FEATURE
THERE MAY BE TROUBLE AHEAD
John Andrews, Managing Director of Nursing Hygiene Group (NHG), looks back at the last 12 months for the care sector, as well as what challenges may lie ahead in the future.
Over the past year there have been a number of significant developments and challenges across the sector. These include healthcare environments finding ways to meet the high-end expectations of residents through to the incorporation of technology into the running of care homes.
However, one of the biggest, and most significant developments within the care sector over the last year has been the debate surrounding the introduction of the National Living Wage legislation. When it was announced that the minimum wage for workers over 25 would rise to £7.20 per hour from April 2016, rising to £9 in 2020, there was widespread concern. It’s estimated that the wage increase will cost the sector £1bn by 2020, prompting the Chief Executive of Care England to warn of a “catastrophic collapse” if adequate funding isn’t provided.
With the need to provide a safe and comfortable environment for residents remaining paramount, it’s understandable why care home operators are anxious. Whilst the sector has long campaigned for the
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Living Wage, its implementation, without adequate funding, has placed considerable strain on many care home operations.
As Deloittes’ ‘The Living Wage: Care Home Sector Report’ highlights, many operators will need to mitigate the increased cost of care provisions by providing higher fee rates for residents. For some care homes there are steps that can be taken to increase revenue streams and boost return on investment. For example, working with a specialist consultant can help identify areas where income can be increased with some simple changes. This may be as straightforward as redesigning a room layout to make it more suitable to a targeted group of residents.
As an example, NHG were recently engaged by a charity for a fit-out of 33-bedrooms with the aim of increasing each room’s value, without spending huge amounts of time or money on the work. We advised the charity to invest in luxurious oak furniture in some of their rooms. This instantly allowed them to increase bedroom fees by £50 per week, resulting in overall additional revenues
of £400 per week. This proves the point that even small tweaks can increase cash flow for care operators. Importantly, a specialist consultant can help operators drill down on their offering and identify areas where these refinements can be made.
Of course increasing fees isn’t always an option for some care homes, particularly those with funded places from the Local Authority. Operators might therefore want to consider the adoption of easy-to-use technological tools, which can be used to streamline some processes and make the management of the care home easier and more efficient.
For care operators wishing to explore new technology - NHG Touch is completely free of charge to care operators as part of our ‘caring about care’ culture. This platform allows operators to easily view many aspects of their care home(s) across a number of devices (tablets, mobile etc.), meaning operators can look after many aspects of their care homes from wherever they are in the world.
www.nhgonline.co.uk www.tomorrowscare.co.uk
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