Care Home Open Week 2024 will take place from 24th to 30th June with homes and other care services across the UK taking part in the sector’s leading engagement event. Open Week will be supported, once again, by the Great British Care Cycle Relay which will cover the 300 miles from Manchester to London.
Registrations open via the Championing Social Care website from Wednesday 14th February – Valentine’s Day! Activity packs and other material will also be available to download. Riders will also be able to register to take part in the Care Cycle Relay.
The aim is to shine a positive light on the work of the care sector by encouraging homes to open their doors to the public, VIPs and local decision-makers.
In 2023, over 5,000 care services registered to take part in Care Home Open Week. That’s around a third of the total number of homes in the country. More than 150 Members of Parliament visited homes during the week and the event had support from Government ministers and the Royal Family.
This year, the organisers plan to make it an even bigger event, encouraging an even broader range of care services to take part.
2023 saw also saw the inaugural Great British Care Cycle Relay which took place in the same week as Care Home Open Week. The Relay invites volunteers to join a cycle relay that will run from Manchester to London via stops in North Wales, stopping at care services along the way to highlight how social care services are at the heart of communities up and down the country. Each leg of the relay will be around 20 miles in length and cyclists can join the relay for as many legs as they wish.
Both events will begin with high profile launch events on 24th June. Venues and additional details will be announced soon.
Mitesh Dhanak, Chair of the Care Home Open Week Committee, commented:
“Care Home Open Week is a unique opportunity for the care sector to showcase the amazing work that it does for people. Care services are at the heart of their communities and it’s a brilliant way of engaging with local communities and for us to raise the profile of care services across society. I’m thrilled, too, that we will be running in tandem with the Great British Cycle Relay once again. It really highlights the volunteer commitment that underpins our ethos as a sector.”
The event is supported financially by Virgin Money, Christie & Co and Civitas. Law firm Browne Jacobson is helping to co-ordinate volunteer activity for the Cycle Relay. Partnerships with organisations like the National Activity Providers Association will once again be a vital part of the week too.
Championing Social Care is a charitable initiative that brings together organisation leaders from across the social care sector. It does not seek to represent the care sector or care workers. Rather, it is focused on delivering positive stories and initiatives about the sector. This is done by delivering programmes throughout the year that shine a light on the fantastic work done by those working in the sector. The project is hosted by the CareTech Charitable Foundation.