Orders of St John Care Trust - History of OSJCT

History of the Orders of St John

Through its two sponsors, the Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of Jerusalem, Rhodes & Malta and the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, these two Orders bring between them a combined total of over one thousand years of experience in care, relief and service. These Orders today provide the Trustees for The Orders of St John Care Trust.

The Sovereign Order originated when, in 1099, Christian Pilgrimages to the Holy Land began. The Order established a hospice for sick pilgrims and organised defence of the routes to Jerusalem, functions which are included in its title. During the subsequent nearly ten centuries , this work of care, relief and service has expanded, being based on the concepts and management practices found in the records of the original hospice.

In essence, these were the provision of good food, general cleanliness - particularly in bedding - all accompanied by compassion and recognition of personal dignity, qualities which can match and even surpass ambitions of present day care. Constant development in actual medical care is exampled by the discovery in its Malta hospital during the 16th century of the importance of sterilisation and current, pioneering work in the treatment of pregnant HIV women in countries where this is prevalent to isolate embryos from the infection.

After long periods of time in Rhodes and Malta, the Sovereign Order is now overseen from its headquarters in Rome, recognised as a Sovereign State. This status allowed recognition of past and contemporary care, relief and service to be marked, in 1995, by admission to the United National Organisation with the Observer Status of a neutral state.

The history of the Venerable Order was marked by Queen Victoria in 1888, with the grant of a Royal Charter as the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem. She became its Sovereign Head and following the tradition of successive monarchs, Her Majesty The Queen holds this position with His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester as Grand Prior.

The Venerable Order has Priories established throughout the world and its best-known activity is St John Ambulance. In the United Kingdom there is particular recognition of training in First Aid. The two Orders recognise each other's independent identity and are proud to accept and follow the nine hundred year tradition established all those years ago. Demonstrated by the manifold work mentioned, connection with the Holy Land continues through the Venerable Order's celebrated ophthalmic hospital in Jerusalem and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta's maternity hospital, sited, appropriately, in Bethlehem.

The first association between the British Association of the Order of Malta and the Venerable Order of St John of Jerusalem was formalised in November 1975 in respect of providing care through Almshouses. The charity at that time was called the Order of Malta Homes. From this beginning, The Orders of St John Trust was established in 1991 with the 'Charitable Aims' defined as: 'the support of the sick, aged and infirm through the provision of serviced, residential facilities or in community care'.

In May 1992 the Trust, sponsored by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (the initiator and lead Order) and the Venerable Order of St John took over 16 residential homes for older people from Lincolnshire County Council (on a leasehold basis) and became responsible for the care of 600 residents and the employment of 650 staff.

In April 1999 the Trust took a major strategic and operational decision by assuming responsibility for the 9 southern residential homes from Wiltshire County Council and in October 2000 the remaining 9 northern homes (again all on a leasehold basis), thus becoming responsible for a total in that county of 800 residents and 835 staff. In December 2000, the name of the organisation was changed to The Orders of St John Care Trust.

In December 2001, the Trust was successful in its bid to take over responsibility for the management and the re-provisioning of Oxfordshire County Council's 19 care homes, involving the care of more than 800 older people. This complex and extensive contract will run over 25 years, and is worth some £15m per annum, representing a net present value over the life of the contract of approximately £148m.

The contract, which requires the building of up to 11 new, state of the art care homes, specialising in residential, nursing and mental health care, at an average cost of £2.5m per home, has required the setting up of a joint venture with Bedfordshire Pilgrims Housing Association (BPHA). The new company is called The Oxfordshire Care Partnership.

The Oxfordshire Care Partnership (OCP) has 3 Trustee Directors from both organisations on its Board, together with one Trustee Director representing Oxfordshire County Council.

In May 2005, the Trust took over responsibility for the operation of 21 care homes in Gloucestershire. The structure of this transaction was very similar to that used in Oxfordshire, with the formation of The Gloucestershire Care Partnership, together with BPHA and Gloucestershire County Council.

With the addition of Gloucestershire, the Trust has now grown significantly from its original 16 homes in one county back in 1992. Taking account of new care developments since 2001, OSJCT now operates 73 homes, across four counties, with responsibility for the care of some 3,300 residents and employing c. 3,500 staff.