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CARE HOME
ENVIRONMENT
www.thecarehomeenvironment.com Editor
Mary-Louise Clews
marylouiseclews@stepcomms.com
Business Manager Mike Gammon
mikegammon@stepcomms.com
Journal Administration Katy Cockle
katycockle@stepcomms.com Design
Steven Dillon
Publisher Geoff King
geoffking@stepcomms.com
Publishing Director Trevor Moon
trevormoon@stepcomms.com
THE CARE HOME ENVIRONMENT is published monthly by Step Communications Ltd, Step House, North Farm Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN2 3DR, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1892 779999
Email:
info@thecarehomeenvironment.com Web:
www.thecarehomeenvironment.com
Are you ready for a big month?
Mary-Louise Clews, Editor
marylouiseclews@stepcomms.com
October is set to be a big month for care home leaders. From the macro to the sector specific, it’s shaping up to be time of the year to stay agile and on your toes for sure. First up we have the largest gathering of
care operator, policy and supplier leaders at the Care Show Birmingham, with which we’re proud to collaborate as a media partner. You may well be reading this at the show in fact – if so do come and listen in to what promises to be a couple of fascinating panel discussions featuring a range of leading voices from across the sector and chaired by yours truly. The first panel will see Christie & Co
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managing director Richard Lunn, Virgin Money head of health and social care Derek Breingan, Hill Dickinson corporate and commercial partner Monica Macheng and Care England social care advisor Richard Ayres discuss the impact of the recently published outcome of the Competition and Market Authority (CMA) probe into US Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Welltower’s hoovering up of over 600 UK Care Homes owned by Barchester, Care UK and others (see news, pg 9). Will we start to see more regulatory
involvement in local care markets, and a move away from consolidation as a whole, and will the move put off large overseas investors from looking to expand their interests in the UK market in future? And how will future acquisitions from large
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owners be monitored both by the companies themselves and authorities to ensure compliance? On top of the watchdog’s involvement
in the Welltower acquisitions, the Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s comments about not wanting to see “profiteering” in social care while stood in a care home has sent jitters across the sector. What did he mean by that word? Was he talking about providers ‘making an honest profit’, or those prioritising ROI for investors with the quality of care a secondary consideration. If the latter, then that’s something everyone involved in providing care could and would absolutely get behind. If the former, we’re facing a more problematic future for a market dominated by for-profit providers. All eyes will be on the Autumn budget,
due towards the end of the month, for answers. Many in the sector are hoping it will at the very least bring extra investment to underpin the wider reform of the care workforce trailed by the PM over the summer, and head off concerns that the ambition will slow down progress on the Fair Pay Agreement process. Like I said – October is set to be a lively
one. We’re primed and ready to do what we can to support the progress sector leaders want and need. Do come and let me know what your hopes are for the budget and beyond if you’re at Care Show, or share your thoughts via our first ever reader survey online – see news pg 9. I look forward to hearing from you.
THE
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