Care UK

Care UK is a British company providing health and social care. The company works with councils, Clinical Commissioning Groups and doctors to deliver care and support for older people and those with learning disabilities or mental health problems, as well as a range of healthcare services for NHS patients.

History

The company was formed as Anglia Secure Homes in 1982, becoming Care UK PLC in 1994.

In 1997, the company acquired Care Solutions Limited, a provider of residential services for people with learning disabilities responsible for 59 homes in Newcastle, Bradford, Staffordshire and Guildford. In 1998, it took on a further seven care homes in Hampshire and the South Coast with the acquisition of The Care Partnership.

Care UK delisted from the stock exchange in 2010 following a management buyout. Since 2010 its major shareholder has been Bridgepoint Capital.[1]

It bought Harmoni in 2012 from ECI Partners for about £50 million.[2]

In January 2014 it was announced that Philippa Slinger, the former chief executive of the troubled Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is to join Care UK.[3]

Since the Health and Social Care Act 2012 came into force in April 2013 Care UK has won three contracts worth £104m.[4]

In 2014/5 its turnover was £728 million.[5]

Following the death of a vulnerable inmate at HM Prison Chelmsford in January 2017 and criticism by the Prison ombudsman, Care UK announced it would end its healthcare contract there as the level of resource the prison service made available was insufficient.[6]

Services

In 2018 Care UK operated 114 care homes with almost 8,000 beds. 44% of the residents are self-funding.[7] It supports over 17,000 older people and those with disabilities through home care services. Its NHS treatment centres, out of hours primary care and 111 service serve more than 18 million patients a year.

The company runs 2 clinical assessment and treatment centres (CATS) and 9 NHS treatment centres, offering a range of procedures for conditions such as cataract surgery and hip replacements. In 2011, independent research organisation, Dr Foster, named Care UK as the best performing provider for hip operations.[8]

Care UK also operates 12 GP-led health centre facilities providing walk-in services and a range of specialist mental health services including 18 homes and hospitals and residential treatment programmes for young people who have serious eating disorders.

In 2013 a joint venture with Sussex Partnership NHS Trust was created to purchase a 32-bed mental health rehabilitation unit in Gosport, and to create a 24-bed self-contained accommodation unit later in the year.[9]

The company strategy is to concentrate on the provision of primary and secondary NHS health services.[10] In May 2015 the company sold its mental health assets, consisting of 322 beds, to Partnerships in Care and its learning disability services group to Lifeways Group. In June 2015 the home care service which generated revenue of £72.2 million and looks after approximately 13,000 people across the UK and employs around 6,000 staff members was sold to Mears Group.[11]

It is the largest firm providing out-of-hours services in England services with more than ten million patients.

It retained a £55 million contract to run the North East London Treatment Centre in Redbridge in September 2017, after a bid by Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, after complaining about the conduct of Barking and Dagenham, Redbridge and Havering CCGs which ran the tendering process.[12]

Controversies

Political donations

In November 2009 John Nash, the chairman of Care UK, made a donation of £21,000 to the private office of Andrew Lansley, who would later become Secretary of State for Health, but was at the time the health spokesman for the opposition. Lansley has since been accused of a conflict of interest, as Care UK would be a major beneficiary of the proposed changes.[13][14]

In 2014, Care UK's former chairman Lord Nash became a government minister and Care UK took over services for people with severe learning disabilities in Doncaster, south Yorkshire - where they immediately cut wages of staff who had been on NHS terms by up to 35% while bringing in 100 new workers on £7 an hour. Fifty carers for the disabled began strike action in protest and by August 2014, had been on strike for 7 weeks - making it one of the longest strikes in the history of the NHS. Care UK won the supported living contract from the council after telling officials that it could deliver it for £6.7m over three years. Yet the wage bill alone for the service was £7m.[15]

Alleged tax avoidance

A report in The Guardian of 17 March 2012 stated that Care UK "has a reduced tax bill by taking out loans through the Channel Islands stock exchange and coming to an agreement with HMRC".[16] Another report by the same newspaper in August 2014 stated that" Care UK has not paid a penny in corporation tax since it was bought by the private equity firm Bridgepoint Capital in 2010.[17]

Ealing Hospital

In July 2015, ITV's Exposure programme uncovered poor practice in the urgent care centre run by the firm at Ealing Hospital. Failings included:

  • Pregnant women with ectopic pregnancies waiting 3 hours before being seen by a GP;
  • Empty medicine cabinets and doctors admitting they frequently ran out of painkillers and antibiotics;
  • Work experience students checking up on patients because doctors and nurses were too busy;
  • GPs admitting they can’t understand X-rays ‘for s***’ and may miss fractures;
  • Clinics dealing with 50 per cent more patients than they could manage;
  • Patients told to take their own temperature.[18]

It is also alleged that staff registered the discharge of patients before they had been treated to avoid breaching the four-hour wait target.[19]

Ealing Clinical Commissioning Group and Healthwatch Ealing both investigated the situation. Ealing Council considered the service at a meeting of its scrutiny committee in September 2015. The CCG agreed to pay for an additional GP and said that the service was still considered safe.[20]

See also
  • Private medicine in the UK

References
  1. "Our history". Care UK. Archived from the original on 19 June 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
  2. "Care UK buys largest GP out-of-hours provider". Pulse. 6 November 2012. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  3. "Former Heatherwood and Wexham chief joins Care UK". Health Service Journal. 31 January 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  4. "Private firms on course to net £9bn of NHS contracts". Guardian. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  5. "Out-of-hours clinic that makes you take own temperature: Undercover probe exposes shocking care failures". Daily Mail. 20 July 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  6. "Dean Saunders death: Prison ombudsman finds 'weaknesses'". BBC News. 23 January 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  7. "Bridgepoint explores sale of UK's biggest NHS outsourcer". Financial Times. 27 April 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  8. "Dr Foster 2011 Hospital Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 January 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  9. "Mental health trust strikes deal with private firm to double bed numbers". Community Care. Reed Business Information. 15 March 2013. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
  10. "Care UK offloads learning disabilities services". Health Service Journal. 18 May 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  11. "Mears Group acquires Care UK's domiciliary care service for £11.3m". HealthInvestor. 1 June 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  12. "Private firm beats trust to controversial £55m contract". Health Service Journal. 21 September 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  13. "Andrew Lansley embroiled in 'cash for influence' row after accepting £21,000 donation from Care UK chairman John Nash". Mail Online. 15 January 2010. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
  14. "Andrew Lansley bankrolled by private healthcare provider". The Daily Telegraph. 14 January 2010. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
  15. "Doncaster care workers set to intensify strike in fight for living wage". Guardian. 9 August 2014. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  16. "Firms poised to take advantage of NHS shake-up 'avoid tax on their profits'". The Guardian. 17 March 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
  17. "Doncaster care workers set to intensify strike in fight for living wage". Guardian. 9 August 2014. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  18. "Out-of-hours clinic that makes you take own temperature: Undercover probe exposes shocking care failures". Daily Mail. 20 July 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  19. "Private NHS contractor 'boots out patients before finishing treatment to meet targets'". Daily Mirror. 21 July 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  20. "Care UK faces criticism following worries raised by documentary". Get West London. 15 September 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
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