Company History

Care UK Care Home is a private company, working with Clinical Commissioning Groups. In the spring of 2016, the company launched the latest home, Sherwood Grange in Kingston Vale, South London. As a matter of specification, the care home indulges in partnership with the council members and healthcare professionals for providing quality care and treatment to the NHS patients suffering from learning disabilities and mental health problems (Careuk.com 2018).

The company was formed as Anglia Secure Homes in 1982. In 1994, the company achieved the tag of Care UK PLC. 1997 was the era when the company acquired Care Solutions Limited. This acquisition entrusted the responsibility of 59 care homes on the company, spread in Newcastle, Bradford, Staffordshire and Guildford. 1998 was the era when the company acquired the charge of seven additional care homes in Hampshire and South Coast. This was done through the acquisition of the project The Care Partnership.

Management buyout in the 2010 added vulnerability into the market position of the care home from the list of stock exchange (Careuk.com 2018). Here, the shareholder of the care home was Bridgepoint Capital.50 million pounds was invested by the care home for purchasing Harmoni in 2012 from ECI partners. In 2014, Phillipa Singer was invited to join the Care UK. The emergence of Health and Social Care Act in 2012 bestowed three contracts on the company worth 104 million pounds. The following year was a tough one, as the company has to encounter a turnover of 728 million pounds. In January 2017, one of the inmates from HM Prison Chelmsford died. This compelled the company to face criticisms, followed by the closure of the healthcare contracts (Careuk.com 2018).

Care UK care home gets the support of the government in the execution of the business activities. This is also applicable in terms of funding for the healthcare services needed by the patients. The situation of the patients is forwarded to government, resulting in the provision of adequate support and assistance to the care home. The councils possess limited power in providing monetary benefits to the care home. They are selective in terms of paying for the cure and treatment of the patients. The councils carry out an assessment of the care needed and provide the payments in accordance with its intensity (Careuk.com 2018). The location is a prime factor in terms of funding for the care. Levels of the care needs are one of the determinants for getting free treatments. Similarity between the needs of the care home and the council, results in the execution of a financial assessment. This assessment includes a review of the current financial condition, which helps in estimation of the requirements related to the additional resources. 

Partnerships with Council Members and Healthcare Professionals

There are several financial payment options, which enable the customers and clients of the care home to seek quality treatment and cure for their friends, relatives and family members. For availing the benefits, the employees, clients and the customers need to adhere to certain rules and regulations. Herein lays the appropriateness of Carer’s benefits and Disability benefits. For this, the seeker needs to fulfil all the eligibility criteria (Careuk.com 2018).

The aim of the care home is to upgrade the living standards of the older people. The customer reviews for the past 30 years reflects that the care home has been successful in achieving this aim. The satisfaction of the service users reflects the provision of quality services. Exposure of person centred approach is one of the other objectives of the care home personnel in terms of providing quality treatment. Emerging as a trustful source was one of the identified objective of the care home personnel. The satisfaction of the customers is the proof that the care home has emerged successful in fulfilling the objective.

The care home personnel has identified their mission statement as fulfilling the lives of the service users. This is through the means of exposing dedication and commitment towards the provision of quality treatment and cure to the needy (Careukhealthcare.com 2018).  

Patients are the centre of business activities for the care home personnel. The personnel believe in collaboration, which helps in the achievement of positive outcomes. This collaboration is the keystone towards the introduction of quality care and treatment for the service users (Careukhealthcare.com 2018).  

Rationale of existence

The main aim of Care Home UK is to provide quality care and treatment to the NHS patients suffering from learning disabilities. This aim addresses the health and social care needs of these patients. Provision of quality healthcare services benefits the NHS patients, their family members and the Care Home as a whole (Careuk.com 2018). 

Goals and objectives 

The goals of Care UK Care Home relates with upgrading the living standards of the patients through the provision of quality healthcare services. The goal can be achieved in the next 4-5 years. In this period, the personnel need to be trained about the operations of the latest machines. This would reduce the chances of mistakes within the process of delivering cure and treatment. The dementia care services makes the time  realistic and reliable for the fulfilling the goal (Careuk.com 2018).

Organizational Hierarchy and Appraisal System

The organizational hierarchy of the care home can be said to be functional. This is because the functions are divided equally between the staffs and the managers. Ward manager is entrusted with the responsibility for managing the workplace performance. This organizational structure proves fruitful in terms of enhancing the productivity in terms of catering to the health and social needs of the patients.

Staff appraisal

Appraisal is the process through which the performance of the staffs is valued. The care managers make adequate planning for appraising the performance of the staffs. Training is an important component of the appraisals for promoting the level of the staffs. Recently, the managers have altered the appraisal systems. The focus of the managers is on the performance of the staffs in terms of the identified and the specified objectives (Careuk.com 2018). As a matter of specification, Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are set by the managers. These indicators are measured for appraising the performance of the staffs.

The care home personnel use comprehensive appraisal systems, which enhances their decision-making process. The board panel is involved for planning about the duties, responsibilities, pay scale, supervision, promotion, training and development, contracts among others. The approach of the managers in this planning process is important in terms of valuing the performance of the caregivers.

The appraisal system used by the care home personnel focuses on the skills, abilities and competencies of the staffs. This is in terms of the extent to which they prove successful in fulfilling the identified goals and objectives. Based on this, it can be said that the performance management system of Care UK Care Home is trait-focused and behaviour specific (Careuk.com 2018). The managers appraise the performance of the staffs through the means of checklists and templates. 360 degree feedback is also used in terms of assessing the effectiveness, feasibility and effectiveness of the services provided by the employers to the employees. This feedback process generates the self-assessment skills within the employees. 

Regulations in the appraisals

In the appraisal process, the care home managers adhere to the terms and conditions of acts like Minimum Wage Act, Health and Safety at Work Act, Data Protection Act among others. Compliance with the standards of these acts helps the personnel to appraise the performance of the staffs in an efficient and effective manner. Among the acts, Data Protection Act is important in terms of maintaining the confidentiality, privacy and security of the employees’ record (Careuk.com 2018).

Healthcare Policies

Negative feedbacks

Care UK Care Home has achieved accolades and glory through the provision of quality healthcare services to the NHS patients. As a matter of specification, the care home is known for delivering quality dementia care for these patients. Specialists are hired by the care home personnel for helping the patients to recover from their suffering and ailments. The residential complex acts as an escape for the patients from the claustrophobic existence. Sometimes, the care home personnel receives complaints from the customers regarding he provision of poor quality services (Careuk.com 2018). Typical examples of this were lack of proper facilities for the patients with wheelchairs, lack of access in case of the service users regarding the healthcare services among others. Along with this, negligence is exposed towards execution of risk assessment. This generates hesitation in the minds of the service users regarding availing the services of care home like Care UK Care Home (Theguardian.com 2018).

There are healthcare policies, which cater to the health needs of the employees and the service users. Typical examples of this are the accidental policies, which minimizes the potential risks within the workplace. Care UK Care Home also uses life insurances for catering to the needs of the family members of the patients after their sudden demise. Absence of these facilities reflects the lack of theoretical considerations towards catering to the health and social care needs of the service users. Apart from this, there are HR policies, which the care home adopts for possessing good practices. Typical example of this can be recruitment and selection, payments, performance evaluations and holidays (Careuk.com 2018).

Strengths and weakness of Care UK Care Home

Strengths

Wide supply chain network is one of the greatest strengths of Care UK Care Home. This wideness caters to the specific health needs of the service users all over the world. Presence of skilled and efficient healthcare professionals acts as an address to the ill effects of dementia. Provision of the accommodation and food facilities add to the stock of customers. Along with this, career opportunities are a means for managing the human resources (Careuk.com 2018).

Weakness

Absence of adequate facilities for the handicapped service users is one of the greatest challenges of Care UK Care Home. Lack of risk management aggravates the complexities of the service users regarding availing the healthcare services. Negligent approach of the staffs ij this direction adds vulnerability into the market position of the care home. Moreover, it acts as a compromise with the health needs of the needy patients (Careuk.com 2018).  

Strengths and Challenges

Comfort theory

As Care UK Care Home deals with the dementia patients, comfort theory is most relevant. This is in terms of providing them an escape from the suffering and ailments. The components of the theory relates with the vision of the care home. The comforting factors are quality facilities, which enhance the living standards of the patients during their stay in the care homes. Effective utilization of these resources results in the achievement of positive outcomes. These resources reflect the approach or behaviour of the staffs towards the needs of the patients (Mozley 2017). These behaviours of the staffs can be divided into three parts- internal, external and ultimate. 

Indulging in partnerships with the associate partners helps in taking good care of the NHS patients. Taking into consideration the terms and conditions of the Health and Social Care Act (2012) proves beneficial in terms of enhancing the corporate social responsibility of the care home. Ensuring the wellbeing of the NHS patients is the corporate responsibility of the caregivers. Consciousness towards this direction preserves the core values of the care home. The major drive behind this is the adoption of the best practices, one of which are the policies (Ozcan 2014). These practices are the agent in terms of attracting the foreign client towards the services of the care home.

Conclusion

This assignment proves beneficial in terms of providing an insight into the internal environment of Care UK care home. The mission and vision statement reflects the attempt towards the achievement of customer satisfaction. The organizational structure enhances the awareness of the readers regarding the management of the performance exposed by the staffs. This performance is appraised through the means of key performance indicators. The negative feedbacks act as a lesson for the caregivers in terms of upgrading the standards and quality of the healthcare services.

Training is the appropriate recommendation in terms of enhancing the awareness of the personnel towards the delivery of quality care. Including lessons on technology would help the staffs to provide relevant treatment for the diseases, which the NHS patients are suffering. Insurance needs to be done for the machines for averting unwanted incidents. Along with this, experts need to be hired for providing training to the staffs regarding the operation of the machines. Trade union members need to be contacted in terms of stabilizing the financial parameter. This stability would result in the introduction of quality healthcare services for the patients. Moreover, access need to be provided to the NHS patients and their family members, so that they can avail the benefits in the healthcare services. Evaluation is needed in terms of upgrading the standards and quality of the healthcare services. Maintenance of consistency in the execution of evaluation would act as an agent in terms of penetrating into the foreign markets. 

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