Our history
Thirty years of fighting for care rights
Care Rights UK was created in Spring 2023, when we changed our name from the Relatives & Residents Association (R&RA).
We want everyone in care to have a good quality of life. We’re going to keep working until everyone in care has their needs met and their rights respected.
Today we’re proud to be Care Rights UK – your care champion. The charity focused on defending the rights of people in care.
Our staff team, from left to right: Helen, Vivien, Trevor and Emma
1992 - 1998
Dorothy White founded the Relatives Association
Although she was key player in the NHS, with a lifetime’s experience in social administration, when Dorothy White began to support her own mother in nursing home care, she found the process surprisingly stressful.
Dorothy was dismayed to find herself obstructed at every attempt to become involved in key decisions about her mother’s welfare. If she, who knew her way around the care system, had problems – how difficult must it be for everyone else?
Her independent charity was born ‘to help relatives and friends to work with homes to ensure the highest possible quality of life for all older residents’.
Employing professional staff and attracting volunteers with knowledge and experience, as Founder President till her death in 1998 Dorothy continued to assist on the Helpline, setting the standard of shared understanding and commitment which remains at the heart of the charity.
Dorothy White, OBE
‘If Dorothy, who knew her way around the care system, had problems – how difficult must it be for everyone else?’
1998 - 2020
Continuity and improvement
During this period the charity was renamed as the Relatives & Residents Association (R&RA) to underline the importance of families on the wellbeing of residents.
Chair, Judy Downey, shared the same public service commitment as our founder, Dorothy White. Her commentary was increasingly sought by news media on issues of concern over provision, training and funding of care.
As a nationally recognised independent voice, R&RA continued to challenge, provoke and insist on higher standards, attracting the attention, the funding support and the active collaboration of charitable foundations, academic institutions and a range of organisations providing services for older people. It continued to extend its network of professional experts and advisers, while ensuring that its advice and information provision remained accurate, useful and up to date.
Judy Downey, former chair
2020 - 2022
The Covid-19 pandemic changed everything
With the pandemic, the deep-seated problems with social care became everyone’s concern. Our cause got the national attention it needs and deserves.
Lockdowns affected all of us, but none more so than people living in care homes. Our helpline was inundated with people whose suddenly found their worlds upside down. Loved ones were isolated in care homes, starved of the emotional support they desperately relied on. Every day people watched their loved ones’ rapid decline, via windows and iPads, but were powerless to comfort them.
The Relatives & Residents Association started the ‘End Isolation in Care’ campaign. We achieved significant changes to the visiting guidance as well as placing the issues squarely in the public eye. As a result, many thousands of families have been reunited. Our fight to achieve a new legal right to a Care Supporter (with Rights For Residents and John’s Campaign) gained huge momentum as more politicians, charities and supporters got behind us.
2022
New chair Trish Davies oversees a transformation programme of R&RA
Under new Chair, Trish Davies, R&RA underwent a significant transformation programme with big plans to reach more people and become a more powerful voice fighting for the rights of older people in care.
This involved a tighter focus on care rights, along with better online information for people experiencing problems with care.
Trish has also overseen the process of rebranding R&RA to create Care Rights UK.
Trish Davies, current Chair of Care Rights UK
2023
With the care system in crisis, we become Care Rights UK – and there is so much to do
As we launch Care Rights UK, our joint campaign for Gloria’s Law - demanding the right to a Care Supporter - continues.
At the same time, we hear stories from our helpline every day about people experiencing heart-breaking issues as the problems mount around the crisis in care.
We support people to know their rights and what they are entitled to, while also campaigning for change. Our combinations of a high quality helpline service, sector-leading legal and policy expertise, and a passionately committed team means Care Rights UK, though small, is a true force to be reckoned with.
Spurred on by significant successes, we are eager to shine a spotlight on other problems with care, including evictions, poor quality care, staff training and retention, exorbitant fees and the need for a more effective regulator.
We won’t stop until everyone in care has their needs met and their rights respected.
Why don’t you join us and get involved?
Our new logo - a ‘sigh of relief’ for people who get the support they need after endless frustrations with care