July 11, 2023

Sad news about Sue Newton

This week we learned the sad news that Sue Newton, social care pioneer and founder of Shared Lives, has sadly passed away.

Sue leaves such a huge legacy behind her. In 1978 while working at PSS, Sue sparked an idea that would change countless lives up and down the UK. We wanted to help get older people with support needs who were living in what were then called ‘institutions’ back into their communities where they belonged. It was then that Sue came up with what used to be called Adult Placement. Sue would find ordinary people willing to take people who needed support under their wing and into their homes. She’d then match them up with someone who was living in an institution and they would move in with the carer. She’d make sure the relationship was going well and that the person was safe, and she’d support them to live as a family – a super personal approach to care that was unheard of at the time.

Supported by a dedicated team, Sue helped grow and evolve the service at PSS so that it worked for lots of different people, and thanks to the commitment, skill and kindness of our carers, the service grew a reputation for being a wonderful way to support people. Today it’s one of the UK’s fastest-growing, safest and most cost-effective national models of care: Shared Lives.

Sue was really passionate about Shared Lives, and she continued to play a big part in its development even after retirement, acting as President of Shared Lives Plus.

To celebrate 100 years of PSS in 2019, we had a chat to Sue about Shared Lives, where it came from and where it’s going. We hope it’ll give everyone an insight into the fantastic work Sue did to make the lives of other people better.

Our thoughts are with Sue’s family, her friends and the PSS people and PSS carers who worked with her.