Dance music artist finds success running 'exceptionally caring' home care agency

A dance music artist who had a platinum selling record with the popular track ‘Brothers & Sisters’, has now achieved success of a different kind with a CQC rating of outstanding for her home care agency.

Back in the 1990s, Kathryn Dion King recorded house tracks ‘You Send Me’ and a remake of Dead Or Alive's ‘You Spin Me Round’ and wrote and performed rave favourite ‘Brothers & Sisters’.

She then left the world of dance music and became a teacher and education consultant, helping underperforming schools to improve their Ofsted ratings.

In 2011, Kathryn and her husband Andrew Erskine, who was her band manager, decided to set up a home care agency under the franchise of Home Instead Senior Care.

The pair are now celebrating an ‘outstanding’ rating from the Care Quality Commission, with inspectors finding 'staff had a full understanding of people's care needs and the skills and knowledge to meet them'.

In addition, staff were 'very responsive to any changes in people's health or wellbeing and liaised effectively with health professionals in a timely and proactive manner'.

Kathryn and Andrew Erskine said: "Our talented team are trained to see care through the eyes of our clients. We get to know their past, understand what help they need in the present and listen to what they want for the future.”

'Exceptional care'

Debbie Westhead, deputy chief inspector of adult social care in the North, said: “This is a service that provides exceptional care that has increased its rating from their May 2015 visit. People gave excellent feedback regarding the level of personalised care. They felt the service was flexible and based on their personal wishes and preferences. It is clear that the service was exceptionally responsive.”

She also highlighted the “exemplary practice” of the provider which insists “on a minimum of one hour for each visit”.

“Staff told us this gave time to get to know people socially and provided care at a pace where nobody felt rushed.

“Delivering person-centred care makes a big difference to people who live, perhaps in isolation, at home. We found the content of people's care plans to be highly personalised and reflect their key needs,” she added.

The outstanding rating for the Liverpool Central and North office takes Home Instead Senior Care’s number of outstanding ratings up to 30, making it the first home care provider in England to reach this record amount.

Only two per cent of home care providers have achieved an 'outstanding' rating

The news has attracted praise from the CQC’s chief inspector of adult social care, Andrea Sutcliffe, who said: “I would like to applaud everyone at Home Instead on all of the hard work and determination that sits behind this tremendous milestone. By ensuring the individual needs of those people they look after are at the heart of all they do, supporting and valuing their staff to do the best job they can and continually striving to go the extra mile; this provider is truly making the ‘Mum Test’ real.”

Martin Jones, managing director of Home Instead’s UK network, added: “Being awarded our 30th CQC outstanding is something we’re incredibly proud of and is a significant milestone. Our achievements over the last three years demonstrate that what we do really is outstanding.”

“The strength of our unique model is built on a bespoke approach to the delivery of quality home care. It’s about truly making a difference to the lives of older people.

“We need to be responsive to the needs of our ageing population and I firmly believe that our sector’s mind-set should focus on individuals’ needs and delivery of positive outcomes, rather than tasks.”

click here for more details or to contact Home Instead Senior Care (Liverpool Central & North)