Sevacare

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by Sevacare'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 Sevacare 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.grosvenorhsc.co.uk

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

46 | GROSVENOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE

Darren Stapelberg, managing

director

Based in Wolverhampton, Grosvenor Health and Social

Care is the largest independent domiciliary provider

in the United Kingdom. They started off as a small,

independent provider in the Midlands during the 1990s,

but soon decided that their excellent model of care could

be scaled up. They now provide care from over 50 locations

across the country, serving both the private and public sectors,

including local authorities and hospitals. On top of this, they:

employ over 5,000 staff; look after 9,500 clients per week;

work in 87 local authorities; operate in every major British city;

and function as key players on a further 37 health boards.

Aside from the obvious centrality of those under their care,

they believe a crucial part of being successful in this sector

is unyielding commitment to their staff. Outlining this and

the company more generally is their managing director,

DarrenStapelberg.

Humble beginnings

In the late 1990s, the company began in a very limited domain, starting as a

service for the BME community. Within two years, however, it was decided that

the model ought to serve a more general cause: care for all types of elderly

and disabled people as well as for those with specialist needs. Ever since these

initial days of expansion, we’ve continued to be in a state of continued growth.

FACTS ABOUT

GROSVENOR HEALTH AND

SOCIAL CARE

»Managing director:

DarrenStapelberg

»Established in 1998

(asSevacare (UK) Ltd)

»Based in Wolverhampton

»Services: Domiciliary care

provider

»No. of employees: Over 5,000

»Largest independent

domiciliary care provider in

the UK

»www.grosvenorhsc.co.uk

Grosvenor Health and

Social Care

47GROSVENOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2018

Especiallyhelpfulin this regard is our

bidding team, who will look out for

tenders that are put up in journals

by a local authority, for example. By

meeting the requisite criteria in this

arena, we are able to win much of our

custom. In addition to this, we’ve –

along with our acquisitions – managed

to achieve organic growth. Indeed,

such is the extent of our growth that

we now perform 95,000 hours of care

per week – a source of both pride

andhumility.

Our size has not come at the expense

of our human level of operating,

though. We nevertheless remain an

independent provider operating with

a human face – we are, as we like to

say, “run by people for people”. This

brings us on to our fundamentally

distinctive quality: the quality of our

staff, who together comprise our

greatest asset. Making them happy

makes everyone else happy; they are

the crucial, indispensable link in the

chain, and their satisfaction is a key

metric. Indeed, all of our time, effort

and resources goes on our staff, who

in turn are more motivated to carry

out their crucial work for society’s

most vulnerable demographics. High

staff turnover, moreover, has the

emotionally negative impact on our

clients of subtracting from their lives a

much-needed continuity. In short, a lot

hinges on getting this right.

Part and parcel of this, too, is a keen

commitment to the professional

development of our staff, thereby

ensuring the best possible quality

of service for those under our care.

By proving ourselves in this area,

we can achieve the two inextricably

bound goals of better care and

businesssuccess.

Areas in which we stand out

Important to us, too, is that our clients

become responsible, independent

people in so far as this goal is

achievable. This is more than just

basic care and supervision; we want

them to have mastery over their own

lives again: to cook their own food,

to go on walks, to manage their

affairs without constant supervision.

It’s worth reminding again that only

thoughtful, committed staff can make

this vision a reality.

Technology has its part, too, which

is an aspect of our business that

we’ve innovated towards. Many care

providers have not yet realised the

potential of mobile technology to assist

in the provision of care (as well as in

saving paper). For example, we have

an instant notification system that

informs carers on what sort of action

is required, as well as the well-being

status of the client. More generally

speaking, we have invested in our

infrastructure so that we can offer

greater choice and flexibility to those

for whom we care. Largest independent

domiciliary care provider

in UK

Keen

commitment

to the

professional

development

of our staff

“

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

48 | GROSVENOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE

Making sure we don’t fall

behind

One of the difficulties we now face –

and one that’s winning an increasing

amount of attention – is the cuts in

funding to care from local authorities.

It’s worth bearing in mind, too, that

85 per cent of funding for care does

in fact come from local authorities. To

help ameliorate this situation, we try to

work with local authorities to ensure

efficiencies for their funding. This must

not, however, include any kind of

deficit in funding for our staff, who are

the sine qua non of our success.

In the last three years, there has been

a major change with the introduction

of the living wage. We want people

now to come into our industry with

the expectation of staying for the

long term. This comes in contrast with

how some used to approach care,

namely of seeing it as an occupation

without long-term promise. This was

understandable given that the pay

structure was equivalent to that one

would find in the retail sector. Staff

longevity is our goal here at Grosvenor,

which means putting in place genuine

opportunities for development. In spite

of local funding cuts, we’ve managed

to offer a wage appreciably above

that mandated by the national living

wage. As director, I’ve ultimatelycome

to realise that a successful employer

is one who puts in front of his or her

employees professional development

opportunities. I want my staff to

be meaningful participants in this

enterprise and to have genuine

responsibility, rather than being

expendable followers of orders.

These are challenges that we will live

up to and surmount. By continuing

our innovative push, our strong

commitment to staff and our pursuit of

further opportunities and relationships

within the third sector, we will

continue growing and improving our

care. The future, in short, is something

to which we look forward.

Staff longevity

is our goal

here at

Grosvenor,

which means

putting in

place genuine

opportunities

for

development

“

Our team is our strength

www.grosvenorhsc.co.uk

This article was sponsored by Sevacare. 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