Capacity


neighbouring Dorking. Directors Mekala and Sena Satheswaran


first acquired Old Wall Cottage Nursing Home in 2019, after the CQC had rated it as ‘Requires Improvement’. Following investment in the home, it subsequently acquired a ‘Good’ rating, leading the couple to acquire their second property: Westcott House in Dorking. Today, Old Wall Cottage provides 36 beds


for people with dementia, and Westcott House accommodates 60 nursing care residents, with a total of 200 staff employed across the group. After purchasing Old Wall Cottage,


Mekala and Sena worked with a healthcare consultancy to identify the actions needed to make the care home fully compliant. As well as refurbishing the property and adding more bedrooms, they invested heavily in their staff, introducing on-site training programmes, competitive salaries, and flexible working patterns. Short-term capital has also been used to


future-proof Y&M Care’s portfolio, improving the environmental performance of its properties. The operator has invested £580,000 in retrofit and decarbonisation projects across its homes – such as installing new roofs and windows, improving insulation, and upgrading old and inefficient boiler systems – to deliver benefit beyond its bed spaces. Sharing this strong commitment to the


social care sector in the North East, is Jack and Grace Jenkinson. When Grace’s parents


put the 23-bed Lenore Care Home in Whitley Bay up for sale in 2019, the couple decided to buy the property, prolonging the family connection to the home that stretched back more than four decades. Lenore Care Home caters for people


with learning difficulties and mental health needs, and was the first registered home of its kind in North Tyneside when it was founded in 1976 by Grace’s grandmother and former mental health nurse Maureen Bond. Jack and Grace have since created six


new full-time roles at Lenore – meaning that residents, who are referred from across the region, can now receive greater support when they’re out and about in the local community. As the company has continued to grow,


Lenore Care Group has secured £4.25m funding from Unity to support another five care home acquisitions across the North East and Yorkshire. These include the 22- bed Kendal House in Park Avenue, which cares for elderly residents with dementia, and was purchased through a £1.4m refinance package. Through investments in facility


expansion and property acquisition, Jack and Grace are helping to improve the quality of care home capacity in their home region. Enabling more providers like these to make long-term investments will be key to ensuring care provision can keep pace with changing local demand – while


supporting the local economy through job creation and development.


Sector solutions To ensure services continue to meet the needs of residents, staff, local communities, and investors, today’s care home providers must consider an expansion strategy that balances demographic pressures with the practical realities of planning, workforce availability, sustainable infrastructure, and access to capital.


Capital and viable growth In the UK, there are around 12.7m people - nearly one in five residents - aged 65 or over. The number of people aged 90 rose by 53.7 per cent in the 20 years between 2004 and 2024, to an estimated 625,000. Meanwhile, the number of people aged 85 or over in the UK is projected to double over the next 25 years, pointing to sustained long-term demand for care. While this means investor appetite within


the sector remains strong, providers must look beyond immediate occupancy levels and understand the long-term trends that are shaping their communities. Everything from the site logistics and location to realistic development costs, planning pathways and access to local labour and a skilled workforce will impact viability. These can be particularly challenging factors in many rural locations, where smaller labour pools, transport constraints and population


Pictured outside Kendal House - from left: Michael Wicks, Relationship Manager at Unity Trust Bank and Lenore Care Directors Grace and Jack Jenkinson


November 2026 www.thecarehomeenvironment.com 21


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