Bringing HMT’s Approach to Specialist Care to Life
Still in its first few years, HMT Norden House in Littlehampton is continuing to develop its specialist approach to supporting people with complex and changing care needs. However, its story is also part of something bigger.
Norden House is part of The Healthcare Management Trust (HMT), a charity providing not-for-profit health and social care across England and Wales. Across its hospitals and care homes, HMT is united by a shared purpose, which is to provide high-quality care, particularly for people with complex needs, and making every contact count.
At Norden House, that purpose is being put into practice every day.
Part of a wider health and care organisation
HMT’s vision is to be an innovative, high-quality provider of specialist health and social care. Its services span both health and social care, from specialist residential and nursing care to surgery, diagnostics and outpatient treatment. HMT’s care homes include Norden House in West Sussex, Marie Louise House in Hampshire, Coloma Court in Kent and the St Quentin Care Homes in Staffordshire. It also operates two private hospitals; St Hugh’s Hospital in Grimsby and Sancta Maria Hospital in Swansea, both providing private, self-pay and NHS healthcare.
Although the services and the people they support are very different, the purpose behind them is shared: delivering compassionate, high-quality care and creating the best possible experience and outcomes.
Developing specialist care at Norden House
Norden House was created to provide residential and nursing care for people with higher and more complex needs, including people living with dementia. The purpose-built 64-bedroom home combines specialist support with an approach that recognises the individual behind the care need. People may require significant nursing or clinical support, but they still have their own relationships, routines, preferences, interests and aspirations. Understanding these is an important part of providing the right care.
For the Norden House team, that means looking beyond what support someone needs and considering what matters to them, what they can continue to do independently and what can help them maintain choice and quality of life.
Bringing HMT’s values to life
Across HMT, five values guide how the organisation works: Caring, Enterprising, Resourceful, Authentic and Accountable. At Norden House, those values are reflected in everyday care.
Being caring means seeing the person behind the care need. Being enterprising and resourceful means finding different ways to respond as someone’s needs change. Being authentic means building open and honest relationships with residents, families and colleagues. And being accountable means taking responsibility for delivering safe, high-quality care while always looking for opportunities to improve.
Making a genuine impact
HMT’s values are brought together in its MAGIC Care Model – Making a Genuine Impact in Care. MAGIC considers four connected areas: Physical, Independence, Environment and Wellbeing, underpinned by creativity, collaboration, compassion and values-based practice. It gives teams a shared framework for looking beyond “What care does this person need?” to consider “What matters to this person?”
For people with complex and changing needs, that distinction is important. Needing more support shouldn’t mean losing independence, choice or quality of life.
Building strong foundations
As one of HMT’s newer services, Norden House continues to grow and develop. Much of that journey has been about building the team, developing relationships with residents and families, strengthening specialist expertise and creating a culture that reflects HMT’s wider approach to care.
An important milestone came in March 2026, when Norden House received its first CQC assessment and was rated Good overall and Good across all five areas: Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led.
Looking ahead
As Norden House develops, so do the needs of the people it supports. The focus now is on continuing to embed MAGIC further into everyday care and working closely with residents, families and health and social care professionals. The needs of a resident at Norden House may be very different from those of someone receiving surgery at St Hugh’s Hospital or diagnostics at Sancta Maria Hospital, but the principles behind their care are connected.
For HMT it’s about quality, compassion, expertise, individual choice and continuous improvement – which when focused on, make a genuine impact in the life of every person we care for.