9 Social care business management SMALLER CARE HOMES
48
March 2019 Obese residents - a weighty issue Christie & Co market analysis Too many care homes fail fire safety checks Roundtable round-up Staff / recruitment... Property marketplace... Innovation... Expert analysis... Social care business management www.careinfo.org SMALLER CARE HOMES – THE DUNKIRK SPIRIT
Transcript of 9 Social care business management SMALLER CARE HOMES
March 2019
Obese residents- a weighty issue
Christie & Comarket analysis
Too many care homesfail fire safety checks
Roundtable round-up
Staff / recruitment... Property marketplace... Innovation... Expert analysis...
Social care business management
www.careinfo.org
SMALLERCARE HOMES– THE DUNKIRK SPIRIT
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March 2019www.careinfo.org
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SMALLERCARE HOMES– THE DUNKIRK SPIRIT
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An audit of care homes by the London Fire
Brigade (LFB) has shown that more than half failed
basic checks.
Of the 177 homes inspected by the LFB, 101, or
57%, were issued with a formal notification instruct-
ing them to address safety concerns. The brigade
said it believed the findings would be repeated if simi-
lar inspections were carried out across the country.
The brigade launched the review after a series of
fires at care homes. In February 2018 a resident in
his 80s died and another was left in a critical condi-
tion after a fire at the Woodlands View care home in
Stevenage. In 2017 two people died in a Cheshunt
care home after a fire travelled through the roof,
quickly engulfing the building.
Audit shows many care homesare failing checks on fire safety
“Care home owners need to review their fire risk
assessments urgently,” said LFB assistant commis-
sioner Dan Daly. “If you were placing your loved one
into the care of others, you would expect them to
be safe but, for too many, the very roof they are
under could put them at risk.”
Just under half – 45% – of the homes inspected
were found to have an unsuitable or insufficiently
comprehensive fire risk assessment in place, a sig-
nificant concern for the LFB.
“To make a proper fire risk assessment you need
to properly understand how fire can travel and de-
velop, otherwise you’re just guessing your safety
plan,” said Mr Daly. “You wouldn’t let an underquali-
fied surgeon operate on you, so why allow someone
without the proper experience to undertake your fire
risk assessment?”
One in seven homes, or 14%, were found to have
poor emergency planning or a potential lack of staff
to implement the plan. A similar proportion of
homes had problems with their protected escape
corridors, while there were failures relating to fire
doors at 29% of the homes inspected. One in 10
provided inadequate training for staff.
Generic training
The LFB said it feared that fire safety training for
care home staff was becoming generic. Against the
backdrop of the Grenfell tragedy, the findings make
sobering reading, and the
brigade has written to the
care homes it inspected,
alerting them of the need to
conduct adequate risk as-
sessments.
“It is concerning that op-
erators of care homes do
not in all cases understand
the need for their fire risk
assessment to be carried
out by an assessor that is
competent and experienced
in these fire safety complexi-
ties,” said the LFB.
Debbie Ivanova, a deputy chief inspector at the
Care Quality Commission, said it was the duty of
care home operators to ensure that they had the
right fire protection measures in place.
“We know that good care home providers invest
in proper and regular fire training for their staff, and
ensure that emergency plans are kept up to date,”
she said. “But as the LFB’s findings make clear,
good fire safety isn’t the norm everywhere.”
DAN DALY:
To make a proper
fire risk assessment
you need to properly
understand how fire
can travel and develop,
otherwise you’re
just guessing your
safety plan.
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intergenerational March 2019www.careinfo.org
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Nightingale Hammerson is a charitywhich provides residential, nursingand dementia care to the Jewish
community in Greater London.The organisation came into being in 2012,
when Nightingale House care home inClapham which provides care for about 170residents, merged with Hammerson House,another large care home in Hampstead,now undergoing a major redevelopment.
Sharing the knowledge
Nightingale Hammerson chief executive
HELEN SIMMONS tells Caring Times
editor Geoff Hodgson about about how
an on-site nursery is bringing benefits to
both children and residents.
PHOTO: Yakir Zur
When the work is completed in about twoyears’ time, Hammerson House will be a116-bed nursing home, able to provide allcare types, with the whole home will bedementia-friendly.
Nightingale House also provides nursing,residential and dementia care, butNightingale Hammerson’s chief executiveHelen Simmons points out that these kinds ofcare are provided across different floorswhich are at different levels of investment.
“We have some floors which wouldn’t besuitable for nursing because the rooms arenot large enough, so we still have to investfurther in this site,” said Helen.
“Every few years we invest in anotherfloor, and we make the rooms larger. And wemake them more dementia-friendly becausethe trend across the country is that people arenot choosing to go into care homes until theyhave quite high levels of need, and they arevery frail so they are more likely to havedementia and nursing needs.
“The plan at the moment is to concentrateon Nightingale and Hammerson House – it’sthe higher dependency end of the marketthat we serve within the Jewish communityand I think we do that really well.
“We are about 40% local authority funded.A lot of private care homes are choosing tofocus on private-pay and they are focusingon people who are do not have quite suchhigh dependency levels. We, as a charity, arefocusing on where the need is, which is fornursing, dementia and end of life care,however that’s funded.”
Last year, Nightingale House achieved an‘Outstanding’ rating from CQC for the firsttime, which Helen says was thoroughlydeserved by all the people who had workedvery hard to achieve it.
“In nursing home terms, and consideringthe number of residents that we have, it isthat much harder to achieve an ‘Outstanding’rating so it means a lot to us. We also attainedPlatinum status under the Gold StandardFramework for end of life care last year, so itwas a bumper year for us.”
Apples and Honey
Nightingale House has become a leader inintergenerational engagement, opening theApples and Honey children’s nursery on sitein September 2017.
“This gets us most excited on a dailybasis,” said Helen.
“Children from the nursery can often beseen at Nightingale House taking part inactivities with older people such as bakingand singing. It is receiving so much attention,not just from the media, but from internationalgroups, universities, local authorities. Theinterest is such that we have to group thevisits and the waiting list is packed.”
The nursery has Jewish values but itaccepts all children. Clapham is not a Jewisharea and most of the children are not Jewish.
“They’re having a whale of a time,” saidHelen. “The engagement is intergenerationaland also intercultural. We are seeing thechildren acting very responsibly – being verycareful around the residents, and theircommunication is really developing. With theresidents we are seeing a sense of purpose,which is important to wellbeing, we are seeingjoy and we are starting to see a link withfighting depression, which is very exciting.
“We are starting to get a bit more technicalabout the intergenerational work, and tryingto put out the learning and sharing. We aretrying to develop activity programmes whichdeliver the greatest benefit both generationsand, having a permanent nursery on site, weare a little bit ahead of the game. Peoplereally want to ‘get’ this and we want to shareour knowledge and experience, we wantpeople to copy what we are doing.”
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news DIGESTMarch 2019
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UNMET NEED MOUNTS
CAMPAIGN TO BOOSTINFECTION CONTROL
‘SKINFLINT’ COUNCILS ABANDON ELDERLY PEOPLESAYS CARE ENGLAND AS FEES REMAIN UNCHANGED
APETITO PREPARES FOR‘NO-DEAL’ BREXIT WITH£5m INVESTMENT INADDITIONAL STOCK
8
apetito, a major supplier of food to the
health and social care sector, is invest-
ing £5m in its planning and prepara-
tion ahead of Britain’s exit from the
European Union. The key aim is to op-
timise its ability to supply customers,
many of whom are elderly and vulner-
able people, in hospitals, care homes
and their own homes.
Given the level of uncertainty, politi-
cal stalemate and the consequent risk
of a hard Brexit, under which the UK
food industry could be severely dis-
rupted, apetito has now implemented
a stock contingency plan.
In the lead up to Brexit, apetito will
increase stocks of ‘high risk’ raw ma-
terials and finished goods, with a
working capital cost of £5m. This plan
has been developed from a detailed
analysis of the company’s entire raw
material and packaging supply chain,
involving the c.700 items it purchases
to make its products.
Additional storage
Raw materials stocks of the ‘high risk’
items will be increased from 4 to 8
weeks, finished goods stocks are
being raised from an average of 5 to 6
weeks, and to accommodate in-
creases, apetito has contracted addi-
tional storage for the next 6 months,
at a cost in excess of £100k.
“Given the level of uncertainty, we
are investing heavily in a contingency
plan to protect our customers,” said
Paul Freeston, chair and chief execu-
tive of apetito UK & Canada.
“We are proud to serve some of the
most vulnerable in society and we are
determined to do everything we can to
maintain supply.
“Meanwhile, we believe it is essen-
tial the current political stalemate is re-
solved so the food and farming
industry can get on with its job of
feeding the nation. This in turn re-
quires frictionless trade with the re-
maining EU members, who form a vital
part of the UK supply chain.”
Local authorities across Britain have
been labelled ‘skinflints’ by provider
representative body Care England
which says many councils have made
no increase in what they pay care
homes in the last year.
Care England says one in five coun-
cils have given NO increase in fees
they pay for 2018/19, despite cost
and wage bills rising by up to 5%. The
association’s chief executive Professor
Martin Green said that, by failing to
properly fund their care, these coun-
cils were abandoning old people.
“These councils pay care homes
just £350 a week for 24hr care, seven
days a week,” said Prof. Green.
“To give no real increase in fees
when costs have risen by over four per
cent is an insult. Our society is institu-
tionally ageist. Older people are treated
like a problem to be tolerated rather
than something to be cherished.
“You just cannot run a care home
and give the optimum amount of care
on a pittance. No wonder care
homes are closing and there is a
growing crisis in the number of
places for elderly people.”
Care England says a study it has
carried out on local authority fees
shows that council fees are failing to
keep pace with rising costs, with
many care homes having to make dif-
ficult decisions to either close ser-
vices or refuse council placements
despite increasing numbers of vulner-
able people requiring places.
Care England says it contacted
every council across England with a
Freedom of information request
asking them to provide details on
their base rates for older people
residential and nursing care home
placements in 2018/19.
Of the councils who did reply to
Care England’s Freedom of informa-
tion request, one in five made no in-
crease in the baseline rate for nursing
home beds; 18% of councils reported
that they gave no increase for nurs-
ing with dementia beds; and 22% of
councils reported no increase for resi-
dential care home beds, including
residential care beds for older people
with dementia.
Hertfordshire-based Quantum Care
are working to reduce the incidence of
both respiratory conditions and other
illnesses such as Norovirus by means
of a “germ-busting” campaign. The
aim is to reduce the amount of serious
illness happening in their elderly care
homes, and therefore reduce the pres-
sure on acute services.
The campaign was launched to staff
by way of messages on their payslips,
detailing what they could do person-
ally to reduce the amount of illness in
their homes. The next step was to im-
plement “germ busting roadshows”
which saw the support services team
visiting every home to talk to staff
about infection control and hygiene is-
sues. They were given information
about how they could help to reduce
infectious outbreaks through mea-
sures such as proper hand washing
techniques, using protective clothing
and equipment and getting them-
selves immunised against flu by hav-
ing their free flu vaccine.
To make sure that night staff were
also included, the germ busters set
up shop in each home early in the
morning. They also targeted visitors
to the home to ensure they also un-
derstood what they could do to help.
More than 50,000 older people have
now died waiting in vain for care dur-
ing the 700 days since the Govern-
ment first said it would publish a
Green Paper on paying for social
care, according to older people’s
charity Age UK.
During the same 700 day period,
1,263,844 older people have devel-
oped an unmet need, such as being
able to wash or dress. This is 1,805
developing an unmet need every day.
Over the same period, in excess of
half a million older people (626,701)
have had their requests for social care
refused by their council, and 7,240
older people have had the terrible expe-
rience of running down all their savings
because of their care bills, leaving them
reliant on the State to fund their care in
future and with nothing to leave for
loved ones after their death.
Age UK says this demonstrates
why the Government must come for-
ward with proposals to reform and
properly fund social care, sooner
rather than later.
“These tragic new figures demon-
strate just how many older people are
now suffering from the Government’s
failure to act decisively on social care,”
said Age UK charity director Caroline
Abrahams. “No one can say whether
some of those who have died might
have lived longer had they received
care, but at the very least their final
weeks and months might have been
more comfortable and their families’
lives made easier, had they been given
more support.”
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news DIGESTMarch 2019
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REFORM IS NOT BEING TAKEN SERIOUSLY, SAYSNHS CONFEDERATION CHIEF NIALL DICKSON
ONLINE PALLIATIVE CARE COURSE TO RUN IN APRIL
TERRONI TAKES TOP POST AS CHIEF INSPECTOR OFADULT SOCIAL CARE AT CARE QUALITY COMMISSION
Technicolour dressing gowns have been knitted by care home residents at
the Hazelgrove Court care home in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire.
The residents created the gowns for elderly people to keep warm this win-
ter in their own homes as part of a Knit for Peace UK initiative, which encour-
ages knitters to produce items for those in need.
By knitting six by six squares the residents then made the dressing gowns
by attaching them together to create the finished piece. The gowns take 114
squares to produce, as well as a knitted belt to match.
The residents described the finished gowns as “Joseph’s coat of many
colours”, according to Hazelgrove Court manager Tina Temple.
“It’s really important for us to continue to involve residents in activities that
help the wider community,” said Tina.
“They all love to knit and were very impressed in the finished dressing
gown.”
The home’s activities co-ordinator, Sharon Lewis, found out about Knit for
Peace UK when she was looking for a community project to involve the resi-
dents in.
“We’ve been doing this for weeks and I’m really proud of myself,” said resi-
dent Joyce Baxtrum. |The dressing gowns look great.”
Hazelgrove Court is part of the Hill Care Group.
KNITTING FOR PEACE AT HAZELGROVE COURT
Resident Joyce Baxtrum models a dressing
gown created by residents as part of a
Knit for Peace UK initiative.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC)
has appointed Kate Terroni as chief
Inspector of adult social care.
Ms Terroni is due to start the role in
May, taking over from Debbie West-
head who has been interim chief In-
spector since Andrea Sutcliffe’s
departure in December last year.
A registered social worker, Kate
Terroni is currently director of adult
social care at Oxfordshire County
Council where she is said to have em-
bedded co-production in adult social
care throughout the county and pro-
vided clear leadership across the
health and care system. She is also
co-chair of the ADASS workforce net-
work and was previously deputy di-
rector of commissioning at
Oxfordshire County Council.
CQC chief executive Ian Trenholm
said Ms Terroni had a strong track
record in social care and her passion
and commitment to improving out-
comes for people had been evident
throughout her career.
“I have no doubt that Kate will
build on Andrea Sutcliffe's impressive
legacy to keep driving up standards
in adult social care to make sure
each and every person experiences
the high quality care they need,” said
Mr Trenholme.
Speaking about her new post, Kate
Terroni said it was a privilege to build
on Andrea Sutcliffe’s unrelenting focus
on quality outcomes for individuals
Kate Terroni
through good quality care provision.
“To date I have spent my career
within local government as a quali-
fied social worker, running opera-
tional teams, commissioning services
and finally having the opportunity to
serve as director of adult social care
of Oxfordshire County Council,” said
Ms Terroni.
“This is an incredibly important time
for adult social care, awaiting the
green paper, while at the same time
encouraging the delivery of high qual-
ity care in a challenging environment.
“I am passionate about putting
people who use services and their
families at the heart of everything we
do. I believe that we can improve out-
comes for people through ensuring
the availability of good quality care
and that we regulate in a way which
encourages services to integrate
around the individual.”
Lancaster University will be running a
Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)
on improving palliative care in care
homes for older people in April 2019
for three weeks.
The MOOC is a free online course
that will offer participants an opportu-
nity to learn about palliative care in
care homes and how it can be im-
proved using the educational and de-
velopment PACE Steps to Success
programme. It has been developed as
part of an EU funded study called
PACE and the intervention tested in a
clinical trial across seven countries.
Professor Katherine Froggatt and
Professor Sheila Payne will lead the
course.
It will be suitable for staff working in
palliative care in care homes, as well
as others with an interest in palliative
care.� For more information or to enrol on
the course visit the website:
www.futurelearn.com/courses/
palliative-care-in-care-homes.
Social care reform has made little progress over the past
20 years, according to NHS Confederation chief executive
Niall Dickson.
Speaking at a Westminster Health Forum in London in
January, Mr Dickson said that, despite three commissions,
as well as white and green papers, the last 20 years had
seen very little headway in progressing with frequent break-
downs of cross-party consensus.
“Despite some of the great things that are going in social care, including in
places really imaginative technology, the reality is that we cannot say yet we are
at the dawn of a new era for social care,” said Mr Dickson.
“The system has gone on and many good things have happened, but the real-
ity is we have more unmet need now. It is always something that is going to hap-
pen tomorrow. It’s always just about to happen.
“The trouble is social care has always been politically awkward and reform has
stuttered, even when governments have had substantial majorities.”
Mr Dickson said social care reform in countries such as Germany and Japan
had taken about ten years to come into fruition, and that the seven principles for
reform outlined by former Health and Social Care Secretary Jeremy Hunt last
March, which covered quality, integration, control, workforce, support, sustain-
able funding and security, could have been produced 20 years ago. He said the
recently published NHS long-term plan should have been a health and social
care proposal, that the two services were interdependent and with one being
broken, the other would not thrive.
“We really are not taking this seriously at national level and I think we need to
do a lot more,” he said.
Niall Dickson
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10
Care providers can now gain access to NHSmail
once they have completed NHS Digital’s entry
level of the online Data Security and Protection
Toolkit (DSPT).
NHSmail is a free email service available to so-
cial care providers. It is described as a secure and
efficient way of sharing clinical and care informa-
tion with health and care providers, enabling
greater integration between the two. NHSmail can
be accessed from mobile devices as well as desk-
tops and includes a full directory of all health and
care NHSmail users.
The DSPT is an online self-assessment
tool for data security, supporting organisa-
tions to ensure that they have the right pro-
cesses and practices in place to manage
and hold data safely. It is mandatory for
providers who provide care through an
NHS contract, though all providers are en-
couraged to complete it if they hold, pro-
cess and share data.
Developed in collaboration with the Care
Provider Alliance, the entry level of the
Toolkit helps care providersto get online with NHSmail
DSPT has been specifically designed for care
providers. It is time-limited and is a stepping stone
for providers towards completing the full toolkit,
showing how they comply with data protection leg-
islation and best practice.
Wendy Clarke, executive director of product de-
velopment at NHS Digital, said completing the
toolkit would support care providers to take steps
towards complying with nationally recognised stan-
dards of data security.
“There are two key benefits to this entry level ver-
sion of the DSPT,” said Ms Clarke.
“Firstly, it enables care providers to share informa-
tion more easily and securely with the NHS. This
can only lead to better, more integrated care for pa-
tients and improved ways of working for health and
care professionals. Secondly, it supports care sector
organisations to demonstrate to their regulatory
body that they are managing and holding data se-
curely and safely.
“Information will flow faster, with fewer delays and
smoother processes, freeing up staff to focus on
those in their care.”
Mandy Thorn, vice chair of the National Care As-
sociation, said the ability to complete the DSPT
entry level to access NHSmail was welcome news
for the care sector.
“It gives us the confidence to know that we’re
doing the right thing with the information of those in
our care,” said Ms Thorn.
“We’ve pulled together some useful guidance for
the process that can be found on our website.”
� www.careprovideralliance.org.uk/information-
governance.html
MANDY THORN:
Toolkit will give
providers
confidence that
they are doing
the right thing
with information
The Care Provider Alliance (CPA), which brings to-
gether the main national associations for adult social
care providers in England, has published a short
guide to share new ways of working across the in-
dependent and voluntary adult social care sector.
The guide captures a range of new ideas and ap-
proaches, from ways that health and care services
CPA issues guide to new ways of workingcan work together to keep people out of hospital,
and new types of services focusing on informal
community support, to the many ways in which new
technology can support and enhance care services.
There are brief details in the guide on each topic,
along with links to many sources of more detailed
information and specific local examples.
Bridget Warr, chair of the CPA programme
board, said the guide drew together some of the
many new ideas and approaches from across the
social care sector.
“It includes new ways for services to work to-
gether locally, digital applications, innovation in care
practice, and a look forward to the use of robotics
and artificial intelligence,” said Ms Warr.
“There is also information about possible sources
of funding and advice. To help with future work, we
are keen to receive further ideas and thoughts on
this topic from across the sector, and the guide
ends with a series of questions through which we
hope as many people as possible will give us their
feedback via the CPA website.”
The guide has been funded by the Department of
Health and Social Care.
� New ways of working in adult social care services,
January 2019” can be downloaded at
www.careprovideralliance.org.uk/new-ways-of-
working. Feedback can be given
from the same webpage.
Dementia arts project to launch in ManchesterA new service that uses arts, creativity and rem-
iniscence to transform the lives of people living
with dementia will be launched in Manchester in
March.
The reminiscence charity Age Exchange has
been awarded a £97,500 grant in memory of Jo
Cox MP, from the ‘Building Connections Fund’
to establish a new arts-based dementia day
care service at the EachStep Blackley care
home, which is part of the charity Community
Integrated Care. The Fund is a partnership be-
tween the Department for Digital, Culture,
Media & Sport, the Big Lottery and the Co-op
Foundation, which aims to tackle loneliness and
isolation in response to the findings of the Jo
Cox Commission.
The ‘EachStep Club’ is set to open in
March 2019. The service will use arts, reminis-
cence and creative approaches to engage
people living with dementia, and their family
carers, supporting them to lead fuller, more
active and sociable lives.
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12
opinion March 2019www.careinfo.org
Best of the blogs Each week (on Monday
morning), the Caring Times
Blog is posted on our
website, www.careinfo.org.
Here is a selection of blogs
written by Caring Times
editor Geoff Hodgson and
other guest bloggers.
If you would like to receive the weekly
CT Blog as an email, email the editor:
CT Blogs are written in a
personal capacity
– comments and opinions expressed
are not necessarily endorsed or
supported by Caring Times
At the Scottish National Party’s annual conference
in October the First Minister announced that bur-
saries for student nurses, which were retained in
Scotland after being scrapped south of the border,
will be increased from just over £6,500 a year to
£10,000 a year by the year 2020-21.
This will undoubtedly help Scotland attract more
people into nursing as the recruitment challenge
which already faces the health service and the care
home sector becomes even more challenging in the
wake of Brexit as many EU workers may go home.
This in addition to replacing nurses choosing to retire
or leave the profession.
I talk with particular knowledge of the care home
sector as 30% of my company’s staff come from the
EU and other overseas countries, and from the end
of March we don’t know what rights they will have
regarding continued employment or residency.
The same applies to the NHS, and so both sec-
tors need a pipeline of career orientated nurses
Nurse-friendly ScotlandBy Renaissance Care (Scotland) chairman
ROBERT KILGOUR
coming into the profession.
Unfortunately, at a time when this need is increas-
ing, the Westminster Government has gone down
the road of telling English students thinking of en-
tering the profession that instead of receiving a non-
repayable bursary as in the past, they must instead
take out a student loans that could amount to
£50,000 debt by the time they qualify.
Changes to the NHS bursary scheme in England
were first proposed by then Chancellor George Os-
borne in November 2015, and when the proposal
went to consultation the BMA warned that scrap-
ping bursary support could harm recruitment rates
among nurses.
So there is little doubt that the Scottish Govern-
ment deserves plaudits for getting this vitally impor-
tant health issue right, with the UK Government
disastrously wrong.
Of the nineteen formal announcements published
by the Department of Health and Social Care in the
month following Christmas, not one related directly
to social care. Obesity, infectious and incurable dis-
eases, suicide prevention, GPs, air pollution, mater-
nity, mental health and of course IT – the Secretary
of State’s signature issue – all enjoyed moments in
the spotlight, some of them several times, but of the
policy area purportedly given equal prominence to
health in the department’s title, not a whisper.
Actually, that’s not quite true. The NHS Long
Term Plan, published on 7 January, has a short sec-
tion on providing decent NHS support to care
homes, though the promise to achieve this, surely
elementary, objective no earlier than 2023/24 will be
cold comfort for current residents; most of them, to
put it bluntly, will be dead before then. The few other
references to non-NHS services in the community
Do we have feelings of inferiority? You bet we do!By guest blogger JEF SMITH often approach the issue through the simplistic lens
of preventing hospital admissions or discharging pa-
tients as early as possible. There is little about the
improvements in the quality of life of elderly people
and people with disabilities which social care is de-
signed to provide.
Of course, one might say, we must wait for the
Social Care Green Paper. OK – cliché alert – we’ve
waited and waited, and are still waiting. The need to
co-ordinate the Green Paper’s content with the NHS
Plan was one of the reasons given for its delay back
in 2018; now, the 2019 Spending Review is being
quoted as a necessary preliminary hurdle, though
that process depends on the unpredictability of re-
lations with the rest of Europe.
Please, please, do not fob us off with no more
than another set of injunctions to co-operate with our
colleagues in the NHS. With big brother Health and
great-uncle Brexit dominating politics, social care is
surely justified in feeling seriously neglected.
I sometimes feel a little uncomfortable when I see
an elderly lady with dementia cradling a doll. And
when I was nursing, it did not sit well with me to
‘fib’ to people with dementia about ‘when they
would be going home’ or ‘when their husband
was coming back’.
With the little bit of wisdom that comes with age
and experience, I now understand that my discom-
fort is about how I feel when I know I’m being lied
to, or being treated like a child – for adults with nor-
mal mental capacity, such things are indeed inap-
proriate and demeaning.
So on the question of dolls, I think: many peo-
ple of religious faith use ‘props’ – rosaries, phy-
lacteries and the like – as a focus for their
spirituality, so why shouldn’t people use dolls as
a focus for their feelings?
Justifying the support of a mistaken belief (such
as someone’s spouse is still alive) is a little more
tricky; I know there are innumerable conversational
ploys to avoid such issues; this is called ‘distraction’
but it could equally be called ‘obfuscation’ or ‘dis-
sembling’ – more devious demonstrations of dis-
honesty. But truth goes out of the window in so
many aspects of human existence that I think we
are being a little precious, and perhaps a little insen-
sitive, if we cannot sometimes go along with the
perceived reality of those we care for and try to pro-
vide with emotional support.
It can be a tough call, but by developing sincere
relationships, friendships in fact, good care workers
can be both honest and supportive: it’s why they
are worth so much more than they are generally
paid. – Geoff Hodgson
Lies and dolls
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13
interview March 2019www.careinfo.org
Excelcare is still a family business after30 years. Starting with the 24-bedBowood Nursing Home in Catford, the
company now operates 33 care homesaround London and East Anglia.
“Whenever we interview new staff wealways stress that it’s important not to forgetthat we are a family business, but withcorporate disciplines,” said companychairman Ozzie Ertosun.
Hard work and family values
In 1989, OSMAN ‘OZZIE’ ERTOSUN,
chairman of Excelcare Holdings, opened
his first care home in Catford, South
London. Ozzie tells Caring Times
editor Geoff Hodgson his story of
three decades in the care sector.
“Because of our responsibilities in terms ofregulation, local authorities, safeguarding andso on, disciplines have to be followed, but welike people to know, whether they are relatives,family, friends or staff is that they can call atany time and have an open and frankconversation – that is really, really important.”
Excelcare’s portfolio is mixed; somenursing, some purely residential and manyregistered as specialist dementia. Thecompany also operates a homecare business.
In 1988, when he was just 19, Ozzie didsome work experience at a care home calledNora’s Lodge in Sydenham.
“It was a small residential home belongingto a family friend. I worked there for sixmonths, realised that it was an industry Iwanted to be in, and I felt I could do it betterthan it was being done in those days, in anicer building.
“Our family had a background inconstruction so we built our first home,Bowood Nursing Home, a 24-bed facility inCatford in 1989. I built that with my fatherand some tradesmen – we physically builtthe home over two years.”
“You have really set a standard here,” alady who was the main inspector for theLewisham area told Ozzie. “But you have thedisadvantage that you are very young;people may not have the confidence to placeyour parents with you.”
“She was right,” Ozzie remembers. “Fornine months I didn’t have a single admission!But I soon learnt: I got a nice, maturemanager who worked for me for 28 yearsbefore retiring.”
Then, beginning in Lambeth, Ozzie beganto take on ex-local authority homes.
“I didn’t have a financial background and Iasked my father, ‘How do I grow thiscompany? It’s working; I’m enjoying it and it
seems to be popular with the localauthorities.’ He said I needed to learn how toborrow money in a bigger way – ouraccountant helped me to organise bank loansand we bought people on board who hadworked for local authorities. They steered metowards block contracts, and this became ourtarget market. We won a 15-year contract withLambeth, taking over three of their homes,refurbishing them and building a new one.Then we tendered for a contract in Cambridgeand that began our activity in East Anglia.
“Our hard work and family values paid off;local authorities could see we were sincere,that we weren’t here just to make somemoney and get out of the business. Then wegained a 30-year contract in Milton Keynes –we would buy the buildings, rebuild themand provide the care. And then we did thesame thing in Essex. We didn’t really targetthe private market because in those days, thelocal authority rates gave you a reasonablereturn. We have always been open andhonest, and local authorities know we havenothing to hide, and that our profits are at thebottom end of the market.”
Homecare
About 15 years ago, Ozzie launched ahomecare business. I t has been successfuland is still operating but he has recentlyclosed some of its branches.
“We couldn’t find the staff and maintainthe quality,” said Ozzie. “How can you go inand provide 15 minutes of care for people,and at the rates that were being offered? Wecould see what was happening and we didn’twant to be in that market – homecare hasbecome a disaster in some local authorities.On the whole we have a very good reputationwith CQC and with local authorities and Ididn’t want to bring that reputation down.”
And the future? Again, like many otherproviders, Ozzie is beginning to look at theprivate-pay market.
“We are looking to knock down some ofour older buildings and build better homesfor our residents. A lot of this will be ‘caresuites’ – they don’t need to be flats, they canbe something like a studio-type apartmentbut small, so elderly people can easily getaround them. I would want these to be withina care home setting but provide somethingmore than just a room with an en-suite.”
Recruitment
Like many other providers, Ozzie placesrecruitment at the top of his list of concerns.
“Up to two years’ ago I had never usedagency staff in London. But we havestruggled to get nurses and carers. Weincreased pay as much as we could but then itbecame still more difficult when governmenttightened the regulations for recruiting nursesfrom overseas. It now takes about eightmonths to bring a nurse in from abroad and itis so expensive that it is sometimes not cost-effective. I have closed about five homes overthe last five years because the fees would nothave allowed us to care for people properly.
“One thing I would like to see change, isthat the recruitment process be speeded up.At present it can take up three months to sixmonths to replace someone when they leave.We’ve written to all the ministers, all ourMPs, our managers have written as well,asking them to acknowledge that we have aproblem and to make these immigrationpolicies softer and easier for qualified peopleto come here where they are needed. It issuch a long-winded process; people can getjobs elsewhere and be working within aweek, so that puts care providers at a massivedisadvantage.”
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legal landcsape March 2019www.careinfo.org
14
One of the most difficult areas of lawin the health and social care sectoris Deprivation of Liberties
Safeguards (DoLs). The current DoLSregime is to be replaced by the LibertyProtection Safeguards, which is outlined inThe Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill,now due to have its report stage and thirdreading in Parliament.
One of the difficulties in this area of law isdefining what a deprivation of liberty is.
Liberty: riddled with complexity
AMINA UDDIN, a
solicitor with Ridouts
Professional Services,
highlights the difficulty
of defining deprivation
of liberty.
www.ridout-law.com
Whilst the in-depth analysis of this area isbeyond the scope of this article, I would liketo highlight the inherent difficulties ofcreating a clear legal definition of what adeprivation of liberty entails, by providing abrief the history of the development oflegislation in this area.
Introduction of DoLS
DoLS were introduced in response to thejudgment of the European Court of HumanRights (ECHR) in HL v the United Kingdom.In this case, the ECHR found that theinformal admission to a psychiatric hospitalof a compliant but incapacitated adult was inbreach of Article 5 of the ECHR.
It became apparent that the law did notprovide adequate protection to people wholacked mental capacity to consent to care ortreatment and who may need to be deprivedof their liberties to keep them and/or othersfrom harm.
As a result of this, a system for theassessment and authorisation of deprivingpeople who did not have capacity of theirliberties was introduced by the MentalHealth Act 2007 (2007 Act) to address thisgap. The 2007 Act was applicable inpsychiatric hospitals alongside hospitals andcare homes whereby people who lackedcapacity to consent to their living provisions,were being deprived of liberty.
Cheshire West
The Supreme Court judgement in theCheshire West case sought to provide furtherclarity on what constitutes a DoLS andintroduced an “acid test’ to determinewhether a DoLS is in place.
The Supreme Court ruled that a DoLS is
in place where (1) theperson is subject tocontinuous supervision andcontrol and; (2) is not free toleave, and they lack thecapacity to consent to thesearrangements. The focuswas therefore not on theperson’s ability to express adesire to leave, but on whatthose with control over
their care arrangements would do if theysought to leave.
The acid test had therefore lowered thethreshold of DoLS and widened thedefinition, thus opening the floodgates ofDoLS authorisation applications, resulting ina considerable backlog of applications.Effectively this means that people may haveDoLS in place with no formal authorisation.
The current DoLS regime was thereforedeemed as not fit for purpose because, inlight of these new legal safeguards,vulnerable people are still not afforded withadequate protection by the DoLS.
New definition
Under the new Bill, the Government hasproposed a clause, outlining what adeprivation of liberty is not.
The definition has been described as astatutory clarification in that a deprivation ofliberty has the same meaning as article 5(1) ofthe European Convention on Human Rights,in that a person is not deprived of liberty in aparticular place if they are:
(i) Free to leave that place permanently(ii) Not subject to continuous supervision
and free to leave the place temporarily(iii) That a person is free to leave a place
even if he or she is unable to do so, providedthat they expressed a wish to leave
(iv) If the arrangements alleged to give riseto the deprivation of liberty are put in placeto give medical treatment for a physicalillness or injury, and the same (or materiallythe same) arrangements would be put inplace for any person receiving that treatment.
The Government has stated that the above isnot a definition but a statutory clarification
due to the evolving nature of case law, whichmade it difficult to draft a definition thatwould remain appropriately precise.
Some have argued that this new definitionnarrows case law in this area and riskspeople not being captured within thedefinition outlined above. One of the otherconcerns is that the above definition impliesthat a person is not deprived of their liberty ifnot subject to continuous supervision andfree to leave the place where they are livingtemporarily, with or without supervision.However, in the Cheshire West case, thepeople that were involved were able to leavethe places where they lived temporarily, yetthey were all considered to be deprived oftheir liberty by the Supreme Court.
This was further clarified by theGovernment in that a person could only beexcluded from being deprived of liberty ifthey were free to leave temporarily and notunder continuous supervision. The definitionwill be accompanied by a detailed statutoryguidance which will include case studies todemonstrate how the exceptions will applyin various settings and scenarios.
The Bill has been heavily debated, whichdemonstrates the difficulty in gettinglegislation in this area right. However, can aclear definition of a deprivation of liberty beproduced without being overly prescriptiveor yet on the other end of the spectrum,excessively vague? I believe the Governmentis partly right in terms of providing astatutory clarification with detailed statutoryguidance. This way, practitioners will be ableto determine examples where a deprivationof liberty may arise and use that guidance toafford protection to the people who areunder their care.
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promotion March 2019www.careinfo.org
The number of people in the UK aged 85 or over is set
to double in the next 25 to 30 years. That’s a lot of
people who may be looking for a care home in their
later years. The Excelcare Holdings group is working
today to meet tomorrow’s needs, delivering a wide
range of services including exceptional residential,
nursing and dementia care for long or short stays.
Chairman Osman ‘Ozzie’ Ertosun (read the
interview on page 13) opened his first care home,
Bowood, in Catford in 1989, with one goal in mind –
to provide the high-quality social care services that he
believes older people deserve.
As the company has developed, it has consistently
received high praise from the local authority Social
Services Departments with whom it has formed
partnerships. Regional teams frequently conduct
surveys to monitor the quality of their services and
procedures, the results of which are posted online.
Milestone anniversary
The group has just celebrated its 30th anniversary of
caring and, as always, remains a family-run company.
It extends its family values to everyone who works
there and the management believes Excelcare could
not have come this far without the loyal support and
hard work of its dedicated staff.
As part of the celebrations, Excelcare thanked each
member of staff with a gift and is recognising those
who have been with the company for many years in its
30th Anniversary Book, which will be published in
February.
On 31st January this year, staff and residents came
together to celebrate the anniversary, with many care
homes holding open days or Eighties-themed parties.
There was also an ‘Excelcare’s Got Talent’
competition throughout January – the residents and
staff performing acts and songs for prizes – with
winners from each region announced at the end of the
month.
Enterprising staff even made a video featuring
themselves and residents to a soundtrack of ‘We Are
Family’ by Sister Sledge as part of the celebrations,
posting it on social media.
High-quality care
Excelcare currently has 34 residential care and
nursing homes within its organisation, based in
Cambridge, Essex, London and Milton Keynes. Each
care home works hard to provide excellent person-
centred care for all its residents. The aim is always to
create a safe and friendly place to live.
Care home facilities are combined with elegant,
comfortable environments staffed by carefully
selected teams of professionals who are passionate
about caring for others.
The wide range of services for residents includes
hairdressing and beauty salons, cinema rooms,
libraries, internet facilities and much more.
Home-from-home environments
Every Care Home built by Excelcare has been built
based on knowledge gained from past endeavours,
with the company continually making improvements.
Its mission statement is “to design, construct and
manage the highest level of quality care homes
throughout the UK”.
As reported in the 2018 Review in last month’s
magazine, with increasing life expectancy, one in six
people over the age of 80 are developing some form
of dementia. Excelcare has always made sure it’s
prepared to meet their needs.
As well as superior staff training, its dementia
strategy includes the design of specialist
environments to help people living with dementia
enjoy active and meaningful lives with support not only
from staff but also family, friends and loved ones.
Excelcare is a member of the Dementia Action
Alliance and works closely with Dementia Care
Matters to maintain a commitment to providing
research-based care.
Family values
Excelcare prides itself on being a family-run company.
Everything the group does stems from its desire to
create individual care for each person that uses its
services, in a happy, relaxed and high-quality
environment. Members of staff help with every aspect of
caring for the elderly throughout its various departments:
• Activities
• Care
• Catering
• Human resources
• Hospitality
• Housekeeping
• Lifestyle & Innovations.
Despite operating in an industry where good
professional caregivers are in short supply and with
Brexit potentially causing further shortages, the
company strives to maintain a loyal, happy team. Its
success in this can be seen in staff attitudes.
Many sent messages to Ozzie during the 30-year
celebrations complimenting the company. One said
how pleased she is to have returned to Excelcare as
she missed working for an employer that cares.
Another who joined many years ago said she wished
she’d come to Excelcare sooner.
In a speech on the anniversary day itself, Ozzie
gave a special mention to Excelcare’s longest serving
staff member for the whole group, Chief Executive
Officer Sam Manning. He praised her 25 years of loyal
and dedicated service, saying, “She’s my right hand
and someone I admire and trust implicitly. An
inspirational person who goes above and beyond –
even when she is on holiday.”
He thanked Sam for helping staff feel a genuine
sense of being part of a family workforce, linking it
directly to Sam’s management skills and her
awareness from personal experience of the value of
encouragement, opportunity and personal
development.
This enjoyment of their work is something that
feeds into the service staff members provide for the
residents they support.
Quality care services
Finding the right home for a friend or loved one can be
difficult when you’re faced with the
bewildering choice available. Excelcare will guide
you through the process of selecting the care home
and package that will best meet your needs.
Everyone at the company is dedicated to making a
difference to the quality of everyday life of every
individual in each of its care homes, 24 hours a day,
365 days a year.
Here’s to another 30 years of high-quality person-
centred care.
Excelcare celebrates 30years of caring for people
Excelcare’s friendly reception staff celebrate the
company’s milestone
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legal landscape March 2019www.careinfo.org
16
Blackpool Borough Council wererecently recommended to pay £5,500and ordered to apologise to a
vulnerable woman who suffered severeburns to her thigh after being left on acommode too close to a hot radiator. Thewoman (‘Ms Y’) was left screaming in painfor nearly three hours while homecareagency workers failed to seek urgent medicalattention, the Local Government and SocialCare Ombudsman found.
Ms Y had limited feeling down her right sideand difficulty communicating after suffering astroke in 2016. Consequently, Ms Y required
Burns case highlights therole of quality monitoring
Lester Aldridge Solicitors partner
LAURA GUNTRIP reviews a Local
Government Ombudsman decision
following an incident where a woman
receiving homecare sustained severe
burns from a radiator.
01202 786161
help with personal care, the use of a frame forwalking and use of a wheeled commode. Ms Yhad already undergone a long recovery inhospital and rehabilitation to enable her toreturn home and regain some of herindependence, something which Ms Y valued.
However following the incident, Ms Y wasleft with serious burns described as “seven totwelve centimetres in length, and one to twocentimetres in width”. These burns becameseptic, resulting in a hospital admission andthe need for Ms Y to return to residential care.
The Ombudsman’s report outlines seriousfailings by the homecare agency, which actedon behalf of the Council. Under Regulation12 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008(Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 (‘the2014 Regulations’) care providers are under aduty to provide safe care, includingundertaking risk assessments and takingreasonable measures to mitigate these risks.As such, the homecare agency failed toidentify the “obvious environmental risk” ofthe wheeled commode being placed in closeproximity to a hot radiator and failed toprovide a care plan to mitigate these risks.
The report notes that these risks wereparticularly important given Ms Y’svulnerabilities, including her communicationdifficulties which made it difficult to identifythe source of her pain. The Ombudsmanfound that the carers failed to seek timelymedical attention due to the confusion over the
source of Ms Y’s pain. This resulted inavoidable suffering caused by the delay in MsY receiving pain relief – the appropriateresponse would have been to take immediateaction to mitigate Ms Y’s suffering, irrespectiveof the source and cause of Ms Y’s pain.
Under the Duty of Candour, care providersare required to be open and transparentfollowing a safety incident and to keep anaccurate account of what happened. TheOmbudsman found that there wereinconsistencies in the carers’ account of whatwas known about the injury and when.Furthermore, the Ombudsman consideredthe complaint response, which was producedby the Council, contained misleadinginformation designed to absolve the carers ofresponsibility. This amounted to a breach ofDuty of Candour so the Ombudsman foundfault on the part of the Council.
Safeguarding investigation
Under the Care Act 2014, a local authorityhas a duty to make whatever enquires itthinks necessary to decide whether anyaction should be taken to protect the adult.This includes a timely safeguardinginvestigation and considering all relevantevidence. The officers conducting thesafeguarding investigation in this case failedto follow up on concerns that carers delayedseeking prompt medical advice, and failed toexamine the original carer reports which
highlight the inconsistencies. Furthermore,the Council delayed completing thesafeguarding investigation, which againresulted in fault on the part of the Council.
The Ombudsman’s role is to investigatecomplaints which would otherwise not beremedied through use of the courts. It wasthe Ombudsman’s decision that Ms Y’s caserequired investigating to ascertain why theburns were not dealt with as a matter ofurgency and to review the response andtimescale of the safeguarding investigation.In this respect, the Ombudsmanrecommended that the Council:
i. Apologise in writing for not following uprelevant evidence that could have added tothe safeguarding investigation;
ii. Make payments to Ms Y and herdaughter to reflect their distress;
iii. Ensure its contractors completeadequate risk assessments; and
iv. Conduct regular quality monitoring ofthe homecare agency, focusing on whether itis implementing effective risk assessments.
In usual circumstances the Ombudsman’sRemedy Guidance suggests payments forharm and distress of up to £1,500. However,the Ombudsman considered that Ms Y’s casewas exceptional due to the significant harmover a prolonged period. It therefore decidedto recommend a payment of £5,000 to Ms Y,and £500 to Ms Y’s daughter, who was thecomplainant on behalf of her mother.
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recruitment March 2019www.careinfo.org
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
is launching a national communications campaign in
mid-February to address the estimated 110,000 va-
cancies in adult social care in England. Running
across February and March the campaign aims to:
� Increase interest in adult social care as a job
choice;� Increase understanding of the variety of roles in
adult social care;� Equip smaller and medium-sized providers with
tools to support the campaign.
The national campaign will comprise social media,
digital and local radio advertising, events and media
relations across England. Care providers are urged
to get involved with the campaign by providing case
studies, advertising their vacancies and promoting
social quizzes and content from a dedicated Face-
book page.
Provider case studies and stories from their or-
National social care recruitmentcampaign launched in February
ganisations will be used across the campaign, such
as for local PR activity and for the campaign’s Face-
book page. Interested providers can email cases-
[email protected] to get more information
on how to get involved.
Providers are also encouraged to advertise their
vacancies on DWP Find a Job, which is where the
campaign and website will direct people to. Cam-
paign materials will also be available to providers to
equip them with information and assets to help
them support the campaign locally.
Providers will also be crucial in driving traffic to the
Facebook page by liking and sharing posts, sharing
their own content, encouraging employees to refer
friends to the sector with a #shareifyoucare hashtag
and a quiz that encourages potential applicants to
see if a role in adult social care is a right fit for them.
Care minister Care Caroline Dinenage said there
was huge demand for more care professionals.
“We need to spread the word that careers in adult
social care can be rewarding, varied and worth-
while,” said Ms Dinenage.
“As part of our national recruitment campaign
we want to work with adult social care providers to
recruit the best possible talent and I urge them to
advertise their vacancies, so we can help fill as
many as possible and build a workforce that is fit
for the future.”
Skills for Care chief executive Sharon Allen said
the campaign would help employers find people
who have the right personal values that will make
them great care workers.
“That means people in our communities will be
supported by highly motivated and skilled workers,”
said Ms Allen. “I have spent my whole career in adult
social care, so I know first-hand the tremendous
professional and personal satisfaction that is on offer
to anyone who joins us through this campaign.”
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diary/homecare March 2019www.careinfo.org
18
MARCH
� Caring Talks
DATE: March 12
VENUE: Savills, London
NOVEMBER
� UK Dementia Congress
DATE: November 5-7 VENUE: Doncaster Racecourse
� National Dementia Care Awards
DATE: November 7 VENUE: Doncaster Racecourse
� National Care Awards
DATE: November 29 VENUE: Hilton London Metropole
For further information on all these events,or to book a conference place, telephone
the Events Team on020 7720 2109
Alternatively, email [email protected]
or visit www.careinfo.org/events to download a booking form.
MARCH
� Workshop: intergenerational care
DATE: March 5 (pm) VENUE: Peterborough DATE: March 6 (pm) VENUE: Bristol
DATE: March 7 (am) VENUE: London
ORGANISER: United for All AgesTEL: 01692 650816E: [email protected]
� Future of Care Conference
DATE: March 19 VENUE: The King’s Fund, 11 Cavendish
Square, London, W1G 0ANORGANISER: Care Roadshows/BroadwayEventsTEL: 01425 838393E: [email protected]
SEMINARS CONFERENCES AND EXHIBITIONS
MAY
� Social Care Conference: Excellence
through investment & innovation
DATE: May 15
VENUE: etc. venues, Victoria, London
ORGANISER: LaingBuisson
� Arts 4 Dementia Best Practice
Conference 2019 - ‘Towards Social
Prescribing (Arts & Heritage) for
Dementia
DATE: May 16
VENUE: Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston
Rd, London NW1 2BE
ORGANISER: Arts 4 Dementia
W: www.arts4dementia.org.uk
For a free listing of your care sector focused event, email the editor:
Homecare provider Caremark has tri-
alled a new system of service delivery
in which a team of care workers sup-
port clients in their own homes, in
groups of no more than 10, in a small
geographical patch. This is said to
allow clients the opportunity for more
visits during the day when needs arise,
much alike the support they would re-
ceive in a care home, rather than being
forced to receive support at set times
which tends to be the current care
model funded by local authorities.
The company’s Sussex-based of-
fice, which piloted the system known
as “PatchCare” has received an ‘Out-
standing’ rating from the Care Quality
Commission on its first inspection
since implementing the system, plac-
ing it in the top 2% of adult social
care providers.
Caremark’s founder Kevin Lewis
said he looked forward to implement-
ing PatchCare across the company’s
‘PatchCare’ trial hailed a success in Sussex100-plus offices.
“I used to work in care homes and
since leaving in 1993, I’ve dreamed of
providing a service that combines the
benefits of care in the home with
those of a residential care home,”
said Mr Lewis.
“People wish to stay at home for
as long as possible but the minimal
visits (usually funded by local authori-
ties) often leave them feeling isolated
and worrying about getting help in
between those visits. Harnessing the
positive aspects of both care homes
and in-home care, in 2018 we devel-
oped and trialled PatchCare to great
effect – my dream is soon to become
a reality.”
Sue Hills, managing director of
Caremark Mid-Sussex & Crawley, said
the trial, funded by the West Sussex
local authority, was initially given six
months and was extended for another
six following promising results.
“Whilst most people will see the
obvious long-term financial benefits
for the local authority and NHS, our
team focused on the fantastic im-
provement of wellbeing for our
clients,” said Ms Hills.
“To hear at the start of the trial that
some of our clients had little or no will
to continue living, and to then see the
transformation to them enjoying life, it
is heart-lifting.
“PatchCare aims to create commu-
nities through care and, whilst there
are some brilliant volunteer groups
bringing people together to combat
loneliness, this system offers a for-
malised approach to make a differ-
ence in communities all over the UK.
Our next challenge is to convince local
authorities in other regions to invest in
a long-term view of social care ser-
vices using this new system.”
Caring Times - much more than a magazine
Did you know . . .� Caring Times has a sister magazine:
The Journal of Dementia Care?
� Caring Times organises the National Care Awards,now in their 20th year?
� Caring Times has been keeping care homeoperators informed for more than 25 years?
www.careinfo.org
02-45CT0319gh.qxp_Layout 1 13/02/2019 11:42 Page 18
moving around/ratings March 2019www.careinfo.org
19
Meallmore has appointed
Denise Scott as manager
of its Culduthel care home in
Inverness. Denise brings more than 30 years’ experience
in nursing care to the position, having worked as a staff
nurse and then in management roles across both the NHS
and the private sector.
in association withAppointments
Healthcare Homes Group has appointed Tony Beorby to
the newly-formed position of ‘operations director – care
homes’.
Tony joins the group to oversee the operational direction
of the Group’s 37 care homes, which provide residential,
nursing and dementia focused care to over 1,800 residents
in homes located in Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire,
Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Middlesex, East
Sussex, Kent, Dorset and Bristol.
Tony has spent more than two decades in the care industry, having held senior
regional and operational director roles for a national care group. Prior to this, he
was the registered home manager for several homes, has held positions at local
authorities and is also a registered nurse.
Broomfield Court care home in Glasgow, part of
Larchwood Care, has appointed a new manager to
support and care for its 60 residents.
Daniel Jenks has worked in the care sector since he
was 18 years old and was a nurse for five years prior to
becoming a manager. From a young age, Daniel had a
strong passion for working in the care sector, getting a
sense of achievement from knowing he’s been able to
improve someone’s quality of life.
Specialist neurological and mental health care provider Cornerstone Healthcare
Group has appointed Jens Kleyenstuber as finance director.
Jens has extensive experience in the care sector as head of commercial
finance for both Lifeways Group and the Cambian Group. This knowledge,
gained in private equity, will help in delivering growth at both the strategic and
financial level.
Cornerstone Healthcare Group runs two specialist nursing homes caring for
people with complex neurological, physical and mental health needs associated
with challenging behaviours. Cornerstone plans to expand within this market
through acquisition.
Made a recent seniorappointment? Let us know!
Email: [email protected]
� Care home managers � Operations directors� Senior nurses � Finance directors� Dementia specialists � Activities co-ordinators� Chief executives � Marketing & personnel
Congratulations to the following care homes and services which have been recently
rated as ‘Outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission or an ‘Excellent’ rating by
the Scottish Care Inspectorate:
OUTSTANDING
Rated ‘Outstanding’?
let us help spread
the word, email:
� Erskine Park, a 40-bed care home
with nursing in Bishopton,
Renfrewshire. Operated by Erskine
Care. Manager: Lesley Wylie.
� Bluebird Care (Bristol), providing
homecare across Bristol. Director:
Tim Rowland-Jones.
� Bluebird Care (Edinburgh),
providing homecare across
Edinburgh. Director: Jane Perry.
� The Grange, a 49-bed care home
with nursing in Faringdon,
Oxfordshire. Operated by Forest
Healthcare. Director: Wendy Mead.
� The Billingham Grange
Independent Hospital, a 48-bed
independent hospital in Billingham,
North Yorkshire, providing care for
younger adults and people with
dementia. Operated by Barchester
Healthcare. Director: Stella Bolger.
� Westfields, a 46-bed care home
in Swaffham, West Norfolk. Operated
by NorseCare. Manager: Jo Bolton.
� Sunrise of Westbourne, a 114-
bed care home in Bournemouth,
Dorset. Operated by Sunrise Senior
Living. Manager: James Glanville.
� A supported living service in
Bristol and South Gloucestershire, for
people with learning disabilities.
Operated by Milestones Trust.
� Bluebird Care (Bristol), providing
homecare across Bristol. Director:
Tim Rowland-Jones.
Local authority projects that support
innovative uses of digital technology in
the design and delivery of adult social
care are set to share in more than £1m
funding provided by NHS Digital and
managed by the Local Government
Association (LGA).
Ten authorities will receive up to
£30,000 to design a digital solution to
address a specific issue with their ser-
vice, with eight receiving up to a further
£90,000 to support its implementation.
The funding will run over two years.
Local authority bids should focus on
one of the following three themes:
� Efficiency and strengths-based
approaches
� Managing marketing and
commissioning
� Sustainable and integrated social
care and health systems
More than £1m in grants fordigital social care projects
Previous projects funded have in-
cluded exoskeleton devices to help
carers on the Isle of Wight and the in-
troduction of Amazon Alexa into peo-
ple’s homes in Hampshire to combat
isolation and encourage independent
living.
� For more information, go to:
www.local.gov.uk/our-support/our-
improvement-offer/care-and-health-
improvement/informatics/local-
investment-programme
Deadline for expressions of interest:
4pm, 7 March 2019.
02-45CT0319gh.qxp_Layout 1 13/02/2019 11:42 Page 19
specialist care March 2019www.careinfo.org
20
The Gables care home is an autism andlearning disabilities specialist based inAlford, Lincolnshire, established by
Mrs Dominique and Dr Brian Pennington in2000, alongside their two sons Jean-Pierreand Michael.
The Gables is a very small care home,caring for nine adults who are supported byeight full-time members of staff. Our Guidingprinciple is to offer value for money to ourservice users and for the taxpayer; as qualitynot size matters in the care industry.
Despite our successes it has not been aneasy road for smaller care homes in thedistrict; without some 'Dunkirk spirit' it mayhave been impossible to survive.
It was a trip to the imperial war museum inLondon with the boys that gave me theinspiration we sorely needed in 2010; the yearmarked the 70th anniversary of the evacuationof more than 300,000 Allied soldiers from thebeaches of Dunkirk, France between May 26thand June 4th 1940, during World War II.Nearly all the escape routes to the EnglishChannel had been cut off and a terribledisaster had appeared inevitable. At the timePrime Minister Winston Churchill called it “amiracle of deliverance”. Our little care homeneeded a miracle at this point to see uscompete against such overwhelming odds.
The evacuation of Dunkirk was by nomeans straightforward and neither was ourstruggle to be noticed by the local authorityin a market dominated by large incumbentsuppliers, somewhat like the lumberingdestroyers sent to rescue the troops.
But the larger ships could not reach thesoldiers as the water was too shallow and itwas the little ships that saved the day as theywhere able to reach closer to the shore line.
We had not had a placement in two yearsand I was questioning myself as to what todo? Our fee had been set by the localauthority at the minimum rate, operatingcosts were mounting and I often dipped intopersonal savings to supplement thebusiness – something had to give.
A small sailing vessel named the Tazmine,
Smaller care homes havethe Dunkirk spirit
Specialist care provider
Dr BRIAN PENNINGTON talks
about how his family weathered
the lean times when other small
homes in his area were closing.
18ft from stem to stern and built of spruce,unexpectedly held the key to unlocking aformula for future success. The boys wereamazed at how such a small boat could haveplayed a part in the Dunkirk rescue or evenmake it across the notoriously choppyEnglish channel, but it did. I also knew then,we could make it through the rough time. Iused my background in computer sciencesand my sons’ knowledge of finance todevelop micro economic models andalgorithms and began streamlining thebusiness. On visits to the larger care homes inthe area, I noticed they had “many managersmanaging managers” and some care homeseven operated car racing teams.
By sacrificing personal extravagance webecame much like the Tazmine , simplyfunctional and fit for purpose. Our smallsize made it possible to offer a morepersonalised level of care that was reallyappreciated by the residents and theirfamilies – we became the 'little ship' thatcould get closer to the shore.
During the past few years, through aprocess of increasing efficiency and reducingwaste a sort of 'make do and mend' approach
we were able to turn a moderate fee into avirtue. Fixing the tariff which providers willreceive means that competition should bebased on quality rather than cost. In theory,therefore, the value achieved for a fixed costshould increase over time, assuming the tariffis set at the appropriate level..
When operating at full capacity The Gablesoffers value for money and benefits fromeconomies of scale. Whilst carrying out myinvestigations and researching the otherbusinesses during the period 2012-2014; Iapplied to the local authority for 'freedom ofinformation' to see our market positionwithin the East Lindsey district. It wasevident that, at our minimum fee, The Gables
could offer a value for moneysaving of £248,480 over a 15 yearperiod complex placement withno less quality than that offeredby local larger provider.
During the period 2015-16,some of our friends locally hadcapitulated and sadly closedtheir small care homes; wewitnessed four closures withinour area and some were takenover immediately by larger
providers. By banding together as a family,we had survived the lean period and almostinsurmountable odds.
The efforts of 700 small ships, someoperated by civilians had crossed the EnglishChannel and saved 338,000 soldiers in 1940 –in 2018 The Gables was cited as an exampleof 'Best Practice' in Care. Although small;stand alone care homes can still be those'little ships' for service users infused with alittle 'Dunkirk spirit'.
Smaller care homes can
be the ‘little ships’ with
the Dunkirk spirit.
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22
great news! March 2019www.careinfo.org
Michael, a keen writer and resident of Barnes Lodge
in Tonbridge, part of Rapport Housing & Care,
asked for a typewriter as his handwriting was deteri-
orating, proving that you can always be motivated,
no matter what your age.
When asked why he suddenly requested a type-
writer, Michael responded: “well, my handwriting is
absolutely atrocious, and I thought it was about time
I had a means to communicate with people.
“I am trying to get back into practice, I get lots of
notes from people and I really would like to re-
. . . from our correspondent in Tonbridgespond. My only criticism is that it’s a bit sensitive,
although maybe it’s me!”
Michael, 87, was responsible for producing re-
ports and orders for the Army. Now the staff at
Barnes Lodge are really pleased to see he is moti-
vated to type again.
Amy Alice Golding, carer at Barnes Lodge said:
“Michael really enjoys the typewriter and it breaks
up his day.
“It gives him something to look forward to and
motivate him, especially in the morning.”Barnes Lodge resident Michael uses a typewriter to
keep up with his correspondence.
Octogenarian care home worker Brenda Tooby
was given a surprise when she came on shift on
her 80th birthday.
Colleagues and residents at Alderwood Care
Home, in Worsley, Greater Manchester, part of the
Hill Care group, decided to celebrate her milestone
with a party.
They asked Brenda, a domestic cleaner at the
home, if she would help set up for tea in the dining
room – when she was surprised with decorations
and a cake. She was showered with gifts and flow-
ers before cutting and sharing her cake with the res-
idents and staff.
“It was such a nice surprise and I can’t thank the
staff and residents enough for such a lovely birth-
day,” said Brenda.
Brenda started working at Alderwood Care Home
in 1998, at the age of 59 – her first care home job.
She has celebrated her 60th, 70th and now 80th
birthday at Alderwood but does not plan on retiring
anytime soon.
Brenda, 80, gets surprise partyEven a recent broken wrist didn’t stop Brenda
from working for long. As soon as she got the all
clear from her doctor she was back to her regular
shifts.
“I want to work here for as long as possible,” said
Brenda. “Working at the home is like spending time
with family and I adore each and every one of the
staff and residents, past and present.
“I feel fit, healthy and active and I regularly go on
walks with my husband Norman around Wigan,
Leigh, Worsley and the Trafford Centre. That’s the
key to a good, healthy life, as well as plenty of vita-
mins, lots of fruit and even garlic daily.”
Alderwood manager Emma Willoughby described
Brenda as “a breath of fresh air “ who often helped
out voluntarily with trips out with the residents in her
spare time.
“Everyone at Alderwood Care Home has a lot of
respect for someone who continues to work for all
these years – especially when they are making oth-
ers feel happy and safe,” she said.
Cleaner Brenda Tooby got a surprise
celebration for her 80th birthday when
she came on shift at Alderwood care home.
Residents enjoyed live music, food and drink as they
celebrated Founders’ Day at The Royal Star &
Garter Home in Solihull in January, marking the
charity’s 103rd anniversary.
The Royal Star & Garter Homes was founded
in 1916 to care for the severely injured young
men returning from the battlegrounds of the First
World War, opening its doors to the first residents
on 14 January.
The Hipcats duo provided the entertainment,
playing big band classics from the likes of George
Gershwin and Glenn Miller, while residents enjoyed a
Veterans’ charity marks 103rd anniversary
celebratory glass of wine and canapés.
Among those entertained during the Founders’
Day fun was Pat. She is a guest at the successful
Star & Garter Club day care service, run from the
Solihull home.
“It’s a stunning charity,” said Pat. “The home here
is lovely. I’m in no doubt that if I need to, I’d like to
come here to live. It’s a fabulous place.”
More than a century after it was set up, The
Royal Star & Garter Homes cares for ex-Service-
men and women, and their partners, living with
disability or dementia.
The charity also has a Home in Surbiton, Surrey,
and a third will open this year in High Wycombe.
The Hipcats performing at the Founders’ Day party
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23
nurse recruitment March 2019www.careinfo.org
The first qualified nursing associates became
the latest addition to the health and care workforce
in England in late January, after the Nursing and
Midwifery Council (NMC) opened its register to
the new profession.
Around 1,800 nursing associates are expected to
qualify over the course of the next few months.
The nursing associate role bridges the gap be-
tween unregulated healthcare assistants and regis-
tered nurses. The role was announced by the
Government in 2016 and was developed by Health
Education England (HEE).
Nursing associates will work as part of the wider
health and care team in a variety of health and social
care settings, from care homes and A&E to schools,
and GP surgeries. They will contribute to the core
work of nursing, delivering care independently and
carrying out a range of activities from administering
First nursing associates joinhealth and care workforce
medication, and dressing wounds to promoting
healthy lifestyle choices and wellbeing.
The role has been brought into being with the aim
of freeing-up registered nurses to focus on more
complex care duties and helping to widen access to
the health and care professions by opening up new
routes to training that previously didn’t exist.
Trainees are able to earn while they learn, via an
apprenticeship, which may make it an attractive op-
tion for those who may have been working as
healthcare assistants for a number of years and who
want to progress.
While qualified nursing associates may choose to
remain in the role permanently, others will want to
go on to train to become nurses.
The scheme has drawn some criticism; in June
last year, Health Education England chairman
Ian Cumming said the new role was taking staff
away from the care sector.
“The nursing associate programme made things
worse not better for social care,” said Mr Cumming.
“Trusts taking part put forward their healthcare
support workers for the programme, who then had
to be replaced. Where did they turn to in order to do
that – the social care sector of course.”
Professor Martin Green, chief executive of
provider representative body Care England, agreed:
“There has always been a problem of disparity
in terms, conditions and training opportunities
between NHS and social care, and this leads to
staff gravitating from social care to the NHS,”
said Prof. Green.
“If the workforce strategy is truly going to cross
health and social care, there must be equal access
to the training and development opportunities that
currently are exclusively available to the NHS.”
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catering & nutrition March 2019www.careinfo.org
24
Great Oaks, an 80-bed care home withnursing in Bournemouth, hasappointed a soft food diet specialist to
allow for a wide range of diet requirements tobe catered for at the care home.
Patrick Fensterseifer, head chef at GreatOaks, specialises in the production ofdysphagia meals which means he is able tocook dishes for residents who havedifficulties with swallowing. Patrick ispassionate about preparing meals that areflavoursome, nutritious, well-presented andmeet the specific dietary requirements ofevery resident.
As a Dorset Healthcare NHS dysphagiapractitioner, Patrick has a wealth ofknowledge which has enabled him to leadthe rest of catering team confidently and helpexpand their skills and understanding of thedisorder. Patrick has more than 18 years’experience as a head chef and hasdemonstrated to the rest of the team that it isstill possible to be creative when catering fora resident who requires a soft food diet.
“We are so passionate about going theextra mile to put a smile on our residents’faces,” said Patrick.
“Meal times are treated with greatimportance, everyone has individual needsand we take the time to get to know whateach resident likes and doesn’t like to eat.
“Every meal is prepared using fresh,locally-sourced ingredients to ensure ourdishes are as nutrition-rich as possible. Whenwe create meals for our residents withdysphasia, we like to challenge ourselves toserve soft diet food, which still look like theirsolid counterparts.
“We use a range of mould and pipingtechniques that allow us to create a variety ofappetising courses which contain the vitalingredients that boost our residents’ health.”
With two other care homes in Dorset andHampshire, Great Oaks is the latest addition ofan established family of care homes managedby Encore Care Homes. Great Oaks also worksclosely with Dining with Dignity, a specialisttraining provider, to help meet the nutritionalneeds of residents who have dysphagia.
Great Oaks care home welcomessoft food diet specialist
ABOVE: Patrick uses a range of mould and
piping techniques to create a variety of
appetising meals.
RIGHT: Patrick Fensterseifer
- head chef of Great Oaks.
BELOW: Patrick with assistant chefs
Lucam Neri and Samantha ‘Sam’ Davey.
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management March 2019www.careinfo.org
26
Nearly half of staff say their carehome doesn’t have the right re-sources and equipment to care for
residents over 25 stone.A survey of 2,803 care home owners, man-
agers and staff, carried out by care home re-view website carehome.co.uk, found only41% of care home staff say they have thebariatric facilities to look after obese resi-dents, with one in 10 care home staff (12%)having to turn them away due to lack of re-sources and equipment.
“The number of obese, older people hasbeen rising in the UK for the last couple ofdecades and care homes need to ensurethey are inclusive and that residents whoare severely overweight are treated withdignity,” said carehome.co.uk editor SueLearner. “Some care homes have builtbariatric rooms, but over half are unpreparedand have no specialist facilities. This inabil-ity to provide care for obese people whooften have associated medical needs meansthey are left stranded at hospital or at home.
“The Government needs to be aware thatcare homes face higher costs if they care forbariatric residents, due to installing specialequipment and needing specialist careworkers who are trained in moving andhandling obese people. It is much more ex-pensive caring for morbidly obese peopleand care homes should receive more fund-ing from the local authority for residentsover a certain weight.”
Mike Vaughan, owner of Red Rocks Nurs-ing Home in Wirral, Merseyside agreed thereshould be extra funding for providing care toobese patients.
“This currently requires specialist and ex-pensive equipment or adaptions, withoutwhich we would be unable to provide care tothis sector,” said Mr Vaughan.
“However, it is also vitally important thatwe do not institutionalise our equipmentand functions to suit this care category alone,
A weighty problemCare homes are reluctant totake on obese elderly people
which might then make clients who do notrequire these extra services feel as thoughthey have to put up with a more institutionalfeel to their care than is absolutely necessary.I am aware this may lead to a two tier systemwith all that comes with this.”
Tracy Paine, deputy chief executive of Be-long, which has nine care villages in theNorth West, said the organisation did sup-port people needing bariatric care.
“In each situation, an assessment is madeof a person’s individual care requirements,”said Ms Paine.
“We work with residents, their familiesand health and social care commissioners todetermine how we can best provide for theperson’s needs and what special provisionswill be necessary. Previously, this has led toinvestment in specialist equipment, includ-ing larger beds and aids to assist people toremain as independent as possible.
“Practice development facilitators at eachBelong village make sure staff have the skillsand knowledge to provide bariatric care, in-cluding how to help with aspects of personalcare and specialist moving and handlingtechniques. Staff also have an understandingof medical conditions associated with obe-sity, such as sleep apnoea and hypertension."
A care home manager speaking anony-mously on Mumsnet explained why carehomes often don’t want to take morbidlyobese people.
“It sounds morally wrong but I think themajority of people don't understand what
the care of an obese person entails,” she said.“If someone is morbidly obese and can just
about transfer to the toilet and can do mostthings with the aid of a carer I can assure youit won't be long before they are immobile.
“Because of the politics of fat, care homesare not given more money for very largepeople, despite the fact that it is so expensiveto take care of them. There would be an up-
roar if people who needed care wereclassified as too fat to take up a 'normal'place in care. It would be deemed dis-criminatory, I feel.
“Unfortunately care homes are pri-vate businesses and unless they are fi-nancially compensated for their timethen they lose money. Obese peoplegenerally cost much more money thanaverage sized people.
“Nursing/care staff struggle to movethe bodies of obese people. It is incrediblyhard to clean them (think two staff manu-ally lifting their abdomen up to exposetheir private area and another staff memberto clean it).
“Staff regularly feel the physical strain ontheir bodies after a shift moving an obesepeople. Trying to push a wheelchair of anobese person (even with a power pack on theback) leaves staff with pain in their shoul-ders. This is despite the best and latestbariatric equipment.
“When I assess a person to see if they aresuitable for my home I would pass on a mor-bidly obese person. If I accepted them Iwould lose money and my door would be re-volving with staff complaining about theirconcerns about their physical health. My di-rectors would want to know why I put theirhome at risk from financial loss and at risklitigation from staff.”
Because of the politics
of fat, care homes are not
given more money for very
large people, despite the
fact that it is so expensive
to take care of them.
02-45CT0319gh.qxp_Layout 1 13/02/2019 11:42 Page 26
CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS
#UKDC2019
TUESDAY 5TH - THURSDAY 7TH NOVEMBER 2019DONCASTER RACECOURSE
plenary sessions • parallel sessions • interactive workshops symposia • posters • early bird sessions • special events
Programme queries: [email protected] and sponsorship: [email protected]
Bookings: [email protected]
The Call for Presentations is now on our website careinfo.org/events
Deadline for proposals: midnight 28 April 2019
We invite proposals for presentations and posters on any aspect of support, care and treatment for people with dementiaand their families, in any service setting. In addition, this year we would particularly welcome proposals on (but not limited
to): technology, dementia care and living well; innovative projects and service developments; dementia care in acutehospital settings; end of life care for people with dementia; housing & home support for people living with dementia. As in previous years, a strong theme running through the Congress will be the experience of people with dementia, and
involvement of them and their families in services at every level. As appropriate, proposals should show that this importantaspect has been addressed in their project or service. As always, we welcome proposals on a broad range of topics.
Submit online: careinfo.org/event/uk-dementia-congress/
02-45CT0319gh.qxp_Layout 1 13/02/2019 11:42 Page 27
medication March 2019www.careinfo.org
28
Half of all care home residents are prescribed at least one antibioticover a 12 month period, according to UK-wide research, led byBoots UK, which highlights potential areas where community
pharmacists and their teams can support both residents and carers in carehomes in the appropriate and effective use of antibiotics.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major global public health problemwhich could prevent the effective treatment of common bacterial infectionsand in 2016, the UK government set a target to reduce inappropriateprescribing of antibiotics by 50%, with the aim of being a world leader inreducing prescribing by 2020.
Inappropriate use of antibiotics includes prescribing an antibiotic in theabsence of evidence or clear rationale of a bacterial infection, and
Using fewerantibiotics
Research identifies opportunities for
community pharmacy to support
antimicrobial stewardship in care homes
continuation of course beyond recommendedguidelines. Previous research published byPublic Health England shows the level ofinappropriate prescribing in primary care inEngland as 20%, suggesting that levels ofprescribing should be reduced by 10% tomeet the Government target.
The research led by Boots, looked at thelevels of antibiotic use across care homes inthe UK, including multiple courses andvariability in duration of treatment. Half ofcare home residents were prescribed at leastone antibiotic over a 12-month period,suggesting there is an opportunity to optimiseantibiotic use in this vulnerable population tominimise the risk of antimicrobial resistanceand treatment failure.
There are 459,000 residential places in carehomes across England, 16,000 acrossNorthern Ireland, 41,000 across Scotland, and26,000 across Wales. Most residents areelderly and have complex healthcare needsthat are exacerbated by multiple co-morbidities and medicines-related issues.
Community pharmacy teams dispenseacute prescriptions for antibiotics forresidents, and can identify potentialinteractions with current medications, andidentify any known allergies. Researchersbelieve that following the recent focus ofincreasing the clinical role of pharmacistswithin care homes, this is an opportunity toconsider actions to support prudentantibiotic prescribing and improvedantimicrobial stewardship across the UK.
This includes self-care (through homelyremedy policies), helping carers to identifyand deal with early signs of deteriorationand, when antibiotics are prescribed,whether they are appropriate along withadvice to support them being usedeffectively. There is also an opportunity forcommunity pharmacy teams to work moreclosely with carers within care homes,including infection prevention measuressuch as flu vaccinations and encouragingadequate hydration to prevent urinary tractinfections, which are more common in thesevulnerable adults.
Boots UK chief pharmacist Marc Donovansaid that, while nurses and carers providedthe majority of long term care for olderpeople within care homes, pharmacistsacross the UK support residents within thesesettings by dispensing and supplyingmedicines, as well as providing advice andsupport to carers on medicines use, storageand waste.
“As pharmacists, we’re all working topromote integration across healthcare
disciplines and sectors to promote moreefficient and effective care within the NHS,”said Mr Donovan.
“The NHS Long Term Plan recognises thatmany people living in care homes are nothaving their needs assessed and addressed aswell as they could be.
“This research highlights that there is a realopportunity for community pharmacy toplay an even greater role in supporting thesafe and effective use of medicines, andcontinue to support the implementation anddelivery of the Government’s five-year actionplan on antimicrobial resistance.”
� The research paper, titled ‘Antibioticprescribing for residents in long term carefacilities across the United Kingdom’, was co-authored by researchers at Boots UK, PublicHealth England and NHS Improvement.
It has been published in the Journal ofAntimicrobial Chemotherapy (JAC). The fullpaper can be found here:
https://academic.oup.com/jac/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jac/dkz008/5304212
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community engagement March 2019www.careinfo.org
30
At Kingfisher, a 22-bed care home in Waltham
Cross, Hertfordshire, residents have a ‘wish tree’,
initiated by Westgate Care company director Tara
Teubner to give residents an opportunity to wish for
something they would most like to do. Staff do their
best to make these wishes happen.
Anthony, who has lived with Parkinson’s
disease for 20 years, had an uncommon wish
– to help others by curing this disease, so the
care home decided to fundraise for Parkinson’s in
Anthony’s name.
Anthony and activity co-ordinator Angie held an
odd sock day at the home where the residents,
families and staff members came in odd socks, do-
nated £1, and raised £60.
Home manager Mary Auyeh contacted a local pri-
mary school, Dewhurst, and when the head teacher,
Sue, came to Kingfisher for a meeting, she took in-
terest in the wish tree, and promised to help with
some of the wishes. A few weeks later, Sue came
back to Kingfisher with students to sing carol songs,
and at the end presented Anthony with a £250
cheque. Anthony was overwhelmed that the stu-
Community responds to Anthony’s wishdents at Dewhurst donated so much for his wish.
Then, a letter was sent to Tesco Brookfield Centre
and Lynn, the store’s charity champion, said she
would fundraise and donate all the funds to An-
thony’s fund. A few days later, Lynn came to King-
fisher with the donation cheque and this made
Anthony awesomely pleased.
Kingfisher also contacted Parkinson’s UK to tell
the good news, and one of its staff members, re-
gional fundraiser Simona Southgate came to collect
the donations and thank Anthony in person, pre-
senting him with a certificate.
“I am so pleased,” said Anthony. “If this can help
one person, that is what I wanted.
Kingfisher resident
Anthony receives a
donation cheque
from Dewhurst
primary school
students.
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT JOURNALOFDEMENTIACARE.CO.UK
FOR ALL WHO WORK WITH PEOPLE LIVING WITH DEMENTIA
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02-45CT0319gh.qxp_Layout 1 13/02/2019 11:42 Page 30
31
fundraising March 2019www.careinfo.org
The Care Workers Charity (CWC) recently hosted its Awards for 2018, an inaugural
ceremony to recognise those who have played a key part in the recent re-emer-
gence of the charity and whose particular contribution merits acknowledgement.
Care home operator Avery won the Best Fundraising Campaign award, with
commercial director Mark Danis receiving the award for Outstanding Contribution
by an Individual.
The CWC Awards were introduced to recognise and reward the exceptional
contributions of the charity’s most dedicated supporters. Appraised by an internal
panel of judges, the CWC recognised 12 outstanding individuals and CWC Part-
ners in seven categories.
“We have been so appreciative of Avery’s support over the last couple of years
and have been most impressed by their commitment to helping us set up an an-
nual event,” said Rebecca Woolley, partnership and events manager at the CWC.
“It was wonderful to see the walks Avery hosted and to see residents enjoying
their mocktails…we can’t wait to see what they have planned next!”
The winners celebrated their accolades at The Ned in Central London in Jan-
uary, enjoying a traditional afternoon tea reception.
Going the extra mile for The CareWorkers Charity
Angus Matthew, senior marketing manager at Avery Healthcare, accepts
Best Fundraising Award for Avery Healthcare from
The Care Workers Charity chief executive Richard Muncaster.
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02-45CT0319gh.qxp_Layout 1 13/02/2019 11:42 Page 31
building with care March 2019www.careinfo.org
32Cowan Architects has partnered with Harrison, an
interior design and architecture consultancy, to
develop a new approach with bespoke models for
the five-star, premium and collaborative retirement
living sector.
The partnership will launch at the Dementia, Care
and Nursing Home Expo on March 26-27 in
Birmingham).
With many years’ experience in the fields of
healthcare architecture, interior design, branding,
hospitality and catering, the partners say their
approach will challenge assumptions and develop
customer-centric solutions.
This, they say, will offer the over 55s a greater
Partners to develop new retirement living modelschoice of health and well-being, living standards,
community and social interaction.
The combined expertise of these parties will create
innovative design solutions that are supported by
technology and environments that would rival 5*
hotels, but delivered affordably to existing providers,
whilst increasing customer demand and revenue.
“Whilst these models of older living and care are
gaining ground in the US, they are relatively new to the
UK” says Nigel Marcoolyn, director of architecture for
Cowan Architects.
“The particular skills of Cowan Architects and our
partners will see us at the cutting edge, offering our
own versions that cater for all ranges of the older
generation, whilst also allowing them to live in the
heart of an all-age community”.
Philip Harrison, founder of Harrison, adds “This is
an exciting partnership with Cowan Architects and
Signature Dining to introduce the next phase of
assisted living to the UK.
“The new generation entering the market of assisted
care – the baby boomers – have lived very different
lives to previous generations and have a higher set of
lifestyle expectations. Therefore developments of the
future should deliver on these standards, particularly
when creating shared spaces where inter-generational,
social communities exist.. These are key elements in
the creation of this new model.”
An £8m dementia-friendly residential and nursing
facility is set to open in north Birmingham in March.
MACC Care’s 84-bed Abbey Rose care home in
Erdington has been developed on the site of the
former Hare and Hounds public house and has taken
15 months to complete.
MACC Care, which operates six care facilities
across Birmingham, said the new care home would
replace its existing facility in nearby Orchard Road.
The provider is working with families and the local
authority to manage the relocation of 35 residents to
the new care home.
The facility will feature circadian tuneable lighting in
each bedroom, as well as a wellness suite, hair salon,
pub and cinema. It will also house a special dementia
care area and specifically designed and equipped
larger rooms for bariatric care provision.
Sharon Medhurst, care home manager at MACC
Care, said Abbey Rose was expected to create
around 80 new jobs, with MACC Care recruiting for
positions in care, nursing, kitchens, activity staff and
domestics.
“We are hugely excited about the move to the new
Abbey Rose care home and the opportunity it gives us
to expand our services,” said Ms Medhurst.
“The new site has been thoughtfully designed to
offer state-of-the-art facilities to our residents and
continues MACC Care’s tradition of excellent care
delivery in a fantastic environment.
Staff development“Our investment in Erdington is not just in providing
exceptional care for local people, it will also bring
about jobs and training positions. We plan to
offer nurse’s assistant placements and on-site
MACC Care poised to open£8m care home in Erdington
CGI of the new Abbey Rose care home in Erdington, Birmingham.
training for healthcare professionals by linking with
education providers. We will also provide regular
professional development seminars and
assessments for our employees. We believe it will be
one of a kind in Birmingham.”
Established in 2004, MACC Care is a West
Midlands-based nursing home operator that
specialises in providing superior, evidence-based care
environments and dementia-friendly accommodation.
The provider operates six dedicated care homes
across Birmingham and the Black Country, catering
for elderly and vulnerable people.
02-45CT0319gh.qxp_Layout 1 13/02/2019 11:42 Page 32
08.30 – 09.45 Registration
09.45 - 10.00 Welcome Dr Richard Hawkins, Editor in Chief, Journal of Dementia Care
10.00 – 11.30 PLENARY SESSION
Opening address: We have a dreamPeter Bewert, CEO, Dementia Care Matters
Nothing about us, without us – a message for current andfuture health and social care professionalsWendy Mitchell, Dementia Care Advocate (to be confirmed)
Reflection and learning from our practice through challengingsituationsProfessor Melaine Coward, Head of School of Health Sciences, University of Surrey
Beyond the mirror of dementia careDr David Sheard, Founder, Dementia Care Matters
11.30 – 12.00 Refreshments
12.00 – 13.00 PARALLEL SESSIONSDelegates are invited to attend one of the following concurrent sessions fa-cilitated by Dementia Care Matters team members. The sessions have beendeveloped based on themes from our Observational Audits and most com-monly asked areas of support within our project methodology
1. “I just want to die”Finding a way to be alongside deep emotional pain in dementia careSally Knocker, Senior Consultant Trainer, Dementia Care MattersWhile our increasing focus on living well with dementia is to be welcomed, we still meet people who are in a very desperate and lonelyplace, and may struggle to know how to respond to these often hiddendepths of emotional anguish. This workshop will invite participants to starttalking about ways we can have these difficult conversations withpeople and confront some of our fears around this neglected topic
2. Intimacy and dementia careLuke Tanner, Consultant Trainer, Dementia Care MattersThis session will enable you to understand the balance of safeguarding, deprivation of liberty and the need for intimacy, love and in some casessex. We need to shift our culture and thinking where we label people's emotional and sexual needs as 'problems' rather than embracing this as anessential part of identity and wellbeing
3. Magic momentsNick Andrews, Practice Development Officer, Wales School for Social CareResearch, Swansea UniversityWhile the media often share the bad stories that happen in care homes, thesector is full of good stories. We need to acknowledge and celebrate thesemore. This workshop will provide a summary of the ‘MagicMoments’ work inWales, and introduce participants to simple exercises to support collectivelearning and development using short stories
4. Returning to new culture nursing Mentoring nurses in attached leadershipPeter Bewert RN, CEO, Dementia Care MattersGemma Diss RMN, Consultant Trainer, Dementia Care MattersNursing culture is deeply engrained within the medical model leading to taskorientation. Florence Nightingale first discussed ‘The art of nursing’ but isnursing still an art form? This session will explore the imperatives of Demen-tia Care Matters' new culture in nursing practice. We can enable this throughour care services for older people. It’s time to bring back “the art of nursing”
13.00 – 14.00 Lunch
14.00 – 15.00 REPEAT OF PARALLEL SESSIONS
15.00 – 16.00 From ‘Good’ to ‘Outstanding’ – the Butterfly WayJoin us for an interactive Question and Answer session with homes whohave achieved CQC ratings of Outstanding and maintain a Level One Accreditation status with Dementia Care Matters. You will be enlightened onhow to navigate the pathway of sustainability and what it takes toobtain and sustain ‘Outstanding’ which is a rating awarded to less than 1%of care homes in England. Come and learn from the lived experience of TheButterfly Way and its success on culture change, delivery and sustainabilityfrom an ‘Outstanding’ level by the regulator.
16.00 Tea and close
When we succeed in dementia care being right, we know that ‘all care’ can be right
Booking opens soon at www.careinfo.org/events/ or contact [email protected] For exhibition opportunities contact Caroline Bowern, [email protected]
Beyond Dementia Care - All Care MattersTRANSFORMATION I FREEDOM I TRUTH I INNOVATIVE I DISRUPTION I HEART
Conference organised by:19 July 2019UNIVERSITY OF SURREY, GUILDFORD
02-45CT0319gh.qxp_Layout 1 13/02/2019 11:42 Page 33
34
regional roundtables March 2019www.careinfo.org
For several years now, Caring Times has been supported by
Barclays, Knight Frank and Pinsent Masons to hold a series of
regional roundtable events, where care providers big and
small discuss the issues of the day. Here we report on the
latest roundtable discussions.
Lucky care home operators were invitedby Barclays, Knight Frank and PinsentMasons to enjoy some clay targetshooting mixed in with some high-leveldiscussion about the sector. Clay targetshooting (formerly known as InanimateBird Shooting) is the art of shooting afirearm at special flying targets known asclay pigeons or clay targets.
Perhaps the sponsors thought it wasimportant that their guests shouldappreciate there were other targets in lifeapart from unfair CQC inspections oranother delayed piece of governmentlegislation or a local authority homepinching their best manager by paying
them way more than the private operatorcould afford.
Buoyed by their success smashing clay topieces, most operators were in surprisinglygood heart about their own businesses. Thisdetermined optimism for their own confirmssimilar results found in the annual surveyconducted by the sponsors in 2018 whichshows that operators are generallypessimistic about the sector but hopefulabout their own businesses.
That said, no one present had a good wordto say for the implications of Brexit forrecruitment and staffing in general.
The survey by contrast revealed that anamazing 12.7 per cent of respondersconsidered recruitment the least of theirworries and a similar number (13.9 per cent)
said that staff costs were of no concern.“Where do they live?” we are forced to ask.
Looking ahead, the feeling wasthat 2019 was looking very uncertain.The outstanding green paper ismaking operators nervous aboutmaking big decisions until they knowwhat it contains.
Combine political and economicuncertainly and people are sitting tightand holding off buying and selling untilthere is more certainty.
The positive is that there was generalacceptance that the healthcare sector ismore defensive than other propertysectors and will hold up better than othersectors should the shooting resume witheven greater ferocity.
By Caring Times editor-in-chief
Dr Richard Hawkins
By Caring Times editor
Geoff Hodgson
Big decisions put on hold amidst the uncertainty
Healthcare Management Solutions chief executive
Tony Stein: ‘too many variables to make a
meaningful assessment’.
How hard can it be to knock down a claytarget? Just aim a little in front, pull thetrigger and have the satisfaction of seeing thetarget blown to smithereens.
Simple enough, so why were we missingso many when we gathered at a shootingschool near Snaith in North East Yorkshiretowards the end of last year?
There were 15 of us, care home providers,bankers, lawyers and healthcare propertyspecialists, spending the morning in theadmittedly atavistic exercise of clay targetshooting before sitting down to discuss thecare sector and, in particular, the 2018 surveyof care home operators conducted by Caring
Times on behalf of Barclays, Knight Frankand Pinsent Masons.
It soon became evident that assessing what
A tale of two sectors
was going to happen in the sector in the nextcouple of years was every bit as difficult ashitting a moving clay target.
“There is so much going on and there aretoo many variables to make a meaningfulassessment,” said Tony Stein of Health CareManagement Solutions.
“Will we ever get the right decisions out ofpoliticians to fix the problems? The NHS is thenation’s sacred cow; it’s worth votes and it’shigh on the political agenda, so it will alwaysattract the money, whereas social care is waydown on the agenda. If you look at the RedBook for the Budget, there are 59 mentions ofthe NHS and 12 mentions of social care, whichgives some idea of the relative importance thatgovernment attaches to each.”
The discussion ranged widely over staffingcosts, recruitment and retention,development finance, the likely impact ofBrexit and the perennial problems of
regulation. It soon became clear, however,that the independent provision of social careservices was now divided into two quiteseparate sectors – the private pay sector andpublic provision, each with their ownconcerns, challenges and opportunities.
“No one is building in Sheffield becausethere isn’t the market for the self-funders,”said Belinda Black, chief executive of Sheffcare,a not-for-profit provider which operates 10residential care homes across Sheffield.
“We have good occupancy, a high level of
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35
March 2019www.careinfo.org
Sponsored by
In a year when the news anddevelopments in the sector werepredictably downbeat, as has becomeusual at the Roundtable events, I found itreally heartening to hear about theinnovative ways in which the attendeeswere dealing with the issues thrown atthem. It was also great to hear some of thenew younger leaders in the sector talkingvery passionately about the sector andwhat they want to do to shape the market.
As has been the case for the last fewyears, there was significant discussionabout staffing shortages (exacerbated inthe lead up to Brexit, with EU recruitsstaying away until the situation becomesclearer), fee cuts, interaction with local
Good to hear from younger leadersBy Dan Braithwaite,
Senior Associate, Healthcare,
Pinsent Masons
authorities and of course, the CareQuality Commission.
However, on a more positive note, a lotof the discussion was focused on the useof new technologies in the provision ofservices and new and innovative ways ofretaining staff. We heard from severalbusinesses who were making realchanges to ensure that their workforceharboured a positive working cultureand appreciated the greater good/moralpurpose in what they and their teamwere trying to achieve. The good newswas that they were already reaping thebenefits in relation to staff retentionand productivity.
It was also interesting to hear about theincreased use of tablet devices and appsthat support patient care (both in carehomes and in community settings).
self-funders and low staff turnover, but I doworry about the sector as a whole. Too manypeople can’t afford to fund their own careand I think they are left too long at home;there’s a lot of unmet need, a lot of lonelinessand isolation. A person has to have had anumber falls now before they are consideredfrail enough to come into a care home.”
There was a general consensus thatstaffing and recruitment costs remained thebiggest concern for providers. Belinda saidthe 4.9% increase in the National MinimumWage was a concern, especially as thatincrease would have to be done for all staffto maintain the differential.
“We forecast that by 2020 we’ll be out ofbusiness, based on historical fee rates fromSheffield Council,” said Belinda.
“We work very hard at recruitment andretention. We have a turnover of about 12%which is one of the lowest levels in thecountry. We pay as much as we can, we givethe staff a bonus every year. The lighterthings that we do include Christmas presentsand thankyou letters, and we pay for all thetraining. But we have fantastic long-standingmanagers and to me, they are the key. AndSheffcare has a great reputation and is seen asa good place to work.”
Pinsent Masons’ James Long, who chairedthe discussion, asked if banks had any sensethat providers were finding acquisition anddevelopment finance more difficult to raise, aswas suggested by the survey results. Barclayshead of healthcare (north) Jonathan Thompsonsaid he had not seen any evidence of this.
“Talking to people, it seems there are farmore forms of finance available,” he said.
“There was a time when banks were prettymuch the only show in town, but now thereare funds flowing from various sources andin many places, the sector is awash withfunding. Increasingly, people are looking tothe ground rent scheme.
“The biggest challenge from a bankingperspective is that banks have become farmore aware of the cost of keeping capital on
their balance sheets and pricing has becomedifficult. The care sector is a big consumer ofdebt funding so it does have an impact onthe balance sheet but really, we’re lendingmore than we have done previously. Goodoperators with a good business plan and amodel we can work with will find fundingis still available.”
As with similar events held in past years,all providers expressed full confidence intheir own operations but all were morereserved in their assessment of the social caresector as a whole. Anchor’s Mark Greavesput his rating at 3 of a possible 5.
“Brexit is a worrying uncertainty,” he said.“We don’t know whether or not there will besecurity of supply of some consumables.”
James Long agreed: “ I think there’ll be a bigdrop in transactions in the first quarter of2019 owing to uncertainty over Brexit, butI’m cautiously optimistic for the sectorgenerally so 4 and 5. There’s going to be a lotof activity over the next five years, in bothcare homes and retirement villages.”
Knight Frank’s Rick Tarver was alsobullish, despite the uncertainties. “I give aconfidence rating of 5 for healthcaregenerally, because the demand is there and isgrowing,” he said. “Most people consider thevalue of their business to have increased overthe past five years. The sector as a whole isdynamic, it’s fluid, it’s constantly changing.That will continue to bring opportunity,innovation and change.”
SHOOTING THE BREEZE:
clay target
teammates Daniel Plant,
Geoff Hodgson,
Jonathan Thompson,
Belinda Black and
Tony Stein.
02-45CT0319gh.qxp_Layout 1 13/02/2019 11:42 Page 35
new look • new content • new ideas
Subscribe to Caring Times and Journal of Dementia CareBook conferences and awardsExplore our new recruitment portal
02-45CT0319gh.qxp_Layout 1 13/02/2019 11:42 Page 36
37
retirement living March 2019www.careinfo.org
Just completed, Castle View Windsor, had to be ‘good enough for Mum’ – that
was the vision of Robin Hughes, founder and chief executive of Castle
Retirement Living, set out to achieve – and an urban retirement development
with a difference.
With a third of apartments already reserved, Castle View Windsor offers
spectacular views of Windsor Castle from its own rooftop sky lounge, bar and
terrace. One of the largest and most innovative urban retirement villages in the
UK, the £50m development provides a total of 64 apartments including five
spectacular rooftop apartments, along with a neighbouring 72-bed care home,
which is being operated by Care UK.
With Robin’s Mum amongst its first residents, prices at Castle View Windsor
start from £390,000 for a one bed to £790,000 for a three bed or two bed plus
apartment with dining or study on the first-third floors, while prices will be released
for the rooftop apartments shortly.
Castle View Windsor: good enoughfor Robin’s mum
Ranging in size from 605 sq ft to 1,185 sq ft, each
contemporary living apartment has its own private
entrance and most also have a large balcony along
with fully equipped kitchens, large spacious
bathrooms with walk-in showers – with ease of use
and comfort key throughout.
Set in three acres of landscaped grounds, about a
mile from the castle with lift access to all floors,
underground car parking, a 24-hour reception and
concierge provides security around the clock, offering
peace of mind and great ‘lock and leave’ living.
Regular activities and village events are being
provided to create a full community environment
while all apartments can be purchased exclusively by
those over 55.
“For me, everything about the development from
start to finish has been attention to detail in every
aspect which has to be ‘good enough for Mum’,” said
Robin Hughes. “I want her to be very happy and
comfortable here along with other residents and
retirees with as much support as and when they need
it with our range of assisted living packages. Having
lived in the town all my life I wanted to create a great
quality, affordable local retirement village.
“We’re running the building and creating
a community environment. Most of the purchasers
are local, so Mum is amongst friends and like-
minded residents.
“While along with our stunning castle views, we’re
offering residents access to great local facilities such
as Windsor Lawn Tennis Club and Windsor Leisure
centre, a pet friendly policy in all ground floor
apartments, and no smoking across the development.
“Working with a first class team, I’m very proud of
what we’re creating at Castle View Windsor for all our
residents. Building a project of this scale and
complexity and delivering it on time is setting a new
standard for urban retirement villages in the UK. I’m
delighted to have achieved this in my home town and
that Mum is one of our first residents.”
ABOVE: The £50m Castle View
Windsor is an urban retirement
development with a difference.
LEFT: Robin Hughes, founder
and chief executive of od Castle
Retirement Living, with his mum
in her apartment.
BELOW LEFT: Windsor Castle,
seen from the retirement
village’s rooftop sky lounge.
02-45CT0319gh.qxp_Layout 1 13/02/2019 11:42 Page 37
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building with care March 2019www.careinfo.org
Kettering’s newest care home, Westhill Park, was
officially opened in January by special guests the
Mayor and Mayoress of Kettering. The home opened
its doors to local healthcare professionals, charities,
associations and business owners.
The home will provide a home for 66 local older
people requiring residential or dementia care and
residents will stay on an all-Inclusive basis.
Oakdale Care Group co-founders and directors
Andrew Long and Chris Babington welcomed their
guests and introduced them to the team that will care
for their new residents.
The three storey home includes 66 bedrooms with
en-suite wet rooms, a garden room, library, cinema,
hair and beauty salon, landscaped gardens and an
English tea room with balcony areas.
Service and relationship manager Allison Purkiss
was eager to show off the outstanding facilities
to visitors.
“Everyone here at Westhill Park has enjoyed showing
the community around our beautiful new home,” said
Oakdale opens Westhill Park
Andrew Long (Oakdale co-founder) Councillor
James Burton (Mayor) Lorraine Burton (Mayoress)
and Chris Babington (Oakdale co-founder)
Alison. “We have a great staff team and unique facilities
and we are all looking forward to making Westhill Park
a fantastic place to live and work.”
The home will be the fourth facility for operator,
Oakdale Care Group which also includes Timken
Grange, in Duston, Northampton. Oakdale Care
Group is a small, privately owned company
providing high quality care in outstanding
surroundings, with the ethos of providing the best
care, every day to everyone. The group hopes to
create a chain of ten care homes offering more than
600 beds over the next five years.
Country Court Care has commissioned the
construction of a 60-bed residential care home in
Spalding, Lincolnshire.
Work on Fenchurch House will start in May and is
due for completion in June 2020. The facility, to be
situated on Spalding Common on the site of the old
Goodfellow School, will create up to 60 jobs including
roles for care assistants, senior carers, housekeepers,
Country Court to build in Spalding
Impression of Country Court Care’s new 60-bed Fenchurch House to be built in Spalding, Lincolnshire.
maintenance assistants and activity champions.
Country Court Care operates several care and
nursing homes in the area including two in Spalding;
Ashwood Nursing Home and St John’s Care Home.
Commenting on the new care home, Al-Karim
Kachra, financial director at Country Court Care said:
“We are excited to invest further in Spalding and
offer a new option in luxury care. The quality of choice
in Spalding is going to increase very quickly with both
the construction of our Fenchurch House 60-bed unit
and LNT’s 66-bed unit on the Lincolnshire Gateway
development.
We welcome the extra competition as it will lead to
positive outcomes for the residents in terms of better
accommodation and in driving up care standards.”
Facilities at Fenchurch House will include 60
bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, lounge and dining
areas, hair salon, gift shop, café/bar area and
reception areas.
Founded in 1983, the Country Court Care Group is
a family owned and run business which owns 30 care
homes providing care for up to 1400 elderly people
across the UK. The organisation opened four new
care homes during 2018.
Email: [email protected]
New build plansin the pipeline?
Let us know!
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building with care March 2019www.careinfo.org
Development-led care home operator New Care has
received planning consent for two new £15m care centres
in Stockport.
The Cheshire-based operator has received approval for
a 71-bed care home in Bramhall and a similar 68-bed care
facility on the site of the old Queen’s Arms pub in Cheadle.
Each property will boast spacious and fully furnished
bedrooms, with en suite wet rooms, elegant communal
lounges, fine dining rooms, spa assisted bathrooms, a hair
salon, nail bar and landscaped gardens.
New Care to build two care homesin Stockport
Both will offer residential, nursing and specialist
dementia care, enhanced by a meaningful programme
of daily activities and excursions.
“We are committed to bringing our award-winning
care facilities to areas of the UK with an identified and
well-documented need,” said New care chief
executive Chris McGoff.
“The care crisis in Stockport is escalating; seven
care homes have closed in the last two years resulting
A typical New Care care home development
in the loss of 151 beds and we are pleased to help
address this by delivering 139 new beds to the area.”
Work at the two sites is expected to begin
early this year.
NorthStar has designed a new 48-bed care home
proposed to be built in Chippenham for Pilgrim’s
Friend Society. This is the first project in a
programme which will see much of the Society’s
stock improved or re-provided across the whole of
their estate across the UK.
The Christian charity undertook significant research
and studied examples of elderly and dementia care
best practice to make sure that their re-provisioning
programme would offer best in class accommodation
and be future-proofed for years to come.
The Society’s brief to NorthStar was for their new
care home to be generally domestic in scale,
attractive and welcoming in appearance. It should
New 48-bed ‘household model of care’ development
Impression of the proposed development in Chippenham,
designed by NorthStar for the Pilgrim’s Friend Society.
facilitate basic life-affirming things such as enjoying the
natural environment, enjoying the health-giving
benefits of natural daylight, and living in safe,
domestic-scale accommodation.
“We wanted to design these units in such a way
that they would evoke memories of home and familiar
settings,” said NorthStar’s director of development
Danny Sharpe.
“By providing visual clues and clear lines of sight at
key areas the layout helps residents with ‘wayfinding’
around the building. The greatest design challenge we
faced was reconciling the desire for small, familial,
domestic scale units with the need for easy access to
the large communal areas used for activities and daily
devotions. We then had to add an additional layer of
circulation for back of house servicing so that staff
could move freely from one ‘household’ to the next
without going through another ‘household’.
The Society hopes that their new building will
encourage contact with the wider community, family,
friends and churches. The new home has a large
communal area with a café/bistro, activities rooms,
hairdressers, sensory room and offices. The planning
application is currently with Wiltshire District Council
and a decision is expected in the spring.
Sophie, Countess of Wessex has officially
opened Hampshire-based charity, The
Brendoncare Foundation’s new
development at Otterbourne Hill.
Brendoncare Otterbourne Hill provides a
community hub, apartments for individuals
and couples and a care home offering
residential nursing and dementia care, all
under one roof.
Based in Winchester, Brendoncare
operates10 care homes and five housing
with care locations across the south of
England and also runs more than 90
friendship and wellbeing clubs across Dorset
and Hampshire for older people who may
otherwise be lonely.
Countess opensOtterbourne Hill
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business news March 2019www.careinfo.org
40
Investment platform Downing Crowd is launching a
£3m bond for care home developer Magnus Care
Group, which is also supported by experienced care
home operator Care Concern.
Downing Crowd is part of London-based
investment manager Downing LLP, which has
been investing in a wide range of UK business
sectors, including healthcare and renewable energy,
since 1986.
Having recently acquired Bothwell Castle, a newly
developed care home in an affluent suburb of
Glasgow, Magnus Care Group plans to work with
Care Concern to acquire further residential care
homes to build out its portfolio and two additional
Downing Crowd to raise £3m for Magnus Carelocations are already in the pipeline. Throughout this
process, Magnus Care Group will focus on
refurbishing properties, enhancing standards of care
and increasing bed occupancy where appropriate.
The Magnus Care Group bond will allow investors
to earn a fixed return of 7%pa, plus the potential for
added equity. The bond is also asset-backed, which
means that Downing will have first-charge security
over the bricks and mortar of Magnus Care Group’s
care homes and other assets.
Julia Groves, head of Downing Crowd and partner
at Downing LLP, said the team behind Magnus Care
Group previously developed a portfolio of care homes
with Downing-managed funds and had a successful
exit in spring 2018, achieving an attractive rate of
return for investors.
“The Downing team has honed real expertise in the
care sector, having invested in our first care home
back in 1998,” said Ms Groves.
“We have developed and invested in care homes
across the UK and are delighted to add to our portfolio
with Magnus Care Group. Our success in this area of
the market is also demonstrated by our recent exit
from five care home projects in March 2018.
“Our constant focus is always on finding high
quality residencies and care facilities in the sector, with
the aim of ensuring the best possible outcome for care
home residents, staff and our investors.”
Octopus Healthcare, part of the Octopus Group and
a major investor in healthcare facilities throughout the
UK and Ireland, has raised a further £133.5m for its
Octopus Healthcare Fund (the Fund) and, separately,
has also agreed to acquire seven care homes. This
latest fundraising, from new and existing institutional
investors, takes the total equity raised for the Fund to
£320m since its launch in August 2017.
Octopus has agreed to acquire a portfolio of six
modern, purpose-built care homes let on long leases
to Care UK, the UK’s largest independent provider of
health and social care, for about £110m. The assets
are located in Banbury, Cheltenham, Horsham,
Norwich, Ware and Witney. This acquisition builds on
Octopus Healthcare’s existing partnership with Care
UK, which now comprises eight care homes across
the UK. Care UK was represented by CBRE
throughout the transaction. In addition, Octopus has
Octopus raises a further £133.5mand acquires seven more homes
agreed to forward fund the development of a new
elderly care home in the Midlands to be leased to a
national operator.
According to Octopus, all seven assets have been
designed to provide best-in-class support and care for
elderly people in locations where there is strong
demand for beds. These acquisitions will take the
Fund’s total portfolio to 26 care homes.
Octopus Healthcare director Ben Penaliggon said
the significant raising of new capital and the
acquisitions were a strong endorsement of both
Octopus’s ability to source and acquire high quality UK
care homes, of the appeal of this asset class to
investors, and the highly supportive demographic
trends that drive it.
“This marked the end of a successful year for the
Fund, during which it has secured over £279m of
transactions into the UK elderly care home sector and
we look forward to continuing to build the Fund’s
portfolio through a combination of standing
investments, forward fundings and forward
commitment acquisitions,” said Mr Penaliggon.
Hiti Singh, head of institutional investment at
Octopus, said the strong fundamentals of healthcare
infrastructure investment, including the sustainable,
inflation-linked income, risk-adjusted returns and
supportive demographics, continued to attract
institutional investor demand
“Forty-five per cent of investors in our recent
Healthcare Infrastructure survey indicated that they
lack the investor skills and resources to invest in this
asset class,” said Ms Singh.
“This creates an opportunity for us to build on our
long-standing track record in this area and unlock an
opportunity for investors who have an appetite to
increase their allocations in healthcare infrastructure.”
Reach the right audience...
Contact Caroline Bowern to discussyour advertising or sponsorship
requirements on 020 3746 2617 or email
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analysis March 2019www.careinfo.org
With rising levels of investment, the care sector is
evolving with the development of new high quality
assets and greater competition in areas with a
desirable location and demographic, according to the
latest annual report by specialist business property
adviser, Christie & Co.
The report, Business Outlook 2019: Navigate,
Innovate, Accelerate, reflects on the themes, activity
and challenges of the previous year and forecasts
what 2019 might bring across the industries in which
Christie & Co operates, including Care.
With significant corporate development activity
taking place, the report notes that this has put
pressure on some smaller operators and created
competition for prime sites among regional and
corporate providers. Market standards are also
increasing as larger, new build care homes replace
smaller non-viable assets, with the report noting a
2.1% decrease in the number of care homes but a 2%
increase in the number of beds since 2016.
The attractive, needs-driven fundamentals of the
care sector, coupled with difficulties in more traditional
parts of the property market such as high street retail,
have created considerable interest from a wide variety
of capital providers looking to invest in operational real
estate. These include major institutional investors and
global investment funds alongside specialist REITS,
family offices and private equity.
From an operational perspective, funding and
staffing are highlighted as the key challenges facing
Competition and investment setto grow, despite the uncertainty
the sector, referencing Christie & Co’s Adult Social
Care 2018 report, released last September. With a
13% drop in nurse registrations and local authority
budgets remaining under pressure, the report says
these issues are likely to continue in 2019.
The nursing deficit outlined by Christie & Co could
be exacerbated by Brexit as a shortage of European
workers, of which the care sector is a major employer,
could further reduce supply and retention of staff.
Looking to the year ahead, the report also outlines
Christie & Co’s market predictions which are;� Continued pressure on operators to improve
services by the regulator,� A major OpCo sale anticipated along with further
consolidation of providers,� The need for further clarity from Government on a
long term funding solution with the delayed Green
Paper, now promised by Easter.
Average prices remained economically positive
throughout 2018 across almost every sector in
which Christie & Co specialises, with Care seeing a
3.1% increase.
“2018 saw significant activity in the care sector
across the value and ownership spectrum,” said
Richard Lunn, managing director of care at Care at
Christie & Co.
“A number of major transactions are occurring and
yields are compressing to record levels given the influx
of investment from a wide variety of capital providers.
“All the indications are that this should continue in
2019 if the uncertainty of Brexit is resolved.”
Michael Hodges, managing director – care
consultancy at Christie & Co, said the care sector had
a number of very strong fundamentals which are fuelled
by the growth in a population which is living longer and
with an ever increasing range of care needs.
“It is extremely encouraging to see the strength of
investor interest in the sector and also the way
operators are innovating with creative strategies to
address workforce related challenges and improve
care quality,” said Mr Hodges.
“The creation of a robust, long term funding
solution for local authority funded residents is
essential and we hope that the ongoing issues
relating to Brexit will not further delay the publication
of the long awaited Green Paper.”� The full report is available to access at:
https://bit.ly/2RuAqH2
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people March 2019www.careinfo.org
To request more information, [email protected] or call 08458 690777 Our unique insight, your foresight
Essential NEWanalysis for your next developmentMitigate risk,maximise opportunities with our new location-specific data
Dedicated dementia analysisStaffing analysis
Carterwood managing director Amanda nurse with Banyan Care Group managing director
Vishal Shah and Octopus Healthcare chief executive Benjamin Davis.
In January, property consultants Carterwood, provider
representative association Care England and
investment company Octopus Healthcare hosted a
‘Next Generation’ dinner at the Savoy Hotel in
London. This initiative was to support the next
generation of leaders in the care sector, offering them
a platform to come together to discuss issues and
future opportunities. This builds on previous initiatives
Young leaders discuss the futuresupported by Banyan Care Group managing director
and Care England treasurer Vishal Shah who is
passionate about supporting the leaders of tomorrow
and expanding this network.
The informal event gave operators the chance to
voice their opinions on what matters most in the
sector at present. Attracting a younger workforce and
offering genuine career development was a particular
theme throughout the evening. Similarly, operators
expanding their number of elderly care homes were
equally focused on recruiting additional senior
management to support their growth.
“It was a fantastic evening and offered a brilliant
opportunity for great minds to come together and
share their ideas,” said Carterwood managing director
Amanda Nurse. “Having the focus on the future allows
for innovation and development to be nurtured and
brightens the future of healthcare.”
Matthew Drysdale, associate director at
Carterwood, welcomed the attendees and expressed
his optimism that platforms such as the Next
Generation dinner, where like-minded pioneers in the
sector could discuss ways to overcome challenges
facing the sector, such as the existing quality of care
home provision and staffing, offer the best
opportunities to improve care.
Octopus Healthcare chief executive Benjamin
Davies commented: “The landscape of UK healthcare
is changing rapidly. At Octopus, we recognise that
along with the increasing demand for quality care
provision there is a real opportunity to deliver a wide
range of services and better experiences within the
care community. We are optimistic that initiatives such
as this will inspire tomorrow’s care leaders and have a
positive impact on the sector.”
Care England chief executive professor Martin
Green said his association was committed to a future
in which a united, quality conscious, independent
sector that offers real choice and value for money
exists.
“Getting together with specialists in the sector,
along with a new generation of future leaders is one
way to start shaping tomorrow, today.,” he said.� Young leaders in care who wish to be involved
in future events should contact Matthew Drysdale
at Carterwood or Jayne Shawcross, head of
customer service at Octopus Healthcare or
Vishal Shah, Care England to receive details
of upcoming opportunities.
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Long term
fundamentals
trump the turmoil
43
March 2019www.careinfo.org
MARKET ANALYSIS
For most UK investors 2018 was a tough year. Shopping centrevalues fell by 10.5%, the FTSE 100 fell by 12.5% and the countryremained gripped by Brexit uncertainty. Yet amidst thisturmoil, the amount of capital being spent on care home andsupported living investments (on a net lease basis) increasedby 46% from c £1.375bn 2017 to c £2bn in 2018, a significantuplift by any metric.
What is also interesting is where the money came from.We’ve known for a number of years that UK pension funds andinvestment managers have been increasing their exposure tohealthcare and this continued apace in 2018. But what perhapswas less expected, especially given the uncertainty aroundBrexit and the plethora of articles in the press about thechallenges faced by the sector, was the inflow of capital fromboth the EU and Asia.
Much of this money, however, is long-term capital and whatthey have realised is something that those of us in the markethave known for a long time. Regardless of what happens in thegeopolitical economy, every town and city across the country isgoing to need care homes, medical centres and housing withcare. And crucially, from an investors perspective, this means aneed for buildings that deliver long-term rental income streams.
While of course the funding sources, models for deliveringcare and technology will change, and this in-turn this willshape the property requirements, the fundamental need forthem won’t. The delivery of care ultimately requires people,and those people will need buildings because unlike othersectors, you can’t outsource it; you can’t put it on the internet,and you can’t get a robot to do it.
So while much of the world may be changing and there maybe short-term ups and downs; the long-term fundamentals arestrong and amidst the wider turmoil out there it seems thatsome of the smart investors are beginning to realise it.
With SAM WRIGHT, director with the
healthcare team at CBRE.
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care businesses sold
44
March 2019www.careinfo.org
PROPERTIES AND BUSINESSES RECENTLY SOLD IN THE CARE SECTOR
� Information appearing in “Care Homes Sold” is
published in good faith that the information is
accurate and cleared for publication. The onus for
accuracy is on the property agent.
Caring Times will not publish, in a subsequent issue,
corrections or alterations to information supplied.
Agents, please note that items cannot be withdrawn
once the copy deadline has passed.
We advise readers to confirm any details with the
property agent concerned.
The HomesteadsLocation Stanford-Le-Hope, Essex
Registration 8 learning disability
Buyer Mr G Ibeji
Seller Mr S Monaghan & Mr J O'Connor
Agent DC Care
Tel 01937 849 268
The building has been extended over time to provide ad-
ditional accommodation having been purchased and con-
verted by the outgoing owners in 2005 from a 12 bed
motel. Internally the accommodation is arranged over the
ground and first floor and includes a total of 8 bedrooms,
all having en suite facilities. Communal areas provide a
homely environment for the residents and include a
lounge, dining room and day room with access to the
outside patio and good sized garden.
Lincoln LodgeLocation Hunstanton, Norfolk
Registration 25 elderly
Buyer EvoCare Ltd
Seller Stuart Poore
Agent Christie & Co
Tel 01473 234904
Holmer Nursing HomeLocation Holmer, Herefordshire
Registration 49 elderly
Buyer Blackadder Corporation
Seller Blanchworth Care
Asking price £2,250,000
Agent Christie & Co
Tel 01214 523700
Polebrook & Shire Lodge Nursing HomesLocation Oundle and Corby, Northamptonshire
Registration 52 elderly & 54 elderly
Agent Bespoke Care
Tel 01142 369532
KingsdowneLocation Barnet, London
Registration Closed care home
Buyer Optic Realm Ltd
Seller Smith & Williamson
Asking price £2,500,000
Agent Christie & Co
Tel 0203 846 0621
Of interest to residential developers and specialist care
home operators.
Wymondley Nursing & Residential HomeLocation Hitchin, Hertfordshire
Registration 59 elderly
Buyer Mr Raja
Seller Mr Kelsall
Agent Christie & Co
Tel 0207 227 0700
Benefited from planning permission to extend.
Northleach Court Nursing HomeLocation Northleach, Gloucestershire
Registration 40 elderly
Guide price £1.5m
Agent Christie & Co
Tel 0117 946 8516
Anglesea HeightsLocation Ipswich, Suffolk
Registration Former care home on a 3.2-acre site
Buyer Ipswich School
Seller Bupa
Agent GVA
Tel 020 7911 2603
CornerwaysLocation Hythe, Kent
Registration 20 elderly, dementia, physical disability
Agent Aldridge Care Homes
Tel 0330 1232066
Enter ‘Property’ in the search field at thetop of the page to access archived articleson specialist care featured in past copies
of Caring Times
Articles dealing with the care homeproperty market can be found atwww.careinfo.org
02-45CT0319gh.qxp_Layout 1 13/02/2019 11:42 Page 44
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business news March 2019www.careinfo.org
Care services monitoring company Care Protect is
investing £200,000 at its monitoring hub in Belfast, in
anticipation of increasing demand for its safeguarding
technology, both in the UK and overseas.
New clients within the UK, including a pilot scheme
for a major care provider aimed at reducing the number
of falls in its care homes, and a surge of interest in
Australia in light of the Aged Care Quality and Safety
Royal Commission have led to a period of sustained
growth and further investment for the business.
The company has tripled the size of its Belfast site
and increased its independent, professional reviewing
team to more than 30, with further recruitment
ongoing. New members of the team were introduced
to the business over lunch recently at Northern
Ireland’s parliament buildings at Stormont in Belfast.
In addition, the Care Protect software and its
surveillance and monitoring systems are being
upgraded as part of an ongoing programme.
Care Protect is described as an independently
monitored camera system that can proactively
highlight a number of shortcomings or provide
retrospective impartial evidence following any incident
Care protect invests £200kin Belfast monitoring hub
or allegation. The system uses ‘smart’ technology
that allows a review team to identify ‘untoward
events’, triggering the system to alert on site staff
within seconds of the event occurring.
Care Protect business development director Ben
Wilson said forward-thinking operators understood
the substantial benefits that improved safeguarding
systems could bring.
“We are investing heavily in our technology,
premises and, importantly, in the team of experienced
sector professionals, who provide the independent
monitoring that underpins the Care Protect system,”
said Mr Wilson.
“Clients currently utilising the system report very
positive outcomes including increased occupancy,
sustained improvements in care delivery, declining
agency expenditure and a reduction in safeguarding
events.
“Combining the use of state-of-the-art technology
with the judgement of professional experienced
people Care Protect is offering peace of mind,
promoting high-quality care standards and consistent
high levels of vulnerable person safeguarding.”
Healthcare market intelligence provider
LaingBuisson has launched a real-time
benchmarking database of fundamental
quality and safety standards for care homes
and care home groups.
CareMonitor offers real-time access to the
CQC’s Fundamental Standards of Quality and
Safety data in all registered care homes and
care home groups.
Comprising over 17,000 care home
records, CareMonitor allows users to run
league tables of providers, benchmark
provider portfolios against specific providers
as well as the whole market and look at rating
trends. These searches can also be exported
to JPEG charts and detailed Excel
spreadsheets, enabling further analysis of the
data.
LaingBuisson chief executive Henry
Elphick said CareMonitor was an essential
tool for decision makers involved in the
investment in, or the development, regulation,
management and marketing of care services.
“CareMonitor takes data from thousands
of care home inspection results, provides
real-time analysis, and presents them in an
easy-to-read and easy-to-use format,” said
Mr Elphick.
“An entire portfolio’s compliance can be
analysed and compared against sector
benchmarks. We believe that CareMonitor will
be an invaluable tool for anyone working in or
otherwise interested in the care sector,
whether as a provider, an investor,
commissioner, property developer or
consultant, academic, or advisor. Its real-time
functionality ensures research, marketing and
strategic planning is informed by robust, up-
to-date information and offers a one-stop
data solution for the care home market.”
LaingBuisson launches
real-time database
North East nursing and residential care provider
Prestwick Care, a division of Malhotra Group Plc, has
bought the 50-bed Hillcrest care home in Alnwick,
Northumberland, for an undisclosed sum.
Prestwick’s intention is to improve décor and
facilities at the home to bring it in line with the
company’s 12 existing care homes, all of which are
rated as ‘Good’ with the Care Quality Commission.
Built in the 1800s as a family home for a wealthy
brewing family and later serving as a maternity
hospital, Hillcrest now offers nursing, residential
Prestwick buys Hillcrestdementia and respite care.
It joins a Prestwick Care portfolio of homes across
Tyne and Wear and Northumberland, with new care
facilities scheduled to open at Ryhope, Sunderland in
2020 and at Whitley Bay in 2021.
In addition, work is also well underway on a new
86-bed care home, also in Alnwick, which is
scheduled to open this summer.
“Hillcrest is an excellent addition to our portfolio and
further investment will make it even better,” said
Prestwick Care director Bunty Malhotra.
“We are committed to providing continuous care to
residents and assuring staff that no jobs will be lost as
a result of the care home changing hands.”
The 50-bed Hillcrest care home in Alnwick, recently purchased by Prestwick Care.
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