Skip to Main Content
Home
About Us
Resources
Funding
Links
Buying Group
Message Board
News and Events
Alerts
Events
Podcasts
News
Archive
Training
Opportunities
Training Providers
Employment
Vulnerable Adults
Case Studies
Care Sectors
Latest Information
Domiciliary Care
Older People
Learning Disabilities
Physical and Sensory
Networks
Provider Network Meetings
Surrey Contacts
Links
Downloads
Funding
Training and Development
Guidance
Safeguarding
Forms
Home
»
Downloads
»
Guidance
»
Presentations
Challenging Times
Embedded Scribd iPaper - Requires Javascript and Flash Player
Enable JavaScript in your browser to view this document as it was initially formatted.
Care Showcase 2009 – 5th March 2009
David Holmes
Managing Director Ashcroft Care Services David.Holmes@ashcroftcareservices.com
Challenging times!
5 March 2009
Introducing Ashcroft
• • •
Ashcroft supports people with learning disabilities in West Sussex and Surrey We offer a range of support and housing options tailored to individual needs We support people in their own homes through our domiciliary service and in our thirteen small specialised residential services Our mission is to support people to fulfill their potential We provide specialised support of high quality which is person-centred wherever delivered We work transparently with purchasers and aim to give excellent value for money CSCI recognise our quality and rate all our services as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’
• • • •
www.ashcroftcareservices.com
Care Showcase 2009 – 5th March 2009
The external operating environment is ‘unsettled’
Positive
Negative
Internal
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
External
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS
Most threats are common to all providers – irrespective of sector or specialism
Threats, threats, threats EVERWHERE!
Purchaser behaviour
Market transformation Constrained funding
MARKET
Unavailability of finance
POLICY
Constrained labour market
FINANCIAL ECONOMIC
High inflation
Falling property prices
REGULATORY
Regulations and standards Employment law Health and safety
The environment feels tougher now than for many years
Care Showcase 2009 – 5th March 2009
Responding to the threats – Market transformation
Market transformation
• • • • • Personalisation agenda Consumer sovereignty Supported living Individualised budgets Advocacy
DO
• • • • • • •
Enhance your knowledge and understanding of the personalisation agenda Know your customers/purchasers and their needs Re-shape your organisation to deliver supported living services Be innovative Increase your organisation’s flexibility Develop your marketing capability Embrace the transformation as a time of opportunity
DON’T
• • • •
Stick your head in the sand and hope it will all go away! Build a business predicated on residential care for adults with LD/PD Open any new residential services for LD unless highly specialised Be at the vanguard
Facing up to the threats – Purchaser behaviour
Purchaser behaviour
• • • • • • • Procurement-led Preferred providers lists Tendering and contracts Pressure on fees Cost models Accreditation Parent-child
DO
•
Build and maintain strong relationships with all areas of Social Services - procurement, contracting and care management Listen to needs and wants, and try to meet them Focus on quality and value for money Work in Partnership Fight your corner when necessary and stay true to yourself Remember that purchasers need you as much as you need them
• • • • •
DON’T
• • •
Ignore or neglect your purchasers – they represent a very important stakeholder group Allow yourself to be walked all over Enter a parent-child relationship
Care Showcase 2009 – 5th March 2009
Facing up to the threats - Financial
Constrained funding
DO
•
Focus on your revenue drivers: Set appropriate fee levels Maintain high occupancy Ensure changes in need are funded Fight to protect revenue Diversify your purchaser base to reduce risk
Constrained labour market
• •
Recruit imaginatively and retain the good people Get VFM for every £ spent: Buy economically Use efficiently Ensure purchasing meets purpose Benchmark
High inflation
• • •
0% ‘increases’ Staff vacancies and agency use High inflation for the ‘basket’ of goods and services we purchase
DON’T
•
Lose sight of the numbers
Facing up to the threats - Economic
Unavailability of finance
DO
• • • •
Maintain a positive relationship with your bank and other financial backers Be sure to focus on the bottom line, because your Bank Manager definitely will Foster secondary relationships with providers of finance Take a long term view on property prices, or exit last year!
Falling property prices
•
• • •
Headroom restricted by business values falling whilst LTVs tightening Banks becoming ultracautious Migration of deals to LIBOR Properties down 15% last year and 20% this?
DON’T
•
Be passive
Care Showcase 2009 – 5th March 2009
Facing up to the threats - Regulatory
Regulations and standards
DO
• • • • • •
Maintain understanding of regulatory requirements Manage your relationship with CSCI Ensure your services are rated ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ – or you won’t get the placements Work openly and transparently with external agencies Focus on quality – we must because purchasers will! Be spot on with your employment and health and safety practices – breaches can be costly in many ways
Employment law
Health and safety
DON’T
• • • • • • Care Standards CSCI/CQC Service specifications Employment law Litigious culture Fire regulations, plumbing regulations, environmental health etc
• • • •
Be passive Fear the regulators – embrace their services positively Bend the rules Try to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes – especially CSCI
A brighter note on which to end!
Some businesses will survive and prosper:
Support SUs to excellent outcomes
Deliver value for money
Satisfy all stakeholder groups
Innovative
Flexible and open to change
Leadership and management
Skilled workforce
Commercial
Strong marketing capability
With discontinuity comes opportunity!
Information
Downloads:
Presentations
Tags:
showcase for social care 2009
,
David Holmes
,
Ashcroft Care Services
Login
or
register
to post comments
Downloads
Funding
Training and Development
Guidance
Safeguarding
Forms
User login
Username or e-mail:
*
Password:
*
Create new account
Request new password
