Avila House
Ideally located in the seaside town of Worthing, Avila House offers supported living for up to 20 disabled adults. Leonard Cheshire is the sole provider of support staff at Avila House. Our expert person-centred care helps people build crucial independent living skills and achieve their goals.
Find us
- Organisation
- Street address
-
60 Gratwicke Road
Worthing - Post town
- West Sussex
- Postal code
- BN11 4BR
- Phone number
- Service manager:
-
Deidre Johnson
What we offer
- Expert support for disabled adults living in 20 self-contained flats
- Each flat has a dedicated kitchen, bedroom and wetroom bathroom
- Kitchen in each flat has adjustable worktops
- Full wheelchair access + automatic doors
- Ceiling track hoists available if needed
- Support with personal care
- Support with independent living skills
- Support with attending appointments
- Support with outside activities and accessing local community
- Support to help people achieve personal goals (social, volunteering, career goals)
- Medication management and administration
- CCTV in external areas
- Green measures reducing bills for energy and utilities, including solar panels on roof
How to get here
Avila House has superb links to wheelchair accessible public transport: we have great buses and we’re close to two railway stations, Worthing and West Worthing. For people travelling by car, we’re very close to the A259 and A27. We’re less than a mile from the beach, and just over half an hour from Brighton.
Who we support
We support people disabled adults of all ages to live as independently as possible. West Sussex County Council gives nominations for placements at Avila House and all tenants have an agreement with the building management company, Inclusion Housing.
Our team provides personalised support for every tenant. We take time to understand the key things that matter to everyone living here.
We know that people’s conditions are just one part of their lives, affecting people in different ways. In case it is useful for prospective tenants to know, we assist people with a wide range of conditions including:
- Physical impairments, such as cerebral palsy
- Learning disabilities
- Acquired brain injuries
- Autism
- Epilepsy
- Mental health needs
Leonard Cheshire supplies the carers, who all give outstanding care. Each tenant is encouraged to keep their independence, and each tenant gets assistance at various levels depending on their needs. I can honestly say that moving into Avila House has turned my life around. So I highly recommend Avila House to everyone
Avila House tenant
What support we provide
Every person has a person-centred care plan (PCP), showing how they wish to be supported and what is important to them as an individual.
We assist people with daily living tasks when required: this can include all forms of personal care, assistance at mealtimes and help with medication. We support people to access the local community.
There are support staff on site 24 hours. The amount of support an individual gets will depend on the hours and funding they have in their care package.
We help people to do the things they like to do. Tenants devise weekly planners with support workers. We help people build life skills wherever possible: these might include cleaning, cooking, money management and support with bills. (Tenants pay for their own utility bills, such as electricity and internet costs, as they would in any supported living or community flat.)
We also help people to achieve personal goals, which might include making new friends, learning new skills, volunteering or getting a job. We have a few tenants who are keen to start a permanent job – including, for example, working with horses or working for a charity. We have supported them to volunteer with local firms, as a useful stepping stone towards this point.
We support people to attend appointments for their medical needs, as well as their general health and wellbeing. Depending on what is in people’s care package, we help them link with many professionals in the community; for example: a district nurse, occupational therapist (OT), physiotherapist or in some cases, the financial safeguarding team.
Tenants make good use of assistive technology, including voice assistants like Alexa; they also use electronic Abilia boards to help plan daily or weekly tasks. Some people have pendants, fall alarms or devices to monitor their epilepsy. Some people also use electronic communication aids.
Working at Avila House enables me to be creative in my role by supporting tenants to live independent lives. We achieve this by promoting empowerment, improving life skills and creating a ‘can do’ culture in the service.
Avila House staff member
What activities are available
People love our location in Worthing and they make the most of the beach and the town centre. People arrange their own transport with support staff.
Tenants like to go out together sometimes for a meal or drinks, or meet in each other’s flat. A few tenants like to go swimming; others go to social clubs, coffee clubs, gigs and football matches. People like to go into Brighton too, and sometimes further afield. We are happy to support people to pursue their hobbies and interests and to lead their social life as they choose.
