Member Article

Home care business earns ‘Outstanding’ CQC rating

The owners of Caremark East Hertfordshire & Broxbourne, Sareet Shah and Priya Desai-Shah, have achieved an ‘Outstanding’ rating from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following their very first inspection.

The married couple, who have just had their first child, made the decision to open the Ware-based home care business after the care provider they trusted to look after Priya’s father in his later years under-performed woefully.

“It was a very difficult time for us, and it was hard feeling as though we couldn’t trust in the options that were available”, said Sareet. “When we decided to franchise a care business, we spent a huge amount of time researching care providers and were delighted when we found Caremark as it was clear that it’s customer-centred ethos aligned with ours.”

Sareet and Priya are extremely selective when recruiting for their own business, only hiring those who share their values, and they believe that this was a contributing factor to the ‘Outstanding’ rating.

CQC inspectors praised staff for being ‘committed, passionate and knowledgeable’ adding that staff ‘displayed genuine fondness and real empathy’ towards clients.

The inspection found Caremark East Hertfordshire & Broxbourne to be exceptional and resulted in an ‘Outstanding’ rating overall, which is the highest possible CQC accreditation.

Sareet and Priya, whose leadership was described by inspectors as ‘exceptional and distinctive’, have regular visits from a Caremark Support Manager. They are also supported by their Registered Manager, Kelly Parrott, who has over 15 years of experience within the care industry.

“Kelly worked her way up from care and support worker, which means she has excellent insights into all aspects of home care”, explains Sareet. “Our motivation for opening a local franchise was not only to provide an extremely high standard of care to the community, but also to encourage other providers in the area to improve their standards, and Kelly has helped us bring this vision to life.”

Helping people in distressing times has always been a motivation for Sareet. Before opening his Caremark franchise, he was a catastrophe risk analyst, responsible for dealing with extreme events such as earthquakes and other natural disasters.

Sareet’s work with Caremark has seen him run various charity events and engage with local students. He has also implemented a ‘time to talk’ scheme whereby clients are offered a free 15-minute phone call to combat loneliness.

’‘It’s fantastic to achieve recognition from the CQC but it’s what it means to the client and their family that is particularly important to us. We have a big responsibility to provide excellent care and I am a perfectionist so I’m already coming up with new ideas to continue improving“, says Sareet.

With over 120 offices and a reputation for excellence, Caremark franchisees are leading providers of home care services in the UK. Caremark supports every member of its growing network to build their own success and bring positive change to their local community.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Caremark .