Mother and son team, Helena and Paul Jeffery, together with Craig Griffin, set up Caring Homes in 1994 through purchasing a small care home in Braintree, Essex – Bradbury House. It was Helena’s caring attitude that formed the basis of Caring Homes’ philosophy today. “Helena’s personal sense of care and her belief in privacy, dignity, choice and freedom are the backbone of the company’s ethos. These principals are very important to us and are applied to our care home life to create a ‘home from home’ ambience,” confirms Paul Jeffery, CEO.
Their first venture was a huge success, and shortly after they purchased a second care home – Cedar House, and set the wheels of expansion in motion. Today, Caring Homes has over 80 highly regarded privately owned care homes throughout England and Scotland.
Continual recruitment of well-respected industry experts, and highly trained and committed staff has ensured that the Caring Homes Group has expanded through an understanding of needs and how they can be serviced best. Their philosophy of aspiring to be the best rather than the biggest has ensured that they stay focused on their goals. Investment into key valuable resources such as superior staff training and premium quality properties, have been fundamental in continuing the company’s success.
Since 1994 the Caring Homes Group has expanded into different markets within the care industry. Today the comprehensive and powerful portfolio includes:
Caring Homes delivering elderly care services
Consensus the learning disability division
Cheshire House the residential family division
Curate Hospitals the mental health division
Training in Care the external training division
From the beginning, the emphasis was on quality, reflected not only through recruitment of their team but also through the Caring Homes Group philosophy in the care models developed individually for clients throughout all four care brands, and supported by ‘Training in Care’ the external training division.
Caring Homes promote individualised care programmes aimed at achieving the best quality of life that a person’s circumstances permit. They provide services for the elderly, young adults and children, through a national network of care homes and specialised centres.
Paul Jeffery, Chief Executive Officer comments: “Passion is a prerequisite for our organisation. We have a highly dedicated team of people that take great pride in everything they do. For me, the happiness within each home is reflected by the contentment of the residents through the commitment and dedication of the staff. I am so proud of our organisation, the support and team spirit and the hugely successful ambience within each one of our homes.”
The four Caring Homes brands focus on providing the best possible service in each particular sector.
Elderly care makes up around 70% of the business, and includes Residential, Nursing and Dementia Care. The network of homes are quality accredited and working under the guidelines set the Department of Health National Service Framework for Older People and in line with the Commission for Social Care Inspection. This ensures that all the homes within the Caring Homes network operate to the highest of standards and that residents receive quality service. As a clear demonstration of the company’s commitment to provide quality care and services, the Caring Homes Group is accredited with the ISO9001 quality standard for consistency in the delivery of quality services to customers. The most recent accreditation achieved is the Institute of Hospitality – an international standard pertaining to hospitality services and a strong customer focus – usually more synonymous with the hotel trade.Care focuses on providing individualised schemes so that residents live their lives within the home to the highest quality, within their circumstances. Staff are trained to carry out in-depth and holistic assessments which form the basis for residents’ care programme. Programmes are tailored to meet individual needs, and this facilitates the most appropriate package of care, to support a person, in achieving as much independence as their circumstances permit.
Residential care is also provided to elderly people suffering from dementia and other mental health problems related to the ageing process. Care is provided by multi-disciplined teams who have a sound understanding of the ageing process and the care that is required. Staff are encouraged to train in order to gain this specialised knowledge and understanding, in order that they can deliver a truly person-centred approach. Caring Homes is also involved in developing new initiatives based on current research in order to constantly improve and update the care provided.
In line with the company’s philosophy, special attention is paid to individual needs, with schemes such as the ‘My Life’ book, which is developed through a series of in-depth assessments and builds up a profile of the person’s background and memories. These also provide the basis for individual care programmes. Individual needs of a resident are met by staff who understand the importance of caring for the needs of each resident, as opposed to a standard approach towards dementia.
Caring Homes is a pioneer in the family assessment arena. Cheshire House is a highly specialised residential family assessment centre, which has a national reputation for the provision of a valuable, quality service. This service provides families, where the children are deemed at risk, with residential assessments to evaluate the issues within families which impact upon the children and how best to solve them. It is the only facility of this nature in the UK that has the capability to carry out video and audio monitoring if requested, which is invaluable in terms of a child’s safety and used as a significant teaching aid for “parenting sessions”. Many of the children who benefit from this service are placed on the child protection register and their families require a blend of care; counselling services, parent skills training and support in understanding the differences between viable and unviable parenting. Due to its success Cheshire House is undergoing expansion and a second centre is currently being built and commissioned in Carshalton, Surrey.
Curate covers a wide range of mental health problems, providing individualised assessments and care programmes which, alongside treatments, meet the national minimum standard and the National Service Framework for Mental Health Patients.
This care and treatment is provided by highly trained and specialised staff, who are qualified in areas such as psychiatric, nursing, psychological, educational and social work, and who are also trained in ‘person centred care planning’, so that the patient and their needs are at the heart of the care programme.
Curate also has a number of independent hospitals, which provide mental health services to a range of ages, and care is geared around reintegrating and rehabilitating patients back into the community through varying levels of input according to their needs.
Learning disability services make up for approximately 30% of Caring Homes Group homes and services.
Younger adults with learning and physical disabilities are provided for with residential and nursing support services, throughout England and Scotland. Within the division well known brands such as Gretton Homes, THF Care and Kingdom Care provide specialist support to sufferers of Prader-Willi Syndrome, Autism and Behaviours that have challenged services with a specialist approach developed over a number of years by experts in the field.
Services are centred around supporting a person’s holistic needs, with outcomes providing the foundation for each person’s support plan based on the BILD Quality Network principles.
Consensus has a national team of development managers who work closely with Service Commissioners throughout the United Kingdom, in developing bespoke and innovative services in line with local priorities.
Marchglen in Clackmannanshire is the latest venture by Caring Homes’ specialist learning disability division. Marchglen benefits from sophisticated, hi-tech medical equipment normally only available in hospitals. It also offers a wide range of facilities designed to provide residents with the highest possible level of independence and quality of life, including those with neurological conditions or those who have suffered brain injury.
Care Awards 2006 sponsorsThe founders have scooped prestigious awards for their contribution to the industry.
Helena Jeffery, Operations Director of Caring Homes, was presented with the Lifetime Achievement in Care Award by Dame Vera Lynn at the care industry’s Care Training Excellence Awards in London.
Meanwhile, Helena’s son Paul, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, scooped the Care Entrepreneur of the Year award for his achievements at the Caring Times, “Care Awards 2006” ceremony.
The Caring Homes Group has recently moved to new purpose built Headquarters in Colchester, a purpose built state-of-the-art facility. Paul Jeffery says: “Caring Homes is renowned for raising standards in the industry and keeping abreast of the changing needs of today’s care home residents. We feel our modern new offices reflect this philosophy completely in that we also want to provide the very best facilities for our employees to enable them to operate as efficiently and as effectively as possible on behalf of all our clients.”
Caring Homes will continue to focus on specialist and niche healthcare markets, with planned expansion in services for older people, in particular supported living environments. Further expansions are also planned in services for children and younger adults. The company is also focused on developing new initiatives and service models to improve care for people with learning disabilities and mental illness.
In conclusion Paul summarises: “We strive and aspire to be the best in class both in the care and the employment we provide. The heart of our organisation is well-being and we aim to maintain and enhance our reputation in all categories of care by investing in people and property and to grow in a structured and controlled way. We shall continue investment in our infrastructure to support our planned growth, but at the same time never losing sight of our philosophy that is paramount and underpins everything we do.”