UK Care Week Review


UK Care Week 2023: Editor’s review


UK Care Week returned to NEC Birmingham on 22/23 March. The Care Home Environment editorMatt Seex picks some highlights from the first day of this year’s show


Last year, UK Care Week (a rebranded amalgamation of the Dementia, Care & Nursing Home Expo and the Home Care Expo) took place at the beginning of July. This year, the organisers brought the event forward to March – a move which seemed to have improved attendance at the event. Certainly, the first day, which The Care Home Environment attended, was busy and vibrant, with lots to see and enjoy. With a bacon roll and black coffee under


our (straining) belt, it was time to listen to the first speaker of the day.


Attracting self-funders in a digital age Debbie Harris of Autumna took to the Keynote Stage at 10:15 to discuss How to attract self-funders in a digital age. Autumna is the largest directory of social care providers for the over 55s in the UK and, as Debbie put it: “We have the insight into what is likely to attract self-funding clients to your services – particularly in this digital age, which offers everybody so much more choice, so much more easily.” The pandemic led, almost overnight, to a profound shift in the way potential residents and their families researched and chose a care home. Prior to the pandemic, according to Debbie, “The way most families chose a care home was to get a recommendation from a friend or a neighbour, turn up unannounced on your driveway, and ask for a show-around. Very often that would be the limit of their investigation … and at the time, to visit as many as three homes would be regarded as a pretty comprehensive search.” Before COVID hit, social care was, in Debbie’s view, “out of step with other


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sectors who had already embraced online marketing. Providers at the time deliberately put just enough information to encourage an enquiry or visit but not much more. They wanted the individual to visit or make contact so that they could show them how brilliant they were in person.” But when the pandemic happened, “within a matter of weeks, care providers were looking at alternative ways to promote their services.” Indeed, one provider told Autumna that “their marketing focus had moved from 80 per cent offline in March [2020] to 80 per cent online by May of that year.” It was time for families to completely


change how they did things, and they needed the right kind of services to guide


The pandemic led, almost overnight, to a profound shift in the way potential residents and their families researched and chose a care home


them. According to Debbie: “[Families] now expect to be able to search for care like they do on Rightmove for a house. They want to see inside – virtually – a much greater number of homes before they make their decision. We estimate, on average, 10 homes are now researched by families rather than the three before COVID, and over 90 per cent of their decision-making takes place online, with often just one physical visit being made to give the rubber stamp of approval for that online decision. I think it’s fair to say this has significantly changed the goalposts for providers. The difference between families researching three homes and 10 homes is huge.” However: “This digital shift has given you


an unrivalled opportunity to immeasurably improve the way you market yourself too potential self-funding clients. You no longer have to rely on whoever is available for that unexpected show-around, when maybe no activities are taking place, or there has been an upset in the care home. You can now present your service online, consistently, and in exactly the way you want to, time and time again, and at any time of the day or night.”


www.thecarehomeenvironment.com May 2023


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