Profile: Gold Care Homes boss calls for minimum wage of £8.50 for care home staff

Gold Care Homes boss has called for a minimum wage of £8.50 for care home staff to “entice more well-qualified people to work in care homes”.

“A lot of care homes pay the national minimum wage and they are competing against supermarkets for staff. We pay our staff above the minimum wage. We are in the South East and I know there are lots of care homes who would like to pay below the national minimum wage,” says director Sukhi Gidar.

Mr Gidar and his brother Ravi, opened their first care home in 1999. They now run 23 homes with a total number of 1,150 beds. The pair both qualified and worked as pharmacists prior to running care homes.

“We wanted to stay in the health care sector but move away from the retail side. A colleague of ours was building a care home and that is how we got involved. Our first one was in Derbyshire. Care homes are healthcare with a difference. It is more about getting involved with the families as well as the patient and understanding how the system works. For many people, the care sector will eventually become an essential part of their lives. So we are working in a sector that is going to end up affecting most people.”

Working in the care sector has brought them face to face with the effects of medication and also shown them the huge wastage from medication that goes on in the NHS.

“When we bought our first care home we were very hands on and we saw the huge amounts of medication that some residents were on. Some were on 10-15 tablets a day. Since then we have seen a move away from doctors prescribing anti-psychotic drugs.

“The NHS must be losing millions of pounds a year with the wastage from medication that is not needed.

“We have residents who go into hospital and they are prescribed extra medication in hospital and then they come out of hospital and this extra medication continues to be prescribed for months after.”

The pair prides themselves on their care homes’ holistic approach. They have found that people can come into a care home and shut down when they were a very vibrant person before. “We work hard to bring their personalities back out through our person centred care. Doing activities can be a very good way of doing this.”

The recent Alzheimer’s Society’s ‘Low expectations’ report estimates that ‘in excess of 80 per cent of residents living in care homes have dementia or significant memory problems’.

With dementia being a primary concern of the sector, Mr Gidar believes dementia training is a must for care staff. “Gone are the days when care workers were just expected to have a caring attitude to work in a care home. I think all new staff should have NVQ level 2 or higher. At Gold Care Homes, all of our care staff are encouraged to undertake the level 2 NVQ qualification in Dementia Care. Also all of our homes managers have been enrolled on a two year distant learning course at the University of Bradford which is the leading university in dementia training.”

Gold Care Homes specialise in dementia care. “It is very important to us as it is likely to affect most people in some form or another,” says Mr Gidar, “it is so hard to diagnose and treat and there are so many different approaches to treating it as people’s symptoms are so different. We have designed some of our care homes according to the latest dementia guidelines but this was five years ago so now new guidelines have taken their place.

“It is a complex topic and it is not an exact science and that is what makes it fascinating. We had a resident in one of our homes who after dinner always used to stand up and start talking. The carers always tried to get him to sit down. Then a relative explained he used to be an after dinner speaker so now we understand why and now carers don’t get him to sit down.”

In terms of the future, Mr Gidar foresees the next three to five years being hard for care home operators because of the fees pressure. He says: “Ultimately we have a system where privately funded clients are subsidising local authority clients.”

He doesn’t believe the Government’s plans to cap social care bills at £75,000 will help people that much. “I don’t see it affecting that many people as people will still have to pay £12,500 a year for accommodation as the cap just affects nursing care. The average life expectancy of someone once they go into a care home is three years and eighteen months for a nursing home. So there is still a lot of money to pay.”

When the Gidars originally set up their care home business, one of their aims was to expand the company to over 1,000 beds. Last year they achieved this.

“This year we want to continue building around the brand name and making sure we keep a certain level of consistency. We are where we want to be in terms of numbers of care homes and want to look at consolidating. We are currently building an 80-bed home in West Drayton and we are putting more beds in some of our acquisitions.

“Our ethos is to enhance the lives of our residents and bring them joy. I am very proud of being in a situation where I can provide good quality care to over a thousand residents.”

Interesting facts

First job: A cashier in a petrol station

Favourite book: Autobiography of Muhammed Ali: His Life and Times by Thomas Hauser

Favourite film: A Few Good Men and Pulp Fiction

Favourite piece of music:‘The Winner Takes it All’ by ABBA

What is the best present you have received: A voucher for a round of golf

Last holiday: Golfing in Thailand

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