Hadland Care Group exits care home market as CQC 'worse to work with' than Ofsted

Award-winning nursery chain owner Hadland Care Group has pulled out of the care home market to concentrate on its childcare business with its managing director admitting the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is "much worse to work with" than Ofsted.

'CQC much worse to work with than Ofsted'

Reside at Stour Road care home in Christchurch in Dorset has been sold by Hadland Care Group to WCN Care, following a CQC rating of ‘Requires Improvement’ in February 2018.

The sale comes after Hadland Care Group's Southwood Lodge in Bournemouth was sold off last year to a developer after CQC inspectors rated it inadequate.

Cheryl Hadland, managing director of Hadland Care Group told daynurseries.co.uk: "I think running a care home is very similar to a nursery business, and in both cases you need to be passionate about doing the best possible job caring for the vulnerable humans in your care, and also to care deeply about the people doing the caring.

"Staff recruitment and retention in both industries is made incredibly hard because of the lack of funding available to pay people in both sectors for the responsibilities that they have, and for the training and development that they need, and actually the lack of respect from the public and politicians.

'I felt it was a battle'

"Care is more of a challenge because the local authorities and CQC are much worse to work with than the early years equivalents in local authorities and Ofsted, although they are all incredibly frustrating to the extent that if they were actually a private company without a monopoly they wouldn’t survive on the service that they offer.

"I felt it was a battle, and also a 24x7 job that was actually taking too much of a toll on my mental and physical health and not because of the residents, staff or the families. I am very relieved to leave the sector."

Ms Hadland’s decision to sell the care home will allow the company to focus on operating its 28 nurseries under the Tops Day Nurseries chain.

"Early years is more of a challenge in some ways, because children are our future, and they need educating, not just care. Today's children will pay for the upkeep, pensions, and be responsible for the current adults standard of living when we reach old age, and all adults should be engaging in their education.

"Current parents in the UK are having to impoverish themselves and their children due to the lack of national support for parents and children. This has to change and I prefer to spend my time advocating for a sustainable, quality education for infants and young children.

"My original motivation for opening the care homes was the care of my step father, who suffered from Alzheimers, now passed on, as it was my own children that inspired opening the day nurseries – and now grandchildren."

Award-winning MD named 'most influential person'

Offering 4,000 childcare places, all of Tops Day Nurseries settings are either rated Outstanding or Good by Ofsted and Cheryl Hadland was named as the ‘Most Influential Person in Childcare 2018’ by the National Day Nurseries Association.

Hadland Care Group also runs Aspire Training Team. Ms Hadland added: “I am delighted to be handing the home over to WCN Care and wish them every success with their future endeavours.”

WCN Care operates St Anne’s Nursing Home in Bournemouth, which provides nursing and personal care for up to eighteen residents.

The newly-acquired and rebranded Stour Road Care Home offers residential care for up to 20 residents.

Dr Toby Williams the managing director of WCN Care said: “We are thrilled that the WCN Care family is growing with the addition of Stour Road Care Home.

“St Anne’s Nursing Home in Southbourne, our first home, is just up the road and we anticipate great synergy.

“We look forward to building ever stronger relationships with our Stakeholders in the local communities of Christchurch and Southbourne.”