GMB Comment On Social Care Report
Wednesday 8th February 2012
HEALTH SELECT COMMITTEE SHIES AWAY
FROM HARD ISSUES IN SOCIAL CARE LIKE NOT RISKING ANOTHER SOUTHERN
CROSS AND ROLE OF PRIVATE EQUITY SAYS GMB
Report stays silent on the regulation
of the companies providing it and so protecting users from another
Southern Cross and examining g role of private equity owned AA in
sector
GMB, the union for staff in the care sector,
commented on the report from the House of Commons Select Committee
report on Social Care. See note1 in Notes to Editors for press
association coverage on report embargoed to 00.01 8th
Feb 2012
Justin Bowden, GMB National Officer for
members employed in the care sector said “Social Care, and
how as a society we look after our elderly and vulnerable, is one
of the great, unresolved questions of our time. The Commons Health
Committee Report on Social Care dips a toe into the water of reform
but doesn't appear brave enough to take the plunge.
Of course there needs to be greater
integration, and the Committee is right to highlight the funding
crisis and the funding gap, but it falls short in many respects. It
fails to call for statutory minimum entitlements of care. It stays
silent on the regulation of the companies providing it and so
protecting users from another Southern Cross. It does not challenge
the profit before people driven market - most recently epitomised
by the arrival on the scene of the private equity owned AA as they
pick up the scent of public money to finance their private equity
debts in the new feeding frenzy around so-called "personalisation".
See note 2 and 3 below.
At the sharp end the report completely
shies away from the crippling debts of Four Seasons and others in
the post Southern Cross landscape where little has changed and
no-one in Government has the imagination or foresight to consider
alternatives like mutuals or social enterprises”
End
Contact: Justin Bowden, GMB National Officer
on 07710 631 351 or GMB Press Office 07921 289880 or 07974
251823.
Notes to Editors
1 Press Association coverage of report
ELDERLY SUFFERING FROM CARE CUTS - By Sam Lister, Press
Association Political Correspondent (Embargoed to 0001 Wednesday
February 8)
Elderly patients are suffering a "diminished quality of
life" because social care funding pressures mean services are being
reduced, a powerful committee warned today.
MPs also claimed cuts in support are driving increased
demands on the NHS as they called for an overhaul of the way the
system is run.
In a report today, they recommended that elderly care,
health and housing services are joined up to stop patients being
"passed like a parcel" from one department to another.
Stephen Dorrell, chairman of the health select committee,
said: "This government, like its predecessors going back to the
1960s, has stressed the importance it attaches to joined-up
services.
"Growing demand, coupled with an unprecedented efficiency
challenge, makes it more urgent than ever before to convert these
fine words into fine deeds.
"We look to the Government to set out in its Social Care
White Paper how this vital objective will be met."
The health committee suggests that failure to link up
commissioning and provision across the services leads to more
hospital admissions, later discharge and poorer outcomes.
But the consequences for providers are "no less stark" as
the NHS will fail to meet its efficiency saving targets of 4% every
year over the next four years, it added.
NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson told the committee
that salami-slicing budgets instead of integrating services would
have "very serious consequences".
MPs welcomed the Government's commitment of an extra £2
billion a year for social care by 2014/15 but warned "it is not
sufficient to maintain adequate levels of service quality and
efficiency".
They found "funding pressures" are causing reductions in
service levels "which are leading to diminished quality of life for
elderly people and increased demand for NHS services".
The cross-party committee also said the large bills
pensioners are left with for services such as home help come as a
"shock" to many.
It called on the Government to accept the "principle" of a
cap in costs following the recommendation last year by the Dilnot
Commission for the state to step in when bills rise above £35,000
for any individual.
Mr Dorrell added: "This report is the latest in a long line
of reports which have stressed the importance of joined-up
services.
"It is impossible to deliver either high quality or
efficient services when the patient is passed like a parcel from
one part of the system to another, without any serious attempt to
look at their needs in the round.
"This obvious truth has often been repeated, but seldom
acted upon.
"The funding for NHS care, social care and social housing
comes from different sources.
"Our central recommendation is that the key to joined-up
services is joined-up commissioning.
"We recommend that the Government should place a duty on the
new clinical commissioning groups and local councils to create a
single commissioning process, with a single accounting officer, and
a single outcomes framework for older people's health, care and
housing services in their area."
2
Briefing on personalisation in adult social care; and in particular
about Direct Payments, i.e. cash payments made in
lieu, either fully or partly, of receiving services from a local
authority.
Eligibility for local authority social care
funding depends on a means-test and assessment of need. The idea
with personalisation is that people who are eligible for
local authority support will be given a choice about how their
allocation is actually spent. The allocation is dressed up as a
Personal Budget, and the council is meant to sit down with the
recipient and plan how to spend it. The recipient can
choose to take their Personal Budget in cash, i.e. as a
Direct Payment, or they can continue to ask the council or a third
party to provide or commission services for them.
Eligible carers can also get Direct Payments
to purchase the services they are assessed as needing to support
them in their caring role.
It is for the council to decide on the amount
of a Direct Payment based on an assessment of the service user’s
needs. The amount is meant to be equivalent to the council’s
estimate of the reasonable cost of providing the service concerned.
Recipients are welcome to top up the payments to buy better
services!
If people do take a Direct Payment, they can
decide what services to buy. The money goes into their bank account
and they have to keep a record of what they spend it on. Apparently
Direct Payments cannot be used to employ spouses or partners, or a
relative who lives with you, except in very exceptional
circumstances.
Direct Payments in lieu of services have been
knocking around since 1997. A duty to
offer Direct Payments was introduced in 2003, but the
numbers remained small. In 2008 Labour signed a "concordat" with
the LGA and Association of Directors of Adult Social Services
(ADASS) with targets attached. At least 30% of eligible service
users/carers were to have a Personal Budget by April 2011 and all
new service users/carers by October 2011. There were also
locally set targets for increasing the numbers of Direct Payments.
Between 2008 and 2011, Labour doled out a £520 million ring-fenced
Social Care Reform Grant to councils, as encouragement.
ADASS claims that by early 2010, 168,000
people had Personal Budgets, although this still only accounted for
a fraction of the total spending on adult social care. In late
2010, the Audit Commission reported that "some councils are lagging
behind and are not on course to meet national plans". The new
Government says it wants everyone eligible to get Personal
Budgets by 2013, "preferably as a Direct Payment".
GMB has looked at a few council websites to
see where they directed people looking for help around Direct
Payments (e.g. how to employ Personal Assistants). Ccouncils
apparently have a legal obligation to provide information about
non-residential services, including signposting appropriate
alternative provision. Sheffield refers people to a council
database, http://www.sheffieldhelpyourself.org.uk/communities1.html,
while Nottinghamshire refers people to a charity (www.therowan.org) which offers
"Independent Living Advisers". At least three other councils use
something called www.shop4support.com.
For the DoH's guidance go to
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_104845.
3 Details of private equity owned
AA/SAGA involvement in
sector
A)Nestor Healthcare Group
Ltd
· Bought by Saga
Group 6 December 2010 for £124m. Year ending 31 December 2010,
Nestor Healthcare had sales of £155.2m and an operating profit
before exceptional charges of £12.1m (Gross profit £54.3m). It made
a loss before tax of £5.1m. Year ending 2009 it made a profit of
£7.3m.
· Average number of
persons employed year ending 2010 was 7,733 (6,905 part-time, 828
full-time). 6,751 were employed in the social care sector, 944 in
Primary Care and in Corporate.
· Directors were
Roger Dye, Martyn Ellis, Sir Andrew Foster, John Rennocks and John
Ivers. Following the acquisition, Rennocks, Dye and Foster resigned
as directors.
Current Directors:
John
Ivers
- Chief
Executive
Stuart Howard
Martyn Ellis
The emoluments of the highest paid director
in 2010 was £401,000, up from £343,000 in 2009. For information,
the emoluments of the highest paid director of Acromas were
£1,476,000.
Stuart Howard, is Chief Financial Officer
of Acromas and ranked 1,474 in the 2011 Sunday Times Rich List with
wealth of £45m made from the management buyout of Saga and
subsequent merger with the AA. Andrew Goodsell, Chief Executive of
Acromas, is ranked 527th with wealth of £133m.
· Nestor Healthcare
provide domiciliary Care through the following companies:
| |
|
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Goldsborough Home Care
|
Individual Care and support within own
homes
|
|
http://www.goldsborough-home-care.co.uk/
|
Beccles, Birkenhead, Bromley, Bury St Edmunds,
Eastbourne, Enfield, Cardiff, Corby, Croydon, Hackney, Harrow,
Hemel Hempstead, Hitchin, Hornchurch, Ipswich, Leeds, Lewes,
Maidstone, Maldon, Mitcham, Norwich, Peterborough, Sawston
(Cambridgeshire), Shefford (Bedford), Sheffield, Solihull,
Stafford, Sutton Coldfield, Tunbridge Wells, Urmston, Wembley,
Worcester, Worthing, York
|
|
Medico
|
Individual Care and support within own homes
and supply of nurses and care workers to the NHS and to people in
their own homes
|
|
http://www.medico.co.uk/
|
Aberdeen, Birkenhead, Blackburn, Buckley,
Colwyn Bay, Coventry, Crewe, Edinburgh, Elgin, Glasgow, Grantham,
Inverness, Leighton Buzzard, Long Crendon (Bucks), Lowestoft,
Nottingham, Oban, Portsmouth, Reading, Sharston (Cheadle),
Sheffield, Southampton, Spalding, Stockport, Tredegar, Wakefield,
Warrington, Wellingborough
|
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Briarcare
|
Homecare services for children, the elderly
and those with learning difficulties
|
|
http://www.briarcare.co.uk/
|
Clare (Suffolk), Great Yarmouth, Ipswich
|
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Care Initiative Ltd
|
Homehelp and personal care in Sidmouth and
other areas of Devon. Part of Medico.
|
| |
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Cavendish Homes Care Services
|
Care provider, approved provider for Telford
& Wrekin Council
|
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http://www.cavendishhome.co.uk/
|
Telford
|
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Celtic Care
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Home care in North Wales. Part of Medico.
|
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Complete Care
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Bangor, Dolgellau, Powys
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Country Cousins
|
Introduce carers throughout the UK, to Clients
requiring support to remain living in their own home
|
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http://www.country-cousins.co.uk/
|
Horsham
|
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Empathy Private Home Care Services Ltd
|
Home care in Aylesbury and other parts of
Buckinghamshire
|
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Aylesbury
|
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Evergreen home
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Home help and personal care
|
|
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Stockton on Tees
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Greenbanks Homecare Ltd
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Home help and personal care
|
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http://www.greenbanks.co.uk/
|
Bargoed, Barry, Bridgend, Cardiff, Bristol,
Chichester, Guildford, Liphook (Hants), Newport, Swansea, Totton
(Hants), Wickham, Winchester
|
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Lindum Care Services
|
Home care in Gainsborough and other parts of
Lincolnshire
|
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Gainsborough
|
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McKinnon’s
|
Post operative care, respite care and care for
post-natal mothers. Part of Medico.
|
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Miller Care Services
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Home care in Reading and other areas of
Berkshire. Part of Medico.
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New Horizons Ltd
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Colchester
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Now Care
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Home care services
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Coventry
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Patricia Whites
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Personal home care
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http://www.patriciawhites.co.uk/
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Esher (Surrey)
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Premier Home Care Services
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Home care. Part of Medico.
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Premier Homecare
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Home care on the Isle of Bute.
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http://www.premierhomecarebute.co.uk/
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Rothesay, Isle of Bute
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Primecare Social Care
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Social care in Devon
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Primecare
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Primary care, secure health care and dental
practice
|
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http://www.primecare.uk.net/
|
Primary Care:
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Scarborough
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Primecare Scarborough
|
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Stockton on Tees
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Primecare Thornaby
|
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Sunderland
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Primecare Sunderland
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Sheffield
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Primecare Sheffield
|
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Birmingham
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Primecare Birmingham
|
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Dudley
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Dudley Walk In Centre
|
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Hereford
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Primecare Hereford
|
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Cardiff
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Primecare Cardiff
|
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Swansea
|
Primecare Swansea
|
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Chelmsford
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North Chelmsford NHS Healthcare Centre
|
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Redruth
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Primecare Redruth
|
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Secure Health Care:
|
|
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Hull
|
HMP Wolds
|
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Wilmslow
|
HMP Styal
|
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Strathaven
|
Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre
|
| |
Rugby
|
Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre
|
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Milton Keynes
|
Oakhill Secure Training Centre
|
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West Drayton
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Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre
|
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Rochester
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Medway Secure Training Centre
|
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Dental Practice:
|
|
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Barnsley
|
Gateway NHS Dental Practice
|
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Stoke
|
The Liverpool Road NHS Dental Practice
|
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Sandwell
|
The Bridge Park NHS Dental Practice
|
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Worcester
|
The Green NHS Dental Practice
|
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Saltash
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Fore Street NHS Dental Practice, Cornwall
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Saga Independent Living
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Folkestone, Hove
|
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· With the purchase
of Allied Healthcare, Acromas is showing it is a major player in
the homecare sector with over 5% of the UK’s £5bn homecare market
(www.prestige-nursing.co.uk/blog/?m=201108)
making it the largest provider in the sector.
· Saga and the AA
were acquired in 2007 for a total cost of £6.3bn, funded by £4.8bn
of bank borrowings and £1.5bn of shareholder loans and share
capital. The bank borrowings do not have capital repayments before
2015. The 2011 closing net debt is £6.6bn.
Nestor Healthcare Group operate from
branches throughout Great Britain:
|
North East
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West Midlands
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South East
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Wales
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Stockton on Tees
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Birmingham
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Aylesbury
|
Bangor
|
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Sunderland
|
Coventry
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Chichester
|
Bargoed
|
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Dudley
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Eastbourne
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Barry
|
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Hereford
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Esher (Surrey)
|
Bridgend
|
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North West
|
Rugby
|
Folkestone
|
Buckley
|
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Birkenhead
|
Sandwell
|
Guildford
|
Cardiff
|
|
Blackburn
|
Solihull
|
Horsham
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Colwyn Bay
|
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Crewe
|
Stafford
|
Lewes
|
Dolgellau
|
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Sharston (Cheadle)
|
Stoke
|
Liphook (Hants)
|
Newport
|
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Stockport
|
Sutton Coldfield
|
Long Crendon (Bucks)
|
Powys
|
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Urmston
|
Telford
|
Maidstone
|
Swansea
|
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Warrington
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Worcester
|
Milton Keynes
|
Tredegar
|
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Wilmslow
|
Worcester
|
Portsmouth
|
|
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Reading
|
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Yorkshire & The
Humber
|
Eastern
|
Reading
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Scotland
|
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Barnsley
|
Beccles
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Rochester
|
Aberdeen
|
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Hull
|
Bury St Edmunds
|
Southampton
|
Edinburgh
|
|
Leeds
|
Chelmsford
|
Totton (Hants)
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Elgin
|
|
Scarborough
|
Clare (Suffolk)
|
Tunbridge Wells
|
Glasgow
|
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Sheffield
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Colchester
|
Wickham
|
Inverness
|
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Wakefield
|
Great Yarmouth
|
Winchester
|
Oban
|
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York
|
Hemel Hempstead
|
Worthing
|
Rothesay (Isle of Bute)
|
| |
Hitchin
|
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Strathaven
|
| |
Ipswich
|
South West
|
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East Midlands
|
Ipswich
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Bristol
|
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Corby
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Leighton Buzzard
|
Redruth
|
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Gainsborough
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Lowestoft
|
Saltash
|
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Grantham
|
Maldon
|
Sidmouth (Devon)
|
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Nottingham
|
Norwich
|
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Spalding
|
Peterborough
|
London
|
|
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Wellingborough
|
Sawston (Cambridgeshire)
|
Bromley
|
|
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Shefford (Bedford)
|
Croydon
|
|
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Enfield
|
|
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Hackney
|
|
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Harrow
|
|
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Hornchurch
|
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Mitcham
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Wembley
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West Drayton
|
|
B) Allied Healthcare
Group
· Allied Healthcare
is a provider of flexible healthcare staffing services to the
healthcare and social care industry in the UK, providing personal
or basic care and nursing services in the home, in nursing and care
homes and hospitals. In Ireland they trade under the Homecare
Independent Living banner.
· Have contracts
with over two thirds of commissioning local authorities and work
with over 100 Primary Care Trusts.
· They maintain a
list of about 12,000 homecare and support staff and registered
nurses who are available to staff their customers and employed
approximately 1,160 people as of November 2010 in their head office
and branch network, none of which are in a trade union. During the
2010 financial year they placed, on average, about 8,000 care and
nursing staff every week. Three of those are in a trade union.
· Bought by Acromas
August 2011 for £107m. Year ending 30 September 2010, Allied
Healthcare had total revenues of $271m and a Gross profit $82.3m
and an operating income of $13.5m. Year ending 2009 it made a gross
profit of $76.3m.
· Allied Healthcare
International is quoted on Nasdaq in New York but provides nurses
and assistants to the elderly at home and care homes in Britain
with over 110 branches throughout the UK.
· Current
Directors:
Sandy Young - Chief
Executive Officer. Joined in January 2008 and previously with Chubb
Electronic Security and Rentokil Initial. Forbes quote his 2010
remuneration (including salary, bonus and all other compensation)
as $458,577.
Paul Weston - Chief
Financial Officer. Joined in September 2004, previously with SSL
International PLC and Fruit of the Loom. Forbes quote his 2010
remuneration (including salary, bonus, restricted stock awards and
all other compensation) as $440,603.
Stephen Bateman – Service
Director. Joined in 2003 and previously head of Audit and Risk at
NHS Logistics and British Gas.
· The company
operate through 6 divisions:
· Local
Authority and Private Home Care
· NHS
Continuing Care and Private Healthcare
· Learning
Disabilities
· Nightingale
Nursing
· Hospital
Staffing
·
Residential, Care and Nursing Home Staffing
· Other companies
which fall under the Allied Healthcare Holdings Group include:
· Allied
Staffing Professionals Ltd
· Crystalglen
Ltd
· Staffing
Enterprise (PSV) Ltd
· Helping
Hands Agency Ltd
· Country
Home Care Ltd
· South West
Nursing Agency Ltd
· Balfor
Medical Ltd
· Care
Concern (Darlington) Ltd
· Care
Concern (South Tyneside) Ltd
· Care
Concern (Durham) Ltd
· Care
Concern (Newcastle) Ltd
· First Force
Medical Recruitments Ltd
· Transworld
Healthcare (UK) Ltd
· Primary
Care Training Ltd
· Care Link
(Scotland) Ltd
· Home Care
(Wales) Ltd
· Inver
Healthcare Services Ltd
· Nightingale
Nursing Bureau Ltd
Allied Healthcare operate from branches
throughout the United Kingdom:
|
North East
|
West Midlands
|
South East
|
Wales
|
|
Chester-le-Street
|
Birmingham
|
Alton
|
Blaina
|
|
Darlington
|
Cannock
|
Ashford
|
Cardiff
|
|
Durham
|
Rugby
|
Basingstoke
|
Carmarthen
|
|
Newcastle
|
Shrewsbury
|
Chatham
|
Colwyn Bay
|
|
Redcar
|
Stone
|
Eastbourne
|
Havorfordwest
|
|
South Shields
|
Telford
|
Gravesend
|
Llanelli
|
| |
Warwick
|
High Wycombe
|
Pontypool
|
|
North West
|
Wednesbury
|
Littlehampton
|
Prestatyn
|
|
Burnley
|
Worcester
|
Maidstone
|
Swansea
|
|
Chester
|
|
Newbury
|
Wrexham
|
|
Lancaster
|
Eastern
|
Oxford
|
|
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Ormskirk
|
Basildon
|
Reading
|
Scotland
|
|
Prescot
|
Beccles
|
Shoreham
|
Dumfries
|
|
Rochdale
|
Bedford
|
Slough
|
Dundee
|
|
Salford
|
Cambridge
|
Southampton
|
East Lothian
|
|
Warrington
|
Colchester
|
Tonbridge
|
Edinburgh
|
|
Wigan
|
Harlow
|
|
Elgin
|
|
Winsford
|
Ipswich
|
South West
|
Fraserburgh
|
| |
Kings Lynn
|
Bournemouth
|
Glasgow
|
|
Yorkshire & The
Humber
|
Luton
|
Bristol
|
Greenock
|
|
Bridlington
|
Norwich
|
Devizes
|
Paisley
|
|
Doncaster
|
Peterborough
|
Exeter
|
Perth
|
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Grimsby
|
Southend
|
Newton Abbot
|
|
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Halifax
|
|
Penzance
|
Northern Ireland
|
|
Huddersfield
|
London
|
Plymouth
|
Belfast
|
|
Hull
|
Croydon
|
Salisbury
|
Milford, Armagh
|
|
Keighley
|
London Bridge
|
Swindon
|
|
|
Leeds
|
London South
|
Weston super Mare
|
Eire
|
|
Sheffield
|
Mortlake, London West
|
Yeovil
|
Dundalk
|
| |
Stratford, London East
|
|
|
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East Midlands
|
Upper Holloway, London North
|
|
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Derby
|
Victoria
|
|
|
|
Leicester
|
West Drayton, Hillingdon
|
|
|
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Lincoln
|
|
|
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Northampton
|
|
|
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Nottingham
|
|
|
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