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.

Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles

www.rosecarefelixstowe.co.uk

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

www.rosecarefelixstowe.co.uk

This article was sponsored by Rose Care Suffolk Ltd.. The Parliamentary Review is wholly funded by the representatives who write for it. The publication in which this article originally appeared contained the following foreword from Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng

This year’s Parliamentary Review reflects on a tumultuous and extraordinary year, globally and nationally. As well as being an MP, I am a keen student of history, and I am conscious that 2020 would mark the end of an era. It will be remembered as the year in which we concluded Brexit negotiations and finally left the European Union. Above all, it will be remembered as the year of Covid-19.

In our fight against the pandemic, I am delighted that our vaccination programme is beginning to turn the tide – and I pay tribute to the British businesses, scientists and all those who have helped us to achieve this. But the virus has dealt enormous damage, and we now have a duty to rebuild our economy.

We must ensure that businesses are protected. We have made more than £350 billion available to that end, with grants, business rates relief and our furlough scheme supporting more than 11 million people and jobs in every corner of the country, maintaining livelihoods while easing the pressure on employers. The next step is to work with business to build back better and greener, putting the net zero carbon challenge at the heart of our recovery. This is a complex undertaking, but one which I hope will be recognised as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Through the prime minister’s ten point plan for a green industrial revolution, we can level up every region of the UK, supporting 250,000 green jobs while we accelerate our progress towards net zero carbon emissions.

With our commitment to raise R&D spending to 2.4% of GDP and the creation of the Advanced Research & Invention Agency, we are empowering our fantastic researchers to take on groundbreaking research, delivering funding with flexibility and speed. With this approach, innovators will be able to work with our traditional industrial heartlands to explore new technologies, and design and manufacture the products on which the future will be built – ready for export around the globe.

And I believe trade will flourish. We are a leading nation in the fight against climate change. As the host of COP26 this year, we have an incredible opportunity to market our low-carbon products and expertise. Our departure from the EU gives us the chance to be a champion of truly global free trade; we have already signed trade deals with more than 60 countries around the world.

As we turn the page and leave 2020 behind, I am excited about the new chapter which Britain is now writing for itself, and for the opportunities which lie ahead of us.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy