Senior leaders from across the care sector shared their success stories and highlighted the challenges facing operators during the Caring Times Owners Club event in Newport last week.

The one-day event features a series of one-to-one meetings, networking opportunities, and speaker sessions, providing a unique setting for operators to do business.

The first speaker of the day was Bhavna Keane-Rao of BKR Care Consultancy, who has been a stalwart of the sector for more than 40 years.

Announcing plans for her retirement, she looked back on the changes she has witnessed while working on the frontline, both in care homes and in her role as an inspector for the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

And it was the shortcomings of the CQC which dominated much of her speech.

“When the Health and Social Care Act 2008 came into force it meant that, for the first time, care homes would be regulated,” she said.

“I had a degree and I had worked in care homes and I used to walk around with chief executives during my inspections and point out things and say ‘you have until just before I leave to put them right’. Nine times out of 10, they did.

“The problem now is that we do not have enough experienced inspectors who understand care.

“All too often they say that something it ‘not their role’ and it’s a tick-box exercise. They just say that a care home is either compliant or it is not.

“There are a number of care homes currently which have been inspected and rated ‘inadequate’ and many have not been inspected for years.

“That’s a really-dangerous place to be.

“We need the regulator to shape up!”

In 2010, Keane-Rao left the CQC to set up her own consultancy, telling delegates at the event: “It was amazing to discover what the world looked like outside that bubble.

“I realised there were investors who really cared about the care sector. They wanted to do the right thing and, yes, to make money.

“We cannot self regulate, as we know that does not work, but we need the CQC to come back on track.

“Care providers pay for the CQC and they should not be paying for a service they are not getting.”

Shaping up

She also hit out at some of the ‘charlatans’ within the sector.

“The sector does not stay still and we have lots of people doing lots of things,” she said.

“There are some real charlatans out there. You know when someone is providing you with coffee they have bought in from outside, there is something wrong with the coffee they are providing to their residents.

“I think the way forward is that the CQC should be made to feel the financial pain as then they it have to rethink its strategy.”

And she believes that economies of scale will mean the average new care home is larger in size than traditional facilities – and she hopes this will drive up quality across the sector.

Growth spurts

This was a sentiment echoed by Keith Crockett of Lovett Care, who gave delegates an overview of the growth of the company, from a two-home group in 2018 to a 27-strong business today.

The company has its own in-house development team and has six new care homes currently under construction.

He said: “There is a growing demand for care homes and, while some groups look to acquire existing facilities, quality ones can be very expensive, so new build is more attractive in many cases.”

But he said that operators, investors, and developers face a number of challenges, in particular around planning approvals and fee mechanisms.

“In my experience the issues with planning are getting worse,” he added.

“We have a home that got planning permission last November, but in order to get started we needed a Section 6 Order, which took until August, and we still can’t do anything until December.

“This needs to be addressed if we are to meet the shortfall in bed numbers we are currently experiencing.”

On fee rates he added: “I am not sure the Government understands that the publicly-funded market alone does not stack up. We need private provision as well to push many schemes forward.

“We need to invest in homes to boost this private side, and for that we need to get capital into the sector.”

A career, not just a job

Turning attention to the management side of care home businesses, the ongoing issues with staff recruitment and retainment in the sector was discussed by the next speaker, Christine Keyse of Priory Group.

She outlined her journey through various roles to her current position of adult care managing director for the South East region.

And she told the event: “To me social care should be an occupation, not just a job.

“What was really key for me was understanding why I wanted to do that job, and the benefits, and then encouraging others to take a career in adult social care.

“The main driver of my success has been having inspirational leaders and making sure you give everyone opportunities.

“We are developing leaders and shaping the a future where adult social care is a valuable and important role.”

Training was also heralded as vital to success.

Staff retention

Lesley O’Connor from training provider, Realise, said: “There is a growing recognition in national policy that we need to do more than just be technically compliant.

“We need staff with the knowledge and skills to be able to safeguard individuals as well as to be competent in things like manual handling and infection prevention and control.

“If carers feel well trained and supported emotionally, it improves service user outcomes, creates better engagement, and leads to increased job satisfaction and better staff retention.

“We are under pressure to do more with less, but investing in training improves CQC compliance, reduces safeguarding risks, and improves staff morale.”

Also providing food for thought for operators were Kelly Howell and Phil Haynes of Aria Care, a 65-home care group which launched in 2022.

Revealing the secret to its success, Haynes said: “Everything we do is pointing towards things we have decided matter to us.

“For our home managers, care comes naturally, but they are not necessarily financially astute. We want to give them the tools to run the homes like it’s their own small business.

“We need to engage, equip, and empower our staff and our senior leaders are always out and about. They are visible and that means our staff are not scared about feeding back areas that they may be struggling with.”

Doing business

In the afternoon sessions, delegates also heard from Johann van Zyl of dementia care provider, Fortava Healthcare, a serial entrepreneur who relies on building businesses which target very-specialist areas of the market.

Former chief executive of Cornerstone Healthcare, and one of health and social care’s ‘Power 50’, he said: “For me when I start a business I do not want to go into a field where other people are already established. It’s about thinking differently.

“With Fortava I am changing direction and instead of a care-led focus on dementia, it will be activity led.

“It’s not about just bringing in a couple of alpacas, we are focusing on ways we can use activity-led care to slow the progress of dementia among our residents.

“It is creating these very-specialist, niche businesses which can help you to tap into the opportunities.”

The next Caring Times Owners Club event will be held on 12 November at The Belfry in Sutton Coldfield. Click here for details.