emergency
We would want someone to call us if there was an emergency.
-
Feel like a person
We would want our family member to feel like a person, not just another job.
-
Pick up the phone to someone that knows us
We would want to be able to pick up the phone to someone who knows us and our parents to discuss the care, or how our parents are doing.
-
Carers to be happy
We would want the carers to be happy, supported and fairly paid.
-
Help them however they wanted
We would want our family member to feel like the carer would be there to help them however they wanted.
-
Carers to be proactive
For the carers to be proactive in their approach and seeing if there was anything else they could do to help.
It’s not a complicated list, and there is a huge amount more that goes into how we provide brilliant care to our clients. They are, however, really important to us and are the basics of what anyone should expect when looking to arrange care for someone they love.
Have you actually provided care for your own family?
Yes, we understand first hand how that feels. Unfortunately in 2019 Taras and Lucy’s step-father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Our exceptional team of carers visited him, to support our Mum and we could not have been more grateful for the care, support and understanding they gave to our family during that difficult time. We would have no hesitation in asking and trusting our team to look after any members of our family again and that really is what matters to us.
Who are we?
Lucy Middleton
Chief Care Officer
Lucy has spent her whole career working in the care sector. Starting as a carer and progressing through various roles she became a Registered Manager of a domiciliary care agency. Lucy’s wealth of hands-on experience is crucial to Avanti’s success. As Operations Director, you will regularly see Lucy out at clients’ homes, advising carers, speaking with clients and their families and ensuring that the quality of care we provide is as high as it can be.
Imogen Atkinson
Chief Operating Officer
Before starting at Avanti in 2020, Imogen began her career in client management, project management and marketing. She spent some time travelling before 2020 and discovered her passion for wanting to make people’s lives better, which Avanti fulfils everyday! Imogen is our Chief Operating Officer and in charge of our training, recruitment and payroll department.
Taras Johnson
Chief Technical Officer
Prior to starting Avanti, Taras had a successful career in IT. His particular speciality was understanding how users interact with websites and developing the best interfaces for the users. Taras is in charge of our technology platform which allows us to see where our carers are, update our care plans and check on medication in real time. Taras is incredibly passionate about ensuring Avanti is an ethical business, where our care team is valued and supported.
Elisabeth Clark
Chief Executive Officer
Elisabeth’s background is in financing infrastructure projects, working in Barclays and managing a debt fund at UBS. Following many years working in the city she decided to make a complete career change and work in a sector that makes a real difference to people’s lives. She uses her experience to run the finance, legal and regulatory areas within Avanti. Elisabeth is the Nominated Individual for Avanti and is our lead with the Care Quality Commision (our regulator).