Akshata Murty, the wife of former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, met veterans at Royal Star & Garter in Solihull, during a visit to the care home.
She was accompanied by Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst, Solihull West and Shirley MP, to the Home, on the morning of Sunday 29 September.
Royal Star & Garter is a charity which provides loving, compassionate care to veterans and their partners living with disability or dementia, and also has Homes in Surbiton and High Wycombe. The charity has launched new services reaching out into the community.
Mrs Murty, whose husband Rishi Sunak was Prime Minister from 2022-2024 and is still the Conservative Party leader and Leader of the Opposition, spoke to Royal Star & Garter staff, learned about the work of the charity, and watched in-house physiotherapy exercises and activity sessions.
Her visit to the Solihull Home came ahead of the Conservative Party Conference, which is taking place in Birmingham from 29 September to 2 October.
She was greeted by Royal Star & Garter Chief Executive Andy Cole, and Home Manager Katie McCauley, and learned about the exceptional level of dementia and nursing care provided, along with new services which tackle loneliness and isolation among the veteran community in Solihull and beyond. This includes Day Care, Lunch Club and a free-to-use Telephone Friendship Service.
Mrs Murty also learned about the Veteran Friendly Framework, a nationwide project designed to deliver improved health and wellbeing outcomes to the 25,000 veterans living in care homes across England. It is a collaboration between Royal Star & Garter, Royal British Legion and the NHS Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA – an NHS flagship Armed Forces programme), with funding support from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust.
During a tour of the Home, Mrs Murty watched veterans work out on adapted exercise bikes, visited a dementia care area, and then sat down for a chat and cup of tea with residents.
Royal Star & Garter in Solihull is award winning, and was judged ‘Outstanding’ and one of the best in the country by health watchdog Care Quality Commission (CQC) in its last inspection.
Following her visit, Mrs Murty said:
“It was such a joy to meet residents and veterans at the Royal Star & Garter care home in Solihull with Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst MP. The team’s passion for providing compassionate, personalised care for veterans with dementia and disabilities was very clear to see and undoubtedly enhances the lives of all their residents. I look forward to coming back to visit in the future.”
For Dr Shastri-Hurst, it was his second visit to the Home since he was elected as the Conservative MP for Solihull West and Shirley in July. He said:
“It was brilliant to come back to Royal Star & Garter with Mrs Murty. I thoroughly enjoy my visits here. The whole team provides exemplary care to our veterans, and it was wonderful to have the opportunity to meet with some of the residents again.”
Royal Star & Garter Chief Executive Andy Cole said:
“We were pleased to welcome Akshata Murty to our Home in Solihull, and to welcome back Neil Shastri-Hurst MP. Mrs Murty was able to chat extensively with our residents, see the outstanding care we provide, and learned about our new services which will help even more of the Armed Forces community.”
Royal Star & Garter in Solihull is welcoming new residents. For more information on this, the new services it provides, or to work at the Home, go to www.starandgarter.org/solihull
