Bluebird Care has announced a £600,000 investment in a transformation and growth programme over the next year.

The strategy, which is aimed at supporting the development of care experts and franchise partners to deliver high quality premium home care services, comes eight months into chief executive Jonathan Gardner’s tenure and marks the start of Bluebird Care’s 20th year anniversary.

Gardner said: “I am delighted to unveil our comprehensive investment plan, which reflects our commitment to providing high-quality care services while driving innovation and growth in the sector. It all starts with our care experts, and so much of the work we have planned over the coming months focuses on how we can equip them, through our committed franchise partners, to thrive and deliver the very best for those we support.

“We’ve got a really strong leadership team in place, all of whom have extensive experience in care or franchise businesses – or both. I have every confidence that together we can take the excellent work of our franchise partners and teams to the next level, throughout the full continuum of care.

“It’s our 20th anniversary this year, and we have an incredible legacy to look back at and to celebrate, as well as lots of really exciting plans for the future of Bluebird Care.”

The network has already seen the impact of early investments, including the doubling of the field support team, the roll-out of a new quality and compliance app, a new quality and compliance network-wide committee to ensure best practice is consistently achieved.

A new in-house training scheme and Registered Managers Academy will provide Bluebird Care teams with the resources and training to deliver exceptional care, and this will be joined by a refreshed employee value proposition. Bluebird Care is also investing in the expansion of its live-in care offer.

Several new executive roles have been created under the investment programme. Claire Ronan has joined from Prestige as the new director of people, supported by two new regional people partner roles; Nicola Jones has joined as finance director; Lesley Cobb has been appointed as director of transformation; Dean Martin as director of marketing; Ted Richardson has been appointed to a new head of live-in care position; and Neil Murray continues in his role as director of care, quality and compliance, where he will be supported by the creation of three new quality manager roles.