Opinion
Society depends on your successful care business
Ensuring that the provision of high quality residential care can work as a business model is vital – and not just because our ageing population deserves it, but because our society depends on it, says May Prentice, regional operations manager for Scotland, Silverline Care
Retail, manufacturing, leisure – every sector makes its own contribution to Scotland’s overall economy. However, residential care for older people is a sector whose role is vital not just to the economy but to society, so the health of Scotland’s care businesses is extremely important. Unfortunately, creating a thriving business in the care sector is challenging. Silverline Care operates six homes in Scotland and two in Yorkshire. It’s business model is to buy residential care homes that have gone into administration – something that happens all too often - and turn them first and foremost into high quality facilities, which also happen to be successful businesses.
Because a care home needs high occupancy to work as a business, before Silverline buys a property, it must gain an understanding of why it has gone into administration and what needs to be done to remedy that issue. This usually involves significant investment in the capital infrastructure of the home to ensure it provides the high quality environment that residents deserve. Springhill care home in Kilmarnock, for example, is a beautiful B listed Georgian building that had been neglected due to a lack of investment, leading to decreasing occupancy because the local authority was choosing not to place people there. After buying Springhill, Silverline invested heavily in restoring the building to its former glory, but providing a great care environment is not just about physical improvements.
Where a home has been in administration, employees are often demoralised, which is understandable after the difficult time they may have had. However, with the right leadership and support, you can restore morale and unleash their potential. In my experience, when staff feel they are being listened to, they are full of great ideas.
Because happy employees provide better care, developing people is vital to a
successful care business. After many years as a nurse and then a care home manager with Silverline, I was recently promoted to the position of regional operations manager for Scotland. While this is obviously fantastic for me, it has also allowed another employee to be promoted internally into my old role. This demonstrates to the wider team that there are career development opportunities within the company. We are now supporting any member of our team who is interested through a new Open University qualification in nursing; there’s currently a shortage of nurses across Scotland, so we want to grow and develop our own. We’ve had a lot of interest in this opportunity so far. Earlier this year we took the decision to relocate our support office from London to Glasgow, bringing finance, HR, compliance and technology closer to most of our homes so they can provide hands on support.
Although we’ve succeeded in creating a successful care business, there are things that could be done to make that goal easier to achieve. For example, homes offering a high quality service could be rewarded in terms of the rates that are paid to them by local authorities. If we don’t want our elderly languishing in hospitals, encouraging care providers to strive for excellence is essential. A recent influx of additional legislation regarding residential care has meant a requirement for extra training and support for staff and even additional
January 2019 •
www.thecarehomeenvironment.com
employees in some circumstances. Providers receive no added funding from local authorities to cover this additional work. As a result, many smaller operators are being squeezed out. Margins are narrow in the care sector and you need to be able to build scale to survive. There’s also a lack of long term vision. If local authorities and health boards were prepared to pay a bit more for higher quality care, this would save money in the long run in terms of a reduction in the provision of acute healthcare. It would also provide people with a far better quality of life than they would have in a hospital.
Ensuring that the provision of high quality residential care can work as a business model is vital – and not just because our ageing population deserves it, but because our society depends on it.
TCHE
May Prentice
May was promoted to the role of regional operations manager in Scotland after managing Silverline Care’s Spiers Care Home in Beith and has 18 years of experience running care homes in various nursing, residential and social care settings. Registered as a nurse in 1992, her achievements with Silverline Care include earning an improved Care Inspectorate grade for Spiers Care Home while maintaining high occupancy and a low staff turnover.
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