Care CEO Success Stories Podcast Springup PR

In this episode of the Care CEO Success Stories podcast, Ameet Kotecha, founder of Boutique Care Homes, discusses how care home design is vital for quality care provision.
Ameet shares insights into his 20 years of experience in designing, developing, and operating care homes.
He emphasises the importance of good design in enhancing residents' lives, especially those living with dementia.
Ameet discusses design elements such as signs, lighting, colour palettes, and outdoor spaces, highlighting their impact on residents' well-being.
He also touches upon the differences in design between residential and dementia care areas, stressing the importance of staff training to meet residents' specific needs.
Furthermore, Ameet emphasises the role of ethos and values in care home design, advocating for a warm, loving environment where trust and transparency are vital.

On the episode Ameet:
•     Explains why good design is essential for person-centred care.
•     How to design for people with memory issues, when around 70% of care home residents live with dementia or memory loss.
•     Talks through the importance of meaningful outdoor which “add significantly to the quality of residents' lives.”
•     Reveals the importance of good wayfinding signage.
•     Explains the differences in design for dementia vs. residential areas with attention paid to functionality as well as being “visually stunning.”
•     Explains the importance of  internal colours and how these should be calming which makes a home feel relaxed, not “like an institution.”
•     Explains how, “It’s about trying to make care home spaces as homely as possible while meeting the needs of individuals.”
•     The importance of focusing on “creating a community, not just a care home,” with “a proper, authentic, person-centred care philosophy.”

In this episode of the Care CEO Success Stories podcast, Adam James talks with Shaleeza Hasham, Director of CHD Living and CEO/Founder of the Adopt A Grandparent charity.
Shaleeza shares her inspiring journey, detailing the origin of her family's care business and the creation of Adopt A Grandparent which combats loneliness by connecting volunteers with older adults.
In the episode Shaleeza:
Recounts her family's immigrant journey to the UK, highlighting how her parents, refugees in the late '70s, established a care business, CHD Living, driven by a desire to give back to the community.  This led to the conversion of a training centre into a 15-bed nursing home. Explains how growing up in the nursing home “instilled values of patience and respect” for older people. After pursuing education and work outside the care sector, Shaleeza returned to social care due to her passion for it. Describes jow “Adopt a Grandparent” initially started as a local initiative in 2019, inviting young people to spend meaningful time with those in care. The concept gained traction, especially during the COVID-19 lockdown prompted a shift to virtual interactions, resulting in a “remarkable” response of over 40,000 volunteers. Driven by the alarming statistic that 23% of older people face premature death due to loneliness, the charity garnered international attention. Over 100,000 volunteers worldwide have registered, emphasising the “widespread impact and the diverse motivations” of participants, ranging from those without grandparents to individuals seeking to combat their own loneliness. Discusses the challenges faced in managing and expanding the program, emphasising the need for care providers to “commit to safeguarding participants,” and how a mandatory training program for volunteers ensures “effective communication” with people living with dementia and an understanding of adult safeguarding. Acknowledges that as CEO of CHD Living - a multi-site care operator – there is a difficulty in  dividing her time. While her business projects take priority, her passion for Adopt A Grandparent “drives her to balance the demands of both roles.” Explains how the charity's vision involves “growing its impact, developing technology for faster volunteer pairing, and establishing a champion role for each care group or region.,” and that the use of AI in pairing, akin to a dating app, aims to streamline the process. Describes, future aspirations for Adopt A Grandparent, include providing bursaries for vulnerable individuals and unpaid carers. Shares her insights into grant writing, highlighting the importance of learning and seeking advice in the charity sector. Care providers and potential sponsors can visit the charity's website, adoptagrandparent.org.uk, to find information, and get in touch.

This episode of the Care CEO Success Stories podcast features Issac Theophilos, owner of care consultancy Outstanding Care Homes having himself run an “outstanding” care home.
Issac shares how care home managers can achieve an outstanding CQC rating through leadership and culture, a coherent vision for improvement, studying CQC criteria and staff empowerment.
Issac discusses what practical steps you can take to implement a winning culture at your care provider and the importance of continual learning in achieving that outstanding rating.
In this episode Isaac shares his wealth of experience and his tips for success including:
•   How achieving “outstanding” starts with the directors having a vision for continuous improvement.
•   Managers must develop their CQC knowledge beyond the level 5 diploma and “speak the same language as the inspectors.”
•   Managers should study CQC regulations and rating characteristics in depth as well as preparing evidence.
•   How a care provider’s real culture shows when managers are away. “That's when the most successful care homes start running,”  says Issac.
•   “Attitude and emotional intelligence matter more than experience,” so offer progression rather than small pay rises.
•   How outstanding homes also have areas to improve and identifying examples in each CQC domain that go "above and beyond”.
•   “Productivity helps managers avoid distraction," and how a work/life balance and structured prioritisation enables you to support residents and staff.
•   How regulations frequently change so managers should dedicate time for their own development.
•   Ensuring you “prioritise frontline leadership training and identify any gaps in CQC  standards.”

This episode of the Care CEO Success Stories podcast features Tom Hartley, managing director of Carterwood, which represents 85% of the top 20 UK care providers in their efforts to grow their business through market and data analysis.
On the episode we discuss the outlook for care providers in 2024 - with some operators trading well while others are struggling with squeezed margins and the key factors behind this polarisation being exposure to self-pay residents, staff recruitment success, and location.
Tom outlines how his analysis shows occupancy should stabilise in 2024 but a change in government and regulations could pose unique challenges for the sector.
Tom also explains a number of growth avenues for care providers including NHS partnerships, machine learning and artificial intelligence and how best you can harness these opportunities.
Throughout the episode Tom shares his expertise and leading analysis on how you can position your care provider for success in a changing sector including:
•   How Tom sees a “polarisation” in the sector with some operators thriving and others struggling.
•   The key reasons behind this split in the market and how they will affect different providers.
•   How trading conditions “will continue to be very difficult” but could be “very rewarding” for those in the right part of the market with exposure to private paying clients.
•   The impact on fee rates and how Tom expects these to stabilise.
•   The impact of new regulation frameworks and a possible change in government.
•   Whether social care should be seen as a priority for an incumbent government and the impact of revisiting care funding reforms.
•   The importance of “exploring closer links with the NHS” and how Tom would advise all providers to explore this avenue.
•   Tom shares how “half of care providers are still operating with pen and paper systems” and how digitalising systems can offer avenues for both efficiency and growth.
•   The lasting impacts of COVID and how care homes can use digital care planning going forward.
•   The benefits for care providers of utilising data and how this has been something the care sector has “not fully embraced”.
•   Being efficient with how your staff’s time is best used and getting the maximum benefit for resident care and the operational side of the business.
•   The potential opportunities for a three-star care offering that isn’t defined as luxury in a world of rising development and building costs.
•   The opportunities presented by AI and how these could be harnessed for the benefit of your care provider

 
This episode of the Care CEO Success Story podcast features Zoe Fry OBE, founding director of The Outstanding Society, who discusses her journey in social care, from a care assistant at age 13, becoming a nurse, and eventually purchasing and operating her own home, Valerie Manor, in West Sussex.
Zoe created a culture focused on high standards of care, empowering staff, and making them feel valued. This led to happy staff, happy residents, and glowing CQC ratings.
Zoe outlines her success in being very hands-on as a manager and owner, leading by example, fostering teamwork and support amongst staff, recognising and playing to people's strengths, and investing in staff wellbeing and training.
In this episode, Zoe shares her top tips and strategies on how she built and sold her CQC-rated “outstanding” home and now shares advice with other care providers including:
•    “Empowering staff to come up with suggestions and improvements” because happy staff means happy residents.
•    How Zoe’s vision was to provide a high standard of care that would be good enough for her own relatives.
•    The importance of providing support and training while playing to you teams strengths and “providing the support for them and the tools to do their job very well”.
•    How Zoe looked to create roles that played to the strengths of her team.
•    Gaining managerial skills through working in the NHS and embracing new areas for learning in finance and HR with help from peers.
•    Leading from the front and how Zoe would never ask anyone to do something she wasn’t prepared to do herself.
•    Knowing your team's needs, adapting support accordingly, making staff feel valued and promoting peer support and teamwork.
•    Why Zoe sold her home to another provider committed to maintaining its culture.
·         The formation of the Outstanding Society, which aims to support the driving up of quality across the whole of England, and how it helps other care providers through sharing their expertise.

This episode of the Care CEO Success Stories podcast discusses how care providers can design homes that are optimised for both residents and staff.
 My guest is Avnish Goyal, chair of Hallmark Care, which was founded 27 years ago and operates 20 homes across England.

Avnish is also CEO of Savista Developments and Santhem Residences, a retirement living venture in Sheffield.
 Committed to delivering outstanding relationship-centred care in luxury care homes, Avnish is also at various stages of planning for sites in Brentwood, Ingatestone, Billericay, and Bromley with more high-quality sites of one to three acres being sought.
 In this episode Avnish discusses his own journey from accountant to the care sector, and also shares secrets to how you can build your own care provider through making a positive difference to residents with innovative designs and high-quality facilities as well as a commitment to staff development through training and strong processes, including: 
•     The importance of building a quality team, implementing strong systems and processes, and providing the right equipment for delivering great care.
•     The recruitment process at Hallmark Care Homes being values-based, and how they offer a strong induction to ensure staff are well-prepared.
•     How the company has introduced a real living wage for all its care homes. 
•     How Avnish addressed retention and recruitment difficulties by supporting staff with a cost of living crisis support fund and bonuses during COVID.
•     The importance of placing a strong emphasis on training and development, including dementia programs and leadership training.
•     How the company organises empowerment days to connect team members with the ownership and reinforce family values.
•     Avnish also shares insights into building new care homes with innovative designs, spacious rooms, and en-suite facilities. 
•     The way they have focused on creating dementia communities that don't feel institutional and are visually appealing.
•     How food quality and presentation are essential for resident satisfaction, and they hire trained chefs.
•     Avnish also highlights the Championing Social Care initiative, which aims to celebrate and enhance social care and raise funds for charity.