Rose Care Suffolk Ltd.

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by Rose Care Suffolk Ltd.'s best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from Rose Care Suffolk Ltd. is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

Blunkett signature The Rt Hon Lord David Blunkett, MP
Pickles signature The Rt Hon Lord Eric Pickles, MP
39ROSE CARE SUFFOLK LTD |
BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2019
Registered Manager
Penelope Brookes (middle),
Elizabeth Russell (left) and Susan
Walker (right), the two owners
The Felixstowe
offices
Rose Care have been providing domiciliary care to elderly
and disabled people in the Felixstowe Peninsula in Suffolk
since 1995. The company was established by Elizabeth
Russell and Susan Walker, and when the company was set up,
the first contract was for an hour’s housework a week. The
ethos of Rose Care has always been to assist clients in their
homes, empowering them to remain independent for as long as
they can. Both Liz and Sue are still involved in the running of the
company, but Penelope Brookes took on the role of Registered
Manager in 2010, having started as a carer with the company in
2001 – her take on things is summed up in the following article.
Who we are and what we do
Rose Care provides personalised care to people in their homes. This can be a once-
a-week call for cleaning or shopping, or four or more times a day with two carers
for someone with more complex health needs or end-of-life care. Eighty per cent of
our clients are self-funding, and the remaining 20 per cent are funded by either the
local authority or via the “continuing healthcare” scheme.
We currently employ 30 carers who range in age from 18 to 65. As a company,
we feel it is very important to recruit the right person. Part of our selection
process includes scenarios to test whether or not the candidate would make
a good carer. Moreover, when our new carers start shadow shifts, we seek
FACTS ABOUT
ROSE CARE SUFFOLK LTD
»Registered Manager:
PenelopeBrookes
»Owners: Elizabeth Russell and
Susan Walker
»Founded in 1995
»Based in Felixstowe, Suffolk
»Services: Domiciliary care
»No. of employees: 30
»CQC: “Good”
»www.rosecarefelixstowe.co.uk
Rose Care Suffolk Ltd
THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
40 | ROSE CARE SUFFOLK LTD
comments from our clients and their
families. We value feedback from
our clients, and, thanks to regular
visits they receive from the registered
manager, client coordinator and team
leader, we feel connected to the
people we care for.
Our office is situated in Felixstowe,
and we often have clients or their
families visit us in the office to
discuss care requirements. We also
undertake an initial assessment free
of charge, during which we discuss
what outcomes the person would like
to achieve from their care and the risk
assessments required to ensure both
the person and the carer are safe.
As a company, we also realise that
people can feel isolated and lonely, so
we’ve decided to run a small club for
our clients, The Rose Care Club. The
club has a magazine twice a year, and
we encourage clients to contribute
to it. We also have outings to local
places of interest and arrange coffee
mornings or an afternoon tea. This
initiative is still in its first year, but it
has been very successful, with positive
feedback from our clients.
Areas of change and
challenges
We feel it is very important for the
company to work with the local
health professionals to provide the
best care possible for our clients. We
are very lucky in Felixstowe to have
a community matron whom we can
contact if we have concerns about
our clients. We regularly have joint
visits with the matron, occupational
therapist and physiotherapist from
the local health community team
to assess needs and review care
plans. The future of joined-up care
is for social and health care to work
together to achieve the best outcome
for everyone. Carers are the people
who see clients the most, but often
they are not consulted by doctors
or hospital staff when those people
have health problems. Instead, a carer
could tell the health professional what
the situation is at home, to prevent a
faileddischarge.
We face many challenges as we go
forward. For example, Rose Care
is a private company, not part of a
national franchise, and therefore
does not have the support systems
that many large companies can
rely on, such as human resources
and compliance departments.
With increased regulation – which
everyone in the industry would
agree is necessary – come extra
costs such as training, the changes
Care at the forefront of
everything we do
As a company,
we also realise
that people
can feel
isolated and
lonely
“
“
41ROSE CARE SUFFOLK LTD |
BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2019
in the Care Quality Commission’s
fees, administration charges and
general overheads necessary to run
a business. Added to this are the
increases in company pensions, the
national minimum wage and the need
to pay for travel time. As a business,
though, we understand the benefits
to the workers, and accordingly
pay our carers above the national
minimumwage.
The issue we and many care
companies face is where to find the
extra income. We have to increase
our rates to our private clients yearly.
The local authority and clinical
commissioners are only able to
increase their payments by a small
percentage. These organisations see
themselves as price setters rather
than price takers, which doesn’t allow
for smaller companies to compete
with the large national companies.
The United Kingdom Home Care
Association recommends a minimum
of £18.01 per hour to cover the
national minimum wage, but our
local council pays less than this.
The country is already at crisis point
with the number of elderly people
increasing and the need for social
care rising. Small businesses such as
ourselves provide personalised care
and go above and beyond the call of
duty, often with a carer giving their
own time and not charging a client
for extra time if they need more than
their planned care. We need to reward
these people, who are not recognised
or paid as professionals; care needs to
be seen as a career, not just a matter
of making a cup of tea and having a
chat with someone. At Rose Care, we
are ensuring that such a view of care
remains at the very core of our ethos.
The future of
joined-up care
is for social
and health
care to work
together to
achieve the
best outcome
for everyone
“
“
Clients and carer on an
outing to a local garden
centre

The Parliamentary Review Publication, in which this article originally appeared, contained the following foreword from the prime minister.

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By The Rt Hon Theresa May MP

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review. For Her Majesty’s Government, our task in the year ahead is clear: to achieve the best Brexit deal for Britain and to carry on our work to build a more prosperous and united country – one that truly works for everyone. 

The right Brexit deal will not be sufficient on its own to secure a more prosperous future for Britain. We also need to ensure that our economy is ready for what tomorrow will bring. Our Modern Industrial Strategy is our plan to do that. It means Government stepping up to secure the foundations of our productivity: providing an education system that delivers the skills our economy needs, improving school standards and transforming technical education; delivering infrastructure for growth; ensuring people have the homes they need in the places they want to live. It is all about taking action for the long-term that will pay dividends in the future.

But it also goes beyond that. Government, the private sector and academia working together as strategic partners achieve far more than we could separately. That is why we have set an ambitious goal of lifting UK public and private research and development investment to 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027. It is why we are developing four Grand Challenges, the big drivers of social and economic change in the world today: harnessing artificial intelligence and the data revolution; leading in changes to the future of mobility; meeting the challenges of our ageing society; and driving ahead the revolution in clean growth. By focusing our efforts on making the most of these areas of enormous potential, we can develop new exports, grow new industries and create more good jobs in every part of our country.

Years of hard work and sacrifice from the British people have got our deficit down by over three quarters. We are building on this success by taking a balanced approach to public spending. We are continuing to deal with our debts, so that our economy can remain strong and we can protect people’s jobs, and at the same time we are investing in vital public services, like our NHS. We have set out plans to increase NHS funding annually by an average by 3.4 percent in real terms: that is £394 million a week more. In return, the NHS will produce a ten-year plan, led by doctors and nurses, to eliminate waste and improve patient care.

I believe that Britain can look to the future with confidence. We are leaving the EU and setting a new course for prosperity as a global trading nation. We have a Modern Industrial Strategy that is strengthening the foundations of our economy and helping us to seize the opportunities of the future. We are investing in the public services we all rely on and helping them to grow and improve. Building on our country’s great strengths – our world-class universities and researchers, our excellent services sector, our cutting edge manufacturers, our vibrant creative industries, our dedicated public servants – we can look towards a new decade that is ripe with possibility. The government I lead is doing all it can to make that brighter future a reality for everyone in our country. 

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review 



The Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Prime Minister