Care home owner reveals how his two homes became the top recommended in the UK

The secret to successfully running the two top care homes in the country is to treat your residents like they are your ‘extended family’, according to owners Parveen and Priyanka Goyal.

Three years ago, they opened Breton Court care home in Tenterden, Kent and just over a year ago, they opened Cross Lane House Care Home in East Sussex.

In that short space of time, their two care homes have won the accolade of being the two most recommended care homes out of over 21,000 care homes in the UK, in the carehome.co.uk awards 2015.

carehome.co.uk is the leading guide to care homes in the UK and has been asking friends and family members to give feedback on the care homes that they live in.

The homes were rated on overall standards, facilities, care and support, nutrition and whether the residents are treating with dignity, etc.

Residents and families best people to rate care homes

Davina Ludlow, director of carehome.co.uk, said: “We felt the best people to say how good a care home really is, are the residents and their families and friends. Their recommendations show the warmth and excellent care that exists in so many care homes.

“Breton Court and Cross Lane House care homes have proved that they provide great care and we’d like to congratulate them on being the top two care homes in the UK.

She added: “It’s a fantastic achievement to be recognised for being a highly recommended home from the people you care for.”

Mr Goyal and his wife have worked for over 14 years in the care sector and reveal that they “have worked in some really terrible care homes with some really horrible bosses”.

“We have worked from the bottom up. We wanted to have a care home where the staff aren’t thinking they don’t want to go in today.”

Treat staff as equals

He believes that “having happy staff comes from treating them as equals” and says proudly that both the homes have “a big family feel”.

“Our son has additional needs and we had to put him a home offering 24 hour care so we understand what families go through when they come to the hard decision that their relative needs to go into a home.

“All our residents get presents when it is their birthday. For us caring isn’t just about looking after the resident. It is about looking after their family too.

“When we go into the care home in the morning, we meet each and every resident. One of the residents does a tie check on me every morning and if she isn’t happy with the tie I have got on I go and change it. The residents have the same power as my mum.

“Our staff share our vision and all of my staff eat the same food as the residents. We have a party here every month and there is a great family atmosphere in the home. Easter is coming up and all the residents will get personalised Easter eggs.”

Mr Goyal thinks it is important to see life as a resident would, in order to ensure the care home is right for them.

“I have sat in a wheelchair in the past to see what it is like for residents. We had shingle on the drive at the front of the care home and I sat in a wheelchair to see what it felt like and I realised it juddered when you went over gravel. So we had it tarmacked over so it would feel smoother for our residents in wheelchairs.”

Both homes are fairly small, with 28 residents in Breton Court and 18 residents in Cross Lane and the majority of the residents are privately funded.

Social care in this country is a ticking timebomb

“Unfortunately the rates the local authority pay are dismal. We would struggle to pay our care workers if we were reliant on local authority funded residents. Social care in this country is a ticking time bomb,” says Mr Goyal.

It is not surprising that these two excellent care homes are always full and because of this, the couple have decided to expand the homes. “We are turning away so many people it hurts as we know we make such a difference to people’s lives. At the moment we are not looking to own any more care homes as we don’t want to stretch ourselves. There is no point in running yourself ragged.”

'Honour' to look after older generation'

He says: “It is an honour to look after this age group. You get to hear about what they have been through in their lives.”

Mr and Mrs Goyal run Breton Court and Cross Lane House on the premise that they would be happy to have their parents live there.

“This simple question of 'would I be happy for my mum to live here' forms the foundation of our care home ethos. We really do care for our residents and regard them as our extended family. At all times, they are treated with the respect, dignity and courtesy that, due to their advanced years, they are entitled to receive. Likewise, our staff – also regarded as part of the family - are employed specifically for their interpersonal skills and empathy, as well as their professional expertise,” says Mr Goyal.

He finds it sad that there is such great care out there but unfortunately it is the bad care that tends to make the headlines. With all care homes now having to display their CQC ratings on their websites and at the home, he is hoping that will help to weed out the bad ones.

For a full list of all regional and national winners, please visit: http://www.carehome.co.uk/awards/.

click here for more details or to contact Cross Lane House Care Home