RNID sells off care and support services in move to ‘realise its strategy’

The Royal National Institute for Deaf people (RNID) has sold its care and support services in England and Wales to another provider, as it looks to “realise [its] strategy” of supporting the 1 in 5 UK adults who are deaf or have hearing loss.

Achieve Together – who provide specialist support to autistic people, those with learning disabilities and those with associated complex needs – have now taken over the deaf charity’s residential and community services after the transfer completed on Wednesday.

Mark Atkinson, chief executive of RNID, said in a statement: “In 2019 we refined our strategy to have wider reach and impact for the 1 in 5 adults who are deaf or have hearing loss and the 1 in 8 who have tinnitus.

“To realise this strategy, we knew that we could not continue to do everything we do today. For this reason, our Board of Trustees proposed to transfer our care and support services to a new provider.

The charity said they carried out a “thorough” search to find a provider which met their “strict criteria” around having a strong track record and being committed to “ensuring continuity of care” for the individuals supported through the services.

Atkinson continued: “We wanted to find an organisation we had confidence in; an organisation that shares our values and our ethos and our commitment to high quality, person-centred care.

“So I am pleased to say that we have transferred our care and support services in England and Wales to Achieve Together. We have also said goodbye to our amazing colleagues, who will continue their inspiring work delivering specialist support for people who are deaf or have hearing loss.

“We believe Achieve Together is well placed to invest in our services, support them to grow and continue to run them in the future.”

Achieve Together has already begun a listening and co-production exercise with the people supported and their families – with involvement from their staff and team members from RNID – to make sure the transfer of services happens “as smoothly as possible”.

Emma Pearson, chief executive officer of Achieve Together, said they are “incredibly excited and proud” to welcome RNID’s services and teams to the organisation.

“We will be focussed on collaboration and importantly, co-production, as we all work together to deliver the best specialist support through the amazing teams, our networks and our partnerships – including with families.

“We are really looking forward to working closely with each service, our new team members, the individuals we support and their families, as we embark on this new and exciting chapter together,” she said.

Photo: @RNID and @Achieve_Support/Twitter.

By Liam O’Dell. Liam is a mildly deaf freelance journalist and campaigner from Bedfordshire. He wears bilateral hearing aids and can be found talking about disability, theatre, politics and more on Twitter and on his website.