19.11.18
Allied Healthcare to transfer or sell all home care contracts
Allied Healthcare is seeking to transfer or sell all of its home care contracts to other providers in the wake of CQC’s damning notice on its finances.
The care regulator issued a warning to the major home care provider earlier this month about its financial instability and said that it was its legal duty to notify the 84 local authorities affected.
The CQC’s chief inspector of adult social care Andrea Sutcliffe said it was a “very unsettling time for everyone who uses Allied Healthcare’s services,” and since then many local authorities have taken steps to find new providers.
Allied Healthcare has now criticised the CQC’s so-called stage six notification, saying the notice was a major cause which has led a number of customers to transfer care services to alternative providers.
A spokesperson said the CQC’s report has “intensified the impact of the challenging environment within which we operate and comes immediately prior to the Christmas period, when pressures on care providers are at their highest.”
The home care provider says this has also disrupted staff retention and recruitment and meant it has had to re-evaluate its long-term business plan.
It is exploring a number of options to minimise disruption to continuity of care, and this includes the sale or transition of its care and support services to alternative suppliers best placed to deliver care at a local level.
The CQC’s report on the 5 November reported that Allied Healthcare was able to confirm funding until 30 November, and that it had not given the CQC adequate assurance that it could sustain itself past this date.
Allied Healthcare has since announced that it has been able to extend its existing credit line with lender RBS by up to three weeks beyond this date, and said it would continue to work closely with the CQC and all commissioners to ensure “minimal disruption to the care” during the transition.
Over 13,000 older and disabled people rely on Allied Healthcare for care and support, and local authorities have been working since the CQC’s notice to line up contingency plans.
Image credit - Dean Mitchell
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