Shropshire care provider reacts to changing demands
Shropshire's leading independent care provider has focused on restructuring its services to meet the changing needs of the community, its Annual Review reveals.
Coverage Care, which is a not-for-profit organisation, operates 16 care homes as well as providing nursing and at-home care throughout the county.
However it is growing demand for care at home services that has led to some of the biggest changes in the business during the last 12 months, as a growing number of older people delay using residential and nursing care services until later in life.
This has led to a restructuring and expansion of this area of Coverage Care's work, which has seen the appointment of two new managers to support the development of specialist care at home services, including those for people with dementia, people with learning disabilities and those requiring end of life care.
Publishing its 2012 Annual Review document, Coverage Care reveals that it now employs 873 staff and provides 391 residential beds and 221 nursing beds in its homes. Staff and property costs are shown to be the major expenditure of the organisation, with administration making up only four per cent of its spending.
Chief executive, David Coull, said: “It is fair to say there have been challenges for us since we published our last annual review, but I and the board feel that we have met these and put Coverage Care in a strong position to meet changing community care needs in the years to come. Our business is all about the people we serve and we must never forget that.
“We have expanded our care home capacity, while at the same time recognising that demand for care at home will continue to grow. We are addressing this with both increased provision and a focus on specialist areas. This is all at a time when we have seen zero fee increases from the bodies that commission our services in the last year and in an unprecedented economic environment. Despite that, we are determined that we will continue to provide care that puts our service users' needs and best interests at the heart of everything we do as a not-for-profit organisation.”
Coverage Care is currently building a modern, purpose-designed nursing and residential care home in Oswestry, called New Fairholme, which will replace an ageing existing facility in the town. It has also recently been named by Shropshire Council as the preferred provider to operate Crowmoor House residential care home, in Shrewsbury.
A copy of the Coverage Care Services Annual Review 2012 can be downloaded from the company's website at www.coveragecareservices.co.uk/our-services.html or on request by contacting 01743 283200.
