25 important dates that made an impact on Origin

2026 is a landmark year for us as we celebrate 25 years as a leading UK provider of specialist live-in spinal injury care! As part of our celebrations, we’re reflecting on the moments and milestones that made the biggest impact on our business across the last quarter of a century! 

March 2001 –  Origin Spinal Injury Care was founded!
Origin was established by Peter Henry and Linda Adamsen who still lead the business today, combining lived experience with professional expertise in a way that was – and still is – rare in social care.

Peter has a complete C5/6 spinal cord injury and is also an Origin client, and Linda brings extensive care management experience and industry knowledge, ensuring the organisation was built on strong foundations of quality, professionalism and compassion.

March 2001 – Origin’s relationship with Back Up started
Back Up is a charity dedicated to helping people with spinal cord injuries rebuild confidence and independence after injury, through mentoring, challenges and life-changing support. We have been supplying Personal Assistants for their activity courses for 25 years now and some of our clients regularly volunteer for Back Up. Everyone who attends a Back Up course says it’s an amazing experience and often volunteers again. 

May 2001 – Became a member of the Homecare Association 
Joining the UK’s professional body for homecare providers demonstrated our commitment to high standards, ethical care and best practice, right from the start.

May 2001 – First training course took place at St. Martin’s Nursing College 
Training and development became a core pillar of the Origin ethos from day one; we believe that proper training transforms the service our clients receive. 

August 2001 – First assignment abroad for an Origin Personal Assistant
Just months into our journey, we supported a client travelling overseas – a milestone that set the tone for what would become a defining part of our care model.

Today, accompanying clients on holidays and trips abroad is a regular and much-valued part of life at Origin, enabling clients to continue travelling, exploring and live life to the full, whilst also offering PAs the opportunity to see the world through their work.

February 2004 – Employed our first Care Manager 
Care Managers are an integral part of our structure, playing the pivotal role in overseeing care provision, supporting clients and ensuring strong, well-matched relationships between clients and PAs. 

September 2004 – We began dedicated recruitment services with Talentstore 
As our client base grew, Talentstore began helping us find the right people to deliver highly specialist spinal injury care. The partnership remains strong, supporting recruitment of PAs from across the globe, including Australia, New Zealand and Europe.

Spring 2005 – Moved our training course to Lancaster & Morecambe College
Reflecting growing demand and the importance we place on high-quality, structured learning, we moved our training course to a larger, dedicated educational environment near our headquarters in Lancaster. 

August 2005 – Purchase of L’Origine 
The purchase of L’Origine marked one of our most distinctive milestones. This purpose-adapted property in Collioure, France was created to give people with spinal injuries the opportunity to enjoy an accessible holiday in a stunning overseas location. Two decades on, L’Origine continues to provide an unforgettable holiday on the French Mediterranean coast for travellers who require accessible accommodation. 

April 2007 – Office team grows by 40%
Reflecting a period of sustained business growth, our office support team grew, strengthening internal capacity, improving responsiveness and enabling better coordination of care.

February 2009 – First care planning booking system was installed 
A major step forward, the care planning system improved our internal working processes, thus enhancing the service we supply to both our clients and PAs.

April 2009 – First regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC)

The CQC became the independent regulator for all health and social care settings in 2009. Their 5 standards are in place to ensure care settings are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. These core values are at the centre of everything we do.

Summer 2009 –  Award for Employer Partnership from Lancaster and Morecambe College
Recognition of our investment in education and training from an esteemed educational service provider was really important to us because it was the stamp of approval that our training courses were on the right track. 

March 2011 – 10th Anniversary 
A decade of specialist spinal injury care – and this proved to be just the beginning!

October 2012 – Won Best Dressed at the Back Up Ball
Dressed as Henry VIII and his six wives, no less – a reminder that community, fun and fundraising matter too.

November 2014 – Special Recognition Award for Outstanding Support of Back Up 
This award recognised our continued commitment to supporting Back Up and the spinal injury community more broadly. Supporting Back Up remains a source of pride for us.

April 2015 – Introduced the Care Certificate Standards to our training course 
We are constantly evaluating and improving our training course, and this signifies that our carers meet nationally recognised standards and reinforces our commitment to excellence.

July 2019 – Moved our training course to our in-house education suite 
Migrating training to HQ gave us greater control over quality and consistency – and we still host our training courses here today! 

April 2020 – Created an online training platform for use during the COVID pandemic 
The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on social care, particularly for clinically vulnerable people. When the world went into lockdown, we still needed to provide carers to clients in the safest way possible. 

In response, we rapidly launched an online training platform, ensuring learning could continue safely while protecting clients, PAs and staff. This shift helped maintain care continuity during an exceptionally challenging period.

March 2021 – 20th Anniversary of Origin Spinal Injury Care
A milestone moment celebrating two decades of care, compassion and specialist expertise.

January 2022 – Extended our office space at HQ in Lancaster 
Extending our headquarters reflected ongoing business growth and team expansion, creating space to support a larger workforce and increasing operational complexity.

June 2023 – grew the office team…again! 
By now, our office team had grown by more than 70% compared to earlier years, strengthening leadership, support and coordination across the organisation. 

April 2024 – Training course became CPD-accredited
Achieving CPD accreditation formally recognises the quality and professional value of our training. For PAs, this means their learning is portable.

Autumn 2024 – Became SIA Trusted Care Partner 
We became a Trusted Care Partner of the Spinal Injuries Association (SIA), the UK’s leading charity supporting people with spinal cord injuries. This endorsement reflects SIA’s confidence in our expertise, values and quality of care – and further strengthens our connection to the wider spinal injury community.

June 2025 – Gained registration for TDDI with CQC 
We gained CQC registration for Treatment of Disease, Disorder or Injury (TDDI). 

This expands our regulated service offering, ensuring continued compliance and enabling us to deliver even more comprehensive, specialist care under the highest regulatory standards.

Read more about our 25th year here, and watch this space as we continue to celebrate with colleagues, clients and PAs throughout 2026!