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Weekly Blog 12 August 2022

Welcome to staff and clients from Guinness Care

We are incredibly pleased to welcome around 170 staff from Guinness Care into the City & County family this week.

These new colleagues from across the south and west of England have, in all but one location, joined our local teams in a transfer of services into existing branch locations and all have transferred into the City & County operating company portfolio.

Part of The Guinness Partnership, Guinness Care formerly delivered homecare to clients in Plymouth, Hampshire, Bristol, Cheshire, Cornwall, Devon, and Gloucester. These clients – along with those in three Gloucester Extra Care schemes – will continue to be supported by the care staff they know as part of our Sage Care, Comfort Call and Homelife Carers teams.

We will be working with local authorities, integrated care boards and privately funded clients in these areas to make sure the transfer is as smooth as possible for everyone affected without any disruption to the services these clients receive.

‘Good’ CQC inspection for Homelife Carers 

Homelife Carers in Weston-Super-Mare has received a ‘Good’ rating in all areas of the latest CQC inspection.

This was an unannounced inspection which took place on the 16th and 21st June 2022. It was also the first inspection since the service re-registered with CQC under City & County on 8th April 2021.

The last rating for this service (under the previous provider – Notaro) was ‘requires improvement’ (published 22nd May 2019). Christina Kettle took over as branch manager in October 2021 and thanks to her team and their dedication and hard work, the branch has welcomed a new rating of ‘good’ in all five areas.

Comfort Call carers win Cavell Star Award

Mandy Hall – Branch manager at Comfort Call, (Ashton Under Lyme)  wanted to share the fantastic news about carers Jordan Carden and Debra Dodd who recently won the Cavell Star Award.

District Nurse Farrer Ahmed nominated them for being the first carers in the country to administer insulin to their service users. Farrer trained the two carers up to this level – which is an important achievement for them both.

The Cavell Star Awards is a national awards programme that celebrates the dedication of nurses, midwives, nursing associates and healthcare assistants, and recognises the care they provide to patients, families and colleagues.

Mandy said, “Jordan and Debra have achieved so much and have been recognised through this award. The branch is very happy for them and this award is well deserved.”

 

Extra Care manager wanted for Health and Safety Committee

We are still looking for a manager of an Extra Care scheme to join the committee.

This is a very important position because of the safety risks we face in our Extra Care services, so we are extremely keen to get someone into the vacancy as soon as possible.

There’s not a huge commitment in terms of your time, so if you would like to express an interest, please email hse@candchealthcare.co.uk

 

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City & County Healthcare Group acquires Midway Care Group

With great pleasure we can announce that, on 4th February, City & County completed the acquisition of The Midway Care Group – including the trading brands Midway Support Services Limited, Midway Care Limited, Pharos Support Limited, and Pharos Care Limited. We look forward to welcoming the Midway team into the City & County family over the coming months.

Based in Birmingham and operating across the West Midlands, Midway Care Group provides a range of care services including supported living and residential care. The group currently delivers in excess of 21,000 care hours per week to around 190 clients across 12 residential sites and 50 supported living locations.

We’re also pleased to confirm that the Group’s senior executive team, Matt Harrison (Managing Director), Ian Brown (Finance Director) and Leanne Owen (Chief Operating Officer), will remain with us for an extended period to continue overseeing the business day-to-day. Matt and the team will initially report into Caleb Atkins, City & County’s Group Service Development Director.

The acquisition of Midway Care Group compliments City & County’s strategy to acquire community care businesses across all the segments of homecare. To these businesses we aim to add our financial and technical resources to help their growth. The acquisition furthers the breadth of our offering and helps cement City & County as one of the UK’s leading community care providers.

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City and County Healthcare Group acquires MiHomecare Limited and Complete Care Amegreen

City and County Healthcare Group acquires MiHomecare Limited and Complete Care Amegreen

It is with great pleasure that we announce that on 1st March City & County Healthcare Group completed the purchase of MiHomecare Limited including Noble Live-In Care; and Complete Care Amegreen. MiHomecare is a community care business providing a range of care services including homecare and live-in; and Complete Care Amegreen provides complex care services.

City & County is a leading provider of community homecare in the UK, providing services from around 200 locations.

City & County’s immediate focus is on assuring a continued high quality of care. MiHomecare and Complete Care Amegreen’s service users and clients will be unaffected by this change and the acquisition should not impact on the frontline service teams who support them. City & County operates through more than 20 local and regional brands and both MiHomecare and Complete Care Amegreen will continue to operate as they do currently.

MiHomecare and Complete Care Amegreen will broaden City & County’s services. The acquisition supports City & County’s strategy to grow across all types of community care, buying operations to which it can add further financial and technical resources to help their development and to provide ever improving and more resilient services to customers.

Caleb Atkins

Group Operations Director

City & County Healthcare

 

Jonathan Vellacott

Executive Chairman

GroupMiHomecare Limited and Complete Care Amegreen

 

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Weekly Blog 29 Jan 2021

A new name for
Interserve Healthcare

As you may recall, in November we completed the purchase of Interserve Healthcare from Interserve Group Limited. As part of City & County, the Interserve Healthcare team continue to deliver specialist complex care for adults and children living with a wide range of conditions in their own homes.

Joining City & County has brought new opportunities for Interserve Healthcare to deliver care to many more people across the country. To reflect this change, we’re pleased to announce that they will be renamed to Advantage Healthcare – a name which they used until their acquisition by Interserve Group, and one with more than 20 years’ history of supporting families across the UK.

Their vision remains the same as it always has been: to provide outstanding care and services to all of their clients and their dedicated staff. We believe the Advantage Healthcare name truly represents this approach, giving everyone they support the benefit of receiving the highest possible standard of care.

We are developing a new Advantage Healthcare brand – including a new logo and materials, new email addresses, new brand colours and imagery for the entire business. Our priority is to maintain the high levels of service that both the Interserve Healthcare and Advantage Healthcare brands are known for.

Over the coming weeks you’ll start to notice different uniforms and the Advantage Healthcare logo in use. Our priority is to refresh the public-facing materials and we’ll aim to get the main changes in place by the end of February, though you will start to see the new name in some places from today.

Let’s start talking about mental health at work – Time to Talk Day Time To Talk

Thursday 4th February is Time to Talk Day – a day when everyone is encouraged to have a conversation about mental health.

Time to Talk Day is run by Time to Change to help spread the word that you can talk about mental health anywhere – including at work.

It’s important to talk with someone about potential unhappiness in your life or health concerns.

On 4th February, let’s all take the time to have a conversation about mental health, whether that be with your colleague or your line manager. Visit the Time to Change website to find out more.

LifeWorks – Employee Assistance Programme

Please remember you can also take advantage of confidential expert help – at no cost – with professional counselling services available through LifeWorks, our employee assistance programme.

Professionally trained counsellors are available 24/7 to offer a sympathetic ear, emotional and practical support, and resources for you and your loved ones.

This completely confidential service is there to help you. No one will know you have called.

Call LifeWorks on 0800 1691920 today to access the right support for you. Alternatively use the Chat function on the website or app to start the conversation.

Time to Change is England’s biggest programme to challenge mental health stigma and discrimination and is run by the charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness.

Wonderful feedback in Westminster

Kasia Brzyszcz and the London Care team in Westminster received some impressive feedback this week from Westminster Council. The local Quality Assurance Officer, Lorraine Ive, made a point of contacting Kasia to express just how impressed the Adult Social Care and Health team is with London Care’s response during the pandemic. Lorraine wrote:

“We have been working together for a few months, and I just wanted to say that I am impressed by the quality monitoring calls, and the work that is being done out in the community by the care staff during this really testing time. I admire those out on the field – in particular the way they are keeping people safe and themselves.

“Also well done to you and your coordinators for steering the ship and keeping things consistent. Thanks for all your hard work.”

Well done to everyone in the Westminster team, it’s reassuring to see how much the local authority appreciate the difference you are making for their community.

Care worker vaccine survey (England)

Researchers want to hear from care workers in England about their views and experience with the COVID-19 vaccine. The findings of this study, which is being carried out by the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Immunisation, will be shared with Public Health England to help inform policy decisions regarding COVID-19 vaccination amongst health and social care staff.

Care workers in your teams who have already received their vaccination can complete the survey here.

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City and County Healthcare Group Acquires Interserve Healthcare

On 30th November, City & County Healthcare completed the purchase of Interserve Healthcare from Interserve Group Limited, including their service delivery brands, Advantage Healthcare and Strand Nursing. Interserve Healthcare is a complex care business, providing specialist care for adults and children living with a wide range of conditions in their own home. It also provides a small amount of elderly homecare and agency services.

Based in Telford, Interserve Healthcare manages care packages for customers across England, Scotland and Wales. As well as their CCG-commissioned work, they also deliver a combination of self-funded, insurance-funded and case-managed care services. Interserve Healthcare is well-respected in the market for the quality of its care, with the majority of their services holding a ‘Good’ CQC inspection rating.

Interserve Healthcare fits our strategy to acquire community care businesses to which we can add our financial and technical resources to help their growth. Running alongside our existing complex care brands, ICCM, SCP Complex and Total Community Care, Interserve Healthcare’s services will help build City & County’s position as one of the UK’s leading complex care providers.

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CCH Acquires Total Community Care

On 22nd September, City & County Healthcare Group completed the purchase of Total Community Care Limited (TCC). TCC is a complex care business providing specialist care for individuals living with spinal cord injuries or neurological conditions in their own home.

Based in Leicester, TCC manages more than 60 complex care packages for CCGs across England. As well as their CCG-commissioned work, they also deliver a combination of self-funded, insurance-funded and case-managed care services. TCC is well-respected in the market for the quality of its care, with a ‘Good’ CQC inspection rating.

TCC fits CCH’s strategy to acquire community care businesses to which we can add our financial and technical resources to help their growth. Running alongside existing complex care brands, ICCM and SCP Complex, TCC will help build City & County’s position as one of the UK’s leading complex care providers.

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