Personality Profi le Andrew Pickup p

was born. It is wholly owned by the council as a local authority trading company - one of the fi rst of its kind in the country.

I

t is probably just as well that Canadian Andrew Pickup lists distance running as one of his leisure time pursuits. For since taking on the role of managing director of Optalis late in 2011, his feet have barely touched the fl oor.

Optalis is a new kind of care

provider, but a company that may have others following in its

footsteps. In June 2011 Wokingham Borough Council effectively privatised its adult social care provided services. Optalis

It means that Optalis provides a wider range of services for the elderly and those with a learning disability than almost anyone else in the fi eld – care homes, home care, and day centres. There is also an advisory and brokerage service. Andrew’s background is in fi nance, his chosen fi eld on leaving university in Canada. He says it taught him to work long hours but also to work “hard and smart”. On arrival in the UK in 2001 he went to work in private equity before moving into fi nance with care provider Clinovia, now Bupa Home Healthcare. After another spell in private equity he moved to Carewatch to work on their buy and build programme before being headhunted by Optalis.

“It was something that took my fancy while on holiday in Canada,” he said. “It was a novel approach to trying to solve some of the problems of the social care sector and I saw this as an interesting move in my career. “We offer this wide range of services which presents challenges and opportunities.

We are seeking to expand beyond Wokingham and we have capability across a whole range so we can select where we see the opportunities.” He is keen to develop that

cross-fertilisation to give staff wider opportunities. But that creates issues as well. “The management of that is challenging. Our key mantras are

20 Care Home Management | March/April 2013 rsonality Profi le

quality, effi ciency and growth – probably in that order. In Year One we are having to work on all three at once. In some ways, Optalis is a turnaround and a start up.” There are culture issues too. Staff, who total about 350, were previously used to a local authority way of working. Now they are having to come to terms with the commercial world. “I like the staff to challenge us as management, not just to provide good existing services to people, but to provide new ones as well. There is a balance here around the pace of change for both our staff and shareholders.”

Andrew believes Wokingham Borough Council was innovative in setting up Optalis. Naturally, the authority is looking for a return and expansion is on the horizon. “I can either show a large profi t or I can show zero profi t but have a set of services that are cheaper to the council. Either way that is a good news event.