HEALTHCARE IN CRISIS?
VETERAN SCOTTISH CARE HOME OPERATOR ROBERT KILGOUR ON THE MISSED OPPORTUNITY FOLLOWING THE DEMISE OF SOUTHERN CROSS HEALTHCARE.
At some point in the future we may collectively look back upon the collapse of the care home operator Southern Cross Healthcare as a missed opportunity.
With the break-up of Southern Cross I believe we had the chance to create a potentially significant new business model to operate 752 care homes for the elderly across the UK.
My suggested solution is one based on the John Lewis Partnership model of ownership, management and operation and would adopt the same core principles and strategy that have been so successful for them for many decades.
The situation with Southern Cross has dragged on for too long and the various parties are still arguing with each other over what they can take away; senior managers want to
safeguard their redundancy
packages, funders want their money back and landlords also want to protect their interests.
The people who are losing out the most are more than 30,000 elderly and vulnerable residents and their families as well as over 40,000 staff.
As someone who is currently negotiating to take on the operation of several former Southern Cross care homes in Scotland, I am acutely aware of the importance of the continuity of care for some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
It was during the current due diligence process that I visited a number of Southern Cross care homes and I came to realise two things; one, that the best and most valuable resource which Southern Cross has is its staff and two, that there is a huge task ahead to stop and reverse the downward spiral that many of their former homes have been - and still are - experiencing.
That was when the idea of introducing a new ownership model first occurred to me.
Anyone who has ever shopped at John Lewis will have noticed the excellent level of staff service that this model produces and encourages.
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