Care homes have faced huge challenges during the last 15 months as the Coronavirus has affected all of our lives.

And homes continue to face hurdles as we start to emerge from the pandemic, with the question of how to build back better occupying the minds of many care home operators.

At Caresolve, we are working with a growing number of care home operators to come back stronger as we emerge from Covid-19.

Now is not the time to be at all complacent.

Even if staff have been vaccinated, we need to keep stringent health and hygiene measures in place.

We know that many care homes are struggling to get their occupancy levels back up.

A lot of private paying customers are still monitoring the situation and debating whether to put a loved family member in to a care home if there’s any danger that they might not be able to visit them.

We all know that dementia patients, in particular, need to see, hear and touch their loved ones. It is hard for them to understand the social distancing measures that have been needed for their wellbeing.

A big part of a care home manager’s job is to manage expectations and to keep the communication gateways open with families. Dealing with the changing nominated visitor guidelines and the complexity of visits – plus the cleaning protocols that have to be put in place between those visits – has not been easy.

As a sector, care homes have been offered a lot of financial help but when this comes to an end the worry is that many will be hit with cashflow problems or won’t even be financially viable.

Our financial management team continue to be busy, often at very short notice, helping homes to run operationally or working with administrators until a home is sold.

As one of the UK’s leading care home consultancies, our extensive operational management capabilities and clear strategic guidance can transform the performance of the care homes we work with.

The number one job is always to provide excellent care. Homes are under pressure from so many angles but they desperately want to do it well because they know the benefits for residents and their families.