Improving the Performance of Your Care Home Business

We’ve discussed before here at DUA the many ways in which our business advisors in London and Watford work closely with our healthcare clients, but here we want to focus on one type of healthcare organisation in particular – care homes.

Of all healthcare businesses, care homes are often among the most overlooked, not least due to people’s tendency not to think of them as businesses. This is despite the fact that the financial success of a care home business affects more than just the owners and employees – after all, the more successful and better performing a care home business is, the better the quality of care it is able to provide to the people living in it.

Here, we explore the areas which care home businesses must address in order to improve their performance and secure their success.

Recruitment and Staffing – Keeping Your Employees Happy

One of the most significant challenges that care home businesses often encounter is their ability to recruit and retain staff. Naturally for this variety of business, the type of staff being employed is of great importance, as most will be the employees primarily interacting with the people residing in the care home. One industry report suggests that the average care home will have staffing costs of around 52% of its turnover.

Staff are an extremely important asset to your business, and failing to retain talent can have considerable consequences – relying on a constant turnover of short-term staff has even led some care homes to closure.

It is therefore vital that, as an employer, you ensure that your staff are kept happy and satisfied. This should be something that all employers keep in mind, but for care homes in particular, there is evidence suggesting that a happier staff leads to significantly more positive outcomes for residents, as well as the decreased turnover of staff members. Managers should hold regular meetings with their teams, engage in staff-only activities, and promote a positive atmosphere for both staff and residents.

Occupancy – Keeping Your Care Home Full

The most effective way of measuring the success of a care home business, and ensuring that you can continue to offer the best quality of care, is by keeping high rates of occupancy at all times. Ideally, you should also have a waiting list for your care home, to keep the number of occupants at a steady amount.

This will involve finding ways to effectively promote the quality and value of your care home, particularly through effective marketing and messaging strategies. However, it is also important to ensure that the care home itself is always of a high standard so that both residents, and those close to them, will happily recommend your care home to others.

Regulations – Keeping Your Care Home Compliant

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the care home sector is a highly regulated industry. Running one successfully therefore requires a significant level of due diligence, to make sure that you do not stray into accidental non-compliance.

Care homes are regulated by the independent Care Quality Commission, who have published a series of detailed regulations that all homes must comply with – covering everything from employment regulations to the acceptable conditions for care home premises. While researching these regulations yourself, or requesting the services of legal experts, may seem like an unnecessary use of time and resources, it should not be overlooked and will benefit you in the long-term.

How DUA Work Alongside Healthcare Businesses

Any healthcare professional knows how delicate the balance can be between keeping one eye on their patients, and the other on the health of their business. DUA’s team of business advisors and accountants in Watford and London have expert experience of helping healthcare businesses with everything from business tax expertise, structuring and strategy, business plans and cashflow, finance function, payroll and Xero cloud accounting, to managing all ongoing compliance. Most importantly you’ll benefit from ongoing business advice.

No matter what type of healthcare business you are, we work closely with you to determine your unique situation. For a care home business, this could involve helping to develop and revise budgets, carrying out cost analyses, and ensuring that you are minimising your expenditure without affecting the quality of your care. Through our tailored solutions, we can help your healthcare business to flourish – get in touch with us today to make the most of your business.