Striking a balance between business success and progressive pathways

National Care Group commercial director Mike Ranson
National Care Group commercial director Mike Ranson

The care sector faces major challenges as it works to strike a balance between building successful business models while ensuring the people it supports can progress through the care pathway without becoming ‘stuck’ in the system. As the government’s new Building the Right Support Action Plan takes shape, National Care Group believes it’s on the right track to deliver the desired outcome, says commercial director Mike Ranson. 

It could be seen as a double-edged sword – how does a company in the social care sector fulfil its commitment to providing the highest levels of support, and move towards the aims of the Building the Right Support Action Plan, while still being a profitable business?

The importance of progressing people through the care pathway shouldn’t be underestimated. It is a social care provider’s duty to take those concrete steps to unlock a person’s potential – not leaving them on a long-term track that is not improving their life or prospects.

Ensuring people keep moving on a pathway that is right for them is essential to clear the way for much-needed capacity. It’s about helping the right people, at the right time, and in the right location. Of course, social care providers still need their accommodation and services to be full to deliver a sustainable and profitable business – but it’s all about finding the correct balance and the best outcome for all.

The government may still be facing the challenge of reducing the reliance on inpatient care for those with mental health diagnoses, but for some time our team has been developing its own progression model to support this aim. Our model is designed to guide the people we support to develop skills and strategies, and in turn gain greater control over their own lives, reducing dependency on statutory services.

Planning the future stages of a person’s pathway, as well as their immediate support needs is important to achieve real progress. When that happens, you see people grow and develop and become part of their community, often moving on to more independent housing and support. We are focused on getting people out of hospitals and into a supportive environment where we can really help and be aligned with the government’s action plan.

Providing a defined progression model gives reassurance to the people in our support, their families, and their support circles. It can make it less daunting for a person to move on from one type of accommodation to another – it offers them consistency and understanding.

My theory is that the successful progression of the people we support is also our success. If a provider can deliver these outcomes for individuals, then more people will want to work with them and that will lead to long-term sustainability, growth, and commercial success.

A health investor might be sceptical about the model and its ability to deliver a good return on investment – but it does. Our progression model allows us to release our organisational reliance on retaining people. Our model should improve a person’s independence rather than increase their dependency – or our dependency on them.

And it’s about recognising the restrictions in the current market, both in terms of capital, finance, and revenue for local authorities, but also the human capital in terms of the finite number of people that are working in the sector.

Our aim is to establish our progression model across our national footprint. The success of the Building the Right Support Action Plan hinges on organisational and broader systemic change. Organisations in a sector such as ours need to become fully involved, whether it’s consulting with people needing support or commissioning processes.

Investing in building relationships with local authorities and other partners is crucial. This allows a more effective response to local demand and ultimately connects people better with the specialist support they need.

We should also rise to the challenges set by our regulator. While the pace of change in regulation has not always been matched by change in commissioning practice, nor supportive of innovation, continued consultation and dialogue needs to be maintained. Change will require investment and a demonstration of commitment and partnership will be required to ensure that investment is forthcoming.

Now is the time to address this and look to the future. A lot of current commissioning and procurement processes are quite traditional and transactional, which can delay progress. The way forward is to build trust and work in partnership as we try to meet the needs of those for whom society has effectively failed.

We’re keen to be involved in the new integrated care system and evoke meaningful change. The commissioning structure has changed dramatically and so we need to understand it in more detail. It will be key for us to be involved and work closely with our partners because we’re supporting people with significant needs at the more complex end of service delivery.

The introduction of Integrated Care Boards means a reduction in the number of commissioning bodies we work with. This may be beneficial to us and other service providers as it could mean there are fewer relationships that need to be managed, allowing engagement with those that remain to be more meaningful and interpersonal.

To truly bring health and social care together, the health boards, local authorities and providers need to have open conversations about how we can deliver. We know this is possible and have seen it work. By developing local authority partnerships, we have successfully been able to improve and strengthen our offering, preventing people having to move a long way from family and friends to find an appropriate service.

As I said, change requires investment and it’s not yet clear where the extra monies mentioned in the government’s action plan will come from. This, and other details, need to be revealed quickly for the sector – to see not only how it will make a difference to those it supports – but to remain commercially viable and sustainable, ensuring services remain and employment opportunities exist. I am confident that the sector, just like National Care Group, will remain responsive and adaptable to all changes ahead.

For more information on the services National Care Group provides, visit https://nationalcaregroup.com/.

Join our mailing list

Stay up to date with all our events, awards and publications.

Information you provide us with will be kept private at all times, and will be used for communication and research purpose only.