Allied Healthcare offloads home care contracts

Allied Healthcare is seeking to transfer or sell all of its home care contracts to other providers in the wake of the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) damning notice on its financial viability.

The care regulator issued a warning to the home care provider earlier this month about its financial instability and said that it had a legal duty to notify the 84 local authorities affected.

Andrea Sutcliffe, chief inspector of adult social care at the CQC said: “Allied Healthcare had every opportunity to confirm a realistic financially backed plan to support the future sustainability of its business and failed to do so,” adding “it is now a very unsettling time for everyone who uses Allied Healthcare’s services.”

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.

Since then many local authorities have taken steps to find new providers.

Norfolk County Council has confirmed it has transferred Allied Healthcare frontline staff to a subsidiary of Independence Matters, a social enterprise set up by the council to provide care.

Bill Borrett, chairman of Norfolk Adult Social Care Committee, said: “What’s important here is for people to be reassured that there will not be a break in their care and that through robust and creative planning, the county council has stepped up to the plate to avoid disruption. Using monies from Winter funding we can reassure people who work in the homecare sector that they will have a job.”

Allied Healthcare said the CQC’s stage six notification has led to a number of customers to transfer care services to alternative providers and has also disrupted staff retention and recruitment.

A spokesperson said: “These developments have intensified the impact of the challenging environment within which we operate and come immediately prior to the Christmas period, when pressures on care providers are at their highest. This has also meant that we have had to re-evaluate our long-term business plan.”

Staffordshire County Council, Cornwall Council and NHS Kernow have also taken action to ensure residents receiving care from Allied Healthcare continue to have their needs met with no disruption.

Alan White, Staffordshire County Council’s deputy leader and cabinet, member for health, care and wellbeing, said: “Our priority is ensuring those in need of care will continue to receive it, and we have had assurances from Allied that care will continue for the moment. We are working with Allied on longer term solutions and will update all of our service users when we are in position to do so. We want to reassure them that their care will continue.”

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 the 30 November and said it would continue to work closely with the CQC and all commissioners to ensure “minimal disruption to the care” during the transition.