Home Our Homes Our Services Quality Home Company Info Careers Contact Investors Company Information About Four Seasons Health Care Chairman's Message Company News Information for Funders and Commissioners Developments Corporate Social Responsibility Press & Media Purchasing Twitter Facebook What people say B Mtshalala I enjoy caring for the residents, keeping them comfortable and seeing that their needs are met. Orchart Court is a place to feel comfortable, with a good atmosphere. Mrs McAlpine The care she is given is second to none. Chairman's Message During the first months of this year there have been several positive developments around Four Seasons Health Care that I would like to recap in summary. [Some of them may be covered in more detail elsewhere on the website] Ian Smith. Chairman, Four Seasons Health Care Anniversary of landmark voluntary agreement with unions February marked the first anniversary of a land-mark voluntary joint recognition agreement with three unions: the GMB, the Royal College of Nursing and Unison. This is the first agreement of its kind in the independent care sector and remains the only one. We are committed to provide the highest standards of care for our residents and the best way to do that is with a stable, well trained and motivated workforce and good co-operative employee relations. We have concerns that are shared by the unions about the future of care services, including a sector-wide shortage of experienced qualified nurses; how to make the care sector more attractive to good quality candidates and the constraints on public sector finances for funding of care. We have been in close discussion with the unions about working together on these issues and consulting with them on enhanced training for care staff and a development strategy for nurses. Paul Kenny, GMB General Secretary, described this agreement as a new dawn paving the way for a whole new approach in the care home sector and setting the bench mark for the rest of the industry. Royal College of Nursing Chief Executive & General Secretary, Dr Peter Carter, said that partnership between employers and trade unions contributes to a better working environment and benefits everyone with better pay, terms and conditions and improved care and treatment for clients. By working together we have an opportunity to have a stronger voice on professional issues. Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary, said this important agreement signals a positive commitment to partnership working and is key to boosting good employee relationships and delivering good quality care. Senior management strengthened We have made a number of appointments that will strengthen our business management and our corporate and clinical governance. Most significant among them are: We have appointed Tim Hammond as Chief Executive Officer of our dementia and nursing care business, which has more than 370 homes. Tim is currently Chief Executive of Elior UK, the contract caterer,which operates over 600 restaurants. Tim has a wealth of relevant expertise that will be of real benefit to our business,having an excellent track record in healthcare and the service and hospitality sector and in businesses that all share a reputation for providing outstanding customer experiences. He has delivered a successful growth strategy at Elior UK over the past three years, driven by quality service. Previously he was Managing Director of Barchester Healthcare. He is a Trustee of Age UK and a member of The Malnutrition Task Force, a group of experts to address the problem of preventable malnutrition in older people. He is expected to take up his new position with Four Seasons in the second quarter of this year. Our Group Medical Director Dr. Claire Royston has been appointed to our Board, placing a clinician at the highest level of the organisation. Claire has held a number of senior positions within the NHS. She was registered as a specialist in General Adult and Old Age Psychiatry in 1997. She was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 2005 and was Vice President of the Royal Society of Medicine between 2004 and 2006. Given Claire’s new Board responsibilities we are additionally recruiting a new Medical Director for The Huntercombe Group. Peter Dixon has joined our Board as a Non-Executive Director. Peter is Chief Executive Officer of Phoenix Energy Holdings, which was a company within the portfolio of our owners Terra Firma from 2005 until its sale last year, during which time he worked with Terra Firma to build Phoenix’s success as the leading natural gas distribution and gas service business in Northern Ireland. Peter will bring a valuable external perspective to our board. He has a wealth of business expertise in service organisations and a strong commitment to corporate social responsibility that will contribute to ensuring we maintain best practice in our governance systems and processes. Under his leadership Phoenix Energy Holdings has developed an award winning integrated Corporate Social Responsibility programme with a range of initiatives that make a positive difference to the marketplace, workplace, environment and community. He holds a number of board positions and has particular expertise in governance and audit matters. Investing in new systems to support high standards of care Four Seasons Health Care is working with Hull University on creating a "pattern-recognition" early warning system that empowers residents, relatives and care workers to "whistle-blow" early stage concerns. If the potential benefit to our organisation is realised in the way we expect, then the system will be made available to other providers to help improve care provision across the sector. This is additional to our existing whistle-blowing policy that actively encourages all staff to report to their manager any concerns they have about other staff conduct or practice. We also promote a “secure” helpline and email address for staff who feel more comfortable raising concerns in this way. We are currently awaiting the introduction of the Boots (the chemist) electronic dispensing system throughout all our homes that will support more accurate administration of medication. We have also been evaluating options for the introduction of an electronic patient record to improve overall administration of care and we will be rolling out a system known as the Coldharbour system. Introducing such a system across our units will represent a substantial investment to enhance quality. We have upgraded and simplified our risk management and complaints programme, Datix, which is used throughout our services, where previously there existed a series of stand-alone databases. A company-wide integrated system improves our ability to analyse data from units and so drives improvements in our services. Integrated corporate governance and quality performance management To test our organisation against current and emerging best practice we commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), the multi-national professional services firm to review our quality, compliance and governance systems and processes. They have delivered their final report and we have begun to implement their recommendations. We have integrated governance and quality performance management systems and procedures, with data relating to services being reviewed at unit level and regional level and reported centrally so that it may be analysed and compared across units. This allows us to identify emerging trends, areas for improvement or training needs and to share learning and best practice. Central to ensuring the effectiveness of our policies, procedures and quality assurance systems are the Group Medical Director, and the Heads of Clinical Standards and Compliance for our care homes and for The Huntercombe Group our specialist care division.To support compliance at a regional level we have been investing significantly in an increased number of regional Quality Auditors /Managers, Clinical Quality Facilitators and Training Co-ordinators who can support staff in improving their skills. As I mention elsewhere, we are currently recruiting a Medical Director for The Huntercombe Group and have made board appointments to strengthen corporate and clinical governance. All significant incidents, safeguarding referrals, embargoes, complaints, regulatory concerns or non-compliance across our facilities are notified in real time to the relevant Managing Director and escalated to me. A weekly report is circulated to the Senior Management Team and Board members and considered at our Senior Management Team meetings so that we can determine appropriate actions at a strategic level. Organisational restructuring completed We have completed the restructuring of our organisation to focus on three distinct businesses in strategic areas. These are: A national network of more than 370 homes that will provide personalised dementia and nursing care. A chain of 80 homes that will offer high quality elderly care together with hotel standard services and activities programmes designed primarily, but not exclusively, for self-funded clients who elect to be looked after in a care home as a life style choice. The Huntercombe Group, with 57 hospitals and specialist units that will continue to provide care, treatment and rehabilitation services in areas of mental health and brain injury, that are complementary to the NHS Each of these three stand-alone business divisions has its own management team, reporting to me, and supported by our central corporate services. This re-alignment is intended to give increased focus and management over-sight so that each division develops by best meeting the requirements of its respective customer/patient group. Care Quality Commission Chairman visits home to see our specialist dementia care programme. David Prior, the Chairman of the Care Quality Commission recently visited one of our homes Kingfisher House to see first hand our PEARL specialist dementia care programme. The PEARL dementia care programme (positively enriching and enhancing residents’ lives) has achieved dramatic reductions in the need for anti-psychotic drugs (48%) and other medications together with a marked improvement in the objective measure of “wellbeing” recorded amongst people in our study group (46%). This pioneering programme involves substantial commitment in terms of many months of specialist training to ensure our staff are equipped to recognise and respond to the needs of people with dementia as well as adapting our homes to create an environment designed specifically for dementia care. We are applying these principles to create a national network of more than 370 homes offering nursing and dementia care. The PEARL programme is studied by care providers internationally. It has been recognised with awards including one from the Improvement Foundation and our Director of Dementia Care, Caroline Baker, recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award in the National Dementia Care Awards 2013, for her contribution to improving the care of people with dementia. As for my own involvement in advancing dementia care, I have recently been appointed as an Honorary Professor and a Member of the External Advisory Board of the new Institute for Dementia at the University of Salford. This will be an international centre of excellence in research, education and practice. 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