What happened to Revitalise – and where to find accessible holidays now

For over sixty years, Revitalise ran the only holiday centres in the UK specifically designed for people with severe disabilities who needed 24-hour care support during their break. These were not just adapted hotels – they were fully staffed residential facilities with nursing care, on-site entertainment, and everything included, so guests could have a proper holiday without needing to organise or bring their own care.

In October 2024, Revitalise announced it could no longer afford to keep the centres open. The doors closed in November that year. This article explains what happened, what Revitalise now offers, and where people are finding accessible holidays in the UK in 2025.

What Revitalise was

The charity started in the 1960s as the Winged Fellowship Trust, founded specifically to provide holidays for people with disabilities at a time when that was almost entirely unavailable. Over sixty years it became the primary provider of care-inclusive residential holidays in the UK, operating purpose-built accessible centres – the most recent being Jubilee Lodge in Southport, Merseyside, and a second centre in Essex.

At its peak it served around 4,000 people a year. The model was comprehensive: adapted rooms, ceiling hoists, profiling beds, specialist care staff available around the clock, meals, activities, and transport assistance. Guests paid for their stay; many had all or part of the cost funded through local authority direct payments or NHS Continuing Healthcare routes.

It filled a gap that almost nothing else did. Many of the people who used it could not use standard self-catering accommodation because they needed continuous medical and personal care support that they could not organise independently.

Why it closed

Revitalise cited a combination of factors as financially insurmountable:

• Local authority funding cuts reduced the number of publicly funded placements, leaving the centres dependent on private-paying guests who could not fully cover the cost of operations.
• Agency staff costs rose sharply. At the point of closure, a weekly stay was costing as much as £3,000 per person to deliver – driven largely by agency staffing rates in the post-pandemic care sector.
• Falling charitable donations and the cost-of-living crisis reduced income across the board.
• Chronic staffing shortages in the care sector made recruiting and retaining qualified permanent staff increasingly difficult.

Those who work in social care described the closure as a bellwether moment – a visible symptom of pressures that have been building across the sector for years.

What Revitalise does now

Revitalise did not disappear. The charity transformed its model rather than closing entirely. It now operates as a grants provider through the Revitalise Support Fund, offering financial support to adults with disabilities and family carers who cannot afford a break independently.

Grants can be used to fund holidays and life experiences – including adapted self-catering accommodation, supported group holidays, or other forms of break. Applications are open year-round, and since launching the Support Fund, Revitalise has distributed over £125,000 to support people who could not otherwise access a break.

If cost is the barrier to a holiday, this is worth applying for. Visit revitalise.org.uk to check eligibility and apply.

A note on Netley Waterside House

Netley Waterside House in Hampshire was originally a Revitalise-operated centre. It continues to operate and appears in NHS directories under the name Vitalise. Revitalise and Vitalise are two distinct organisations with overlapping histories – the naming is genuinely confusing. If Netley Waterside House is relevant to your situation, contact them directly to confirm current services, availability, and how referrals work. Do not assume the details below apply equally to both organisations.

What to look for instead: the self-catering option

Revitalise was a staffed residential model: care, meals, and activities all on site. The alternative most people are navigating now is self-catering – adapted properties where you bring your own support and manage your own stay.

This is a very different proposition. It offers more independence and flexibility, but it requires you to have care in place before you arrive. For people who relied on Revitalise precisely because they did not have that independently, self-catering is not a direct substitute.

If you do have care in place – a personal assistant, a family member who supports you, or a care agency that can travel with you – self-catering can work well. But the quality of “accessible” self-catering varies enormously. A property that describes itself as accessible might mean a grab rail by the toilet. Or it might mean a full wet room, a bedroom ceiling-track hoist, profiling bed, and wide doorways throughout. You need to know which one you are looking at before you book.

What to check before booking any adapted self-catering property: (see our full guide to choosing an accessible self-catering holiday for detailed questions to ask)

• Does the listing name specific equipment, or just use the word “accessible” without detail?
• Can you speak to the owner directly about your specific access needs?
• Is there a detailed access statement with measurements – not just a photo of a ramp?
• Is there space for a carer or support worker to stay alongside the main guest?
• Is the property experienced with funded stays (direct payments, CHC, personal budgets)?

If you need a care-supported group holiday

For people who need structured care support during a holiday rather than self-catering, options are limited but they do exist.

Limitless Travel runs escorted coach holidays with on-trip care staff included – probably the closest remaining equivalent to the Revitalise model for people who want professional care support on a group holiday. They cater for a range of access and care needs, and the trips are fully organised.

Calvert Lakes in the Lake District offers activity breaks for people with disabilities, with bursary funding available (up to 25% of booking costs, allocated case by case). More suited to people who want an outdoor activity focus than a seaside or cultural break.

For broader directories of accessible holidays and access information in the UK:

• Euan’s Guide – crowdsourced disabled access reviews and listings for venues across the UK
• Tourism for All – national charity with an accessible tourism information service
• AccessAble – detailed access guides for venues, accommodation, and attractions

Restwell as one option

We run an adapted holiday home in Whitstable on the Kent coast. It is not a replacement for Revitalise – we do not provide on-site care, nursing, or staffing. Guests bring their own support. What we offer is a private, accessible property where the physical environment has been built around the needs that actually matter: a ceiling track hoist in the accessible bedroom, profiling bed, roll-in wet room with a height-adjustable washbasin, wide doorways throughout, and level access from the car park.

We publish a detailed access specification so you can assess suitability before you contact us. We welcome funded stays through direct payments, personal health budgets, and CHC pathways. Our funding and support page has detail on how each route works, and our direct payments guide explains what care funding can and cannot cover.

If you want to know whether the property could work for your situation, the straightforward route is to read who Restwell is for, review the accessibility specification, and enquire when you are ready.

We would rather you found the right place for your needs – even if that is not us – than booked somewhere that does not work when you arrive.