My mother, Judy Wurr, who has died suddenly aged 77, was at the forefront of efforts to safeguard the rights of vulnerable adults for more than three decades. One of a small group of social care professionals who helped realise the effective implementation of the NHS and Community Care Act 1990 and Mental Capacity Act 2005, she later became a founding member of the UK Association of Independent Visitors.
Judy was born in Worthing, West Sussex, to Roy Lynn, a Royal Navy officer and later restaurateur and vintner, and his wife, Jackie (nee Medlock). She attended the Warren School for Girls, Worthing, and then went to secretarial college.
She met John Wurr, a clarinettist, at a local music venue. They shared a love of jazz. They married in 1964 and after six years living in Covent Garden settled in Kingsbury, north-west London.
Judy went to work as a secretary at Kingsbury hospital for adults with learning difficulties, gaining experience of an institutionalised approach that was long overdue for reform. She then took on management and policy roles at Brent Job Search, an employment support scheme, from 1984 to 1988, and at St James’s House, a mental health support centre, from 1988.
In 1991, with a friend and colleague, Carol O’Brien, Judy broke new ground setting up a social care consultancy, a novel concept at the time. Over a 10-year period working with social services departments, NHS trusts, non-statutory organisations and individuals, they undertook wide-ranging work encompassing organisational reviews, independent inspections of residential and day care services, and the design of statutory community care plans. In 1997, Judy received her MSc in management of disability from City University.
Following a move to the village of Kingston, near Kingsbridge in Devon, in 1999, Judy took up an appointment as lord chancellor’s visitor for the Office of the Public Guardian and became a founder member of AIVUK, created to “promote the rights and best interests of individuals”. She was pivotal to the success of a group whose expertise is now widely recognised. As a pioneer, she took particular pride in developing the skills and confidence of younger colleagues and the professionalisation of the role of independent visitor.
As an advocate for vulnerable adults, she was frequently visiting clients with advanced dementia. She had continued to develop new practices for PPE regimes and virtual visits during the Covid pandemic. She never retired and was working until the week of her death.
Judy was a keen runner – she had completed the London Marathon in her forties. As arthritis crept in in later years the running stopped but she continued to walk in and enjoy the Devon countryside. She was active in the Kingston village community, including a period as parish clerk, a leader of a number of fundraising campaigns and as a member of the church bell ringing team.
She is survived by John, their sons, Max and me, and granddaughters, Lana and Edie.
