HC-One

HC-One was formed in 2011 following the collapse of the UK's then-largest nursing home operator, Southern Cross Healthcare. The homes managed by Southern Cross were mostly owned by other companies, and when it became insolvent these landlord companies then needed to set up or contract with alternative operators to run the homes. The largest of these landlords was NHP (Nursing Home Properties), with 249 homes previously run by Southern Cross.[3]

Entrepreneur Chai Patel, a doctor and former Chief Executive of Priory Group, formed a consultancy in the name of his old company Court Cavendish, and joined with NHP to form HC-One to manage these homes.[3] Patel became the Chairman of HC-One.[2]

Patel also offered the company's services to run the 90 homes owned by London & Regional Properties,[4] but that landlord chose to split its nursing home portfolio between two other operators. HC-One became operational on 1 November 2011, running 241 care homes and employing over 14,000 staff.[2]

In June 2017, HC-One appointed Justin Hutchens into the role of Chief Executive Officer.[5] Later that year Professor Graham Stokes was appointed to lead the company's dementia care strategy.[6]

The company was put up for sale in May 2018 for £1 billion. Its immediate owner is Libra Intermediate, based in Jersey and the ultimate owner is FC Skyfall LP, based in the Cayman Islands. It has a complex corporate structure, with 50 companies, six of which are registered offshore either in the Cayman Islands or Jersey and a further five in the UK as foreign entities. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were about £130 million in 2017.[7] The company paid out dividends of £42.3 million in 2017 and £6.2 million in 2018.[8]

In November 2018, HC-One was awarded Care Home Group of the Year at the National Care Awards in London.[9] The same year HC-One was also recognised by www.carehome.co.uk, the trip advisor style site to the care sector, achieving a 9.5 average review score rating from relatives and Residents living in their homes.[10]

The group's focus and commitment in driving standards has been further acknowledged by Skills for Care who have accredited the organisation as a Centre for Excellence in 2017 and 2018.

HC-One homes in the north west of England were awarded Investor in People Gold Accreditation in 2019; an accolade unusual to care home groups and demonstrating the organisations' ongoing commitment to its people.[11]

After three years as CEO, in February 2020 Justin Hutchens left HC-One to take up a new role in America.  HC-One announced that he would be replaced by Sir David Behan CBE, who was appointed Executive Chairman, having previously served as Chairman. HC-One Board member John Ransford CBE was appointed Interim Chief Operating Officer, and existing Chief Financial Officer, David Smith, assumed a number of new operational responsibilities to sit alongside his existing remit.[12]

In July 2020, HC-One announced that James Tugendhat had been appointed Chief Executive Officer and would join the company in September that year. It was also announced that Sir David Behan CBE, who had been Executive Chairman of the company since February 2020, would revert to his previous role as Chairman of the HC-One Board.[13]

In 2015, HC-One acquired 30 care homes from Meridian Healthcare in Greater Manchester, Merseyside, West Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire, Cheshire and Derbyshire.[14] In 2017, HC-One purchased 20 care homes from Helen McArdle Care, making them the largest care home provider in the North East of England.[15]

In August 2017 it bought 122 care homes, with 9,000 beds, from Bupa for £300 million, making it the biggest care home company in the UK with 22,000 beds in total[16] and 22,000 staff.

One of HC-One's homes, Oban House, was featured in an episode of the BBC's Panorama programme, investigating poor care there and at another home owned by another company. In response, HC-One expressed a desire to install surveillance cameras in its homes to prevent a recurrence.[17]

A multi-agency review into HC One's Blar Buidhe Care Home in the Outer Hebrides is under way following a number of concerns raised over the dietary programmes of residents.[18]

In 2016 the Four Seasons Care Home in Breightmet, labelled inadequate by the Care Quality Commission in May 2015 was banned from taking new residents while concerns about the administration of medicines and the leadership and management of the home were investigated. The company said they were forced to rely on temporary agency nurses.[19]

In the wake of an outbreak of COVID-19 infections at a care home run by HC-One in the Isle of Skye, the Scottish Care Inspectorate took legal action to take over running the Home Farm care home. It also moved to cancel the company's registration of the care home.[20][21]

• Care Management Group

• Official website