Profile - John Godden MBE

JOHN GODDEN MBE

A Kingswood resident has praised the dedication of his staff after being awarded an MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours for services to the care sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. John Godden has lived in Kingswood with his wife Alison and their 5 children for 20 years. He is CEO of Salutem Healthcare which provides residential homes and special needs schools focused on care provision for individuals with complex needs.

Having had a 30 year career in the City ‘moving money around on screens’, John started investing in the Residential Care Sector in 2013 and got hooked on the ability to make a real difference to the very vulnerable members of society through putting resources to work to provide high quality care to those that required high levels of assistance.

He initially approached the sector in traditional ‘Banker’ style by creating a large group through the merger of smaller companies to bring economies of scale and a depth of resource suitable for properly supporting and enabling quality care in the Adult Learning Disability sector. He saw a real need for change in the sector in which many operators were small, under-resourced and struggling to deliver high quality care with ever higher standards of regulation and expectation.

So in 2016 he formed Salutem Healthcare which set out to buy organisations that had the ability to provide great care for adults and children with complex care needs but lacked the resources to do so. By applying a strong capital resource and hiring a great team of specialists in complex care, human resources and teaming up with Kingston University to develop applied technology to assist in the care environment, Salutem has been able to support its services and staff to deliver an ambitious care programme.

Salutem grew quickly through acquisition of a number of care groups and opening new services to meet significant need particularly in the areas of complex autism and Children’s Learning Disabilities. A source of great pride to the company was the purchase of all of the care and education services that had been operated by the Charity ‘Scope.’ Scope was set up in early 1950’s by an incredible band of individuals who foresaw the need to provide full education and support functions for children with Cerebral Palsy who, with postwar advances in healthcare, would start living full adult lives. But Scope had lost its focus on direct provision and was closing many of its much needed schools and homes. Salutem has been able to save all of the Scope services which are all now thriving and have a bright future.

The group now owns more than 130 homes and special needs Schools across the country employing 3,000 staff and caring for more than 1,400 adults and children. The Covid 19 Pandemic has provided a very stern

Craig Y Parc, a Salutem Special Educational Needs School in Wales

test of many, but the care sector has had to remain open with staff facing significant daily challenges and putting themselves at risk. Salutem has been able to devote its resources to keeping all staff and all those in its care safe and has yet to lose anybody to the virus.

Commenting on the MBE award John said: “I am immensely proud to have received this honour, which is really a testament to the hard work, dedication and determination of all our staff at Salutem who have continued to go above and beyond to provide the highest levels of care and education during this pandemic.

“They have consistently demonstrated their roles as key workers and care professionals by adapting quickly, operating safely and maintaining our specialist services to the people we support throughout this unprecedented time.

“This honour is for every single person within the Salutem family that have proven to be exceptional in the most difficult and challenging of circumstances.”

“Moving from the City to the Care sector has been fascinating. I have had to re-learn many things particularly around human behaviour and the attributes that make great carers. It had long been clear to me that those working in care are an incredibly valuable resource that has long been underappreciated and under-rewarded and the Covid pandemic has served to really highlight how important the provision of high quality care is. The ‘Key Worker’ label has really shone a light on just how essential the work that both my colleagues and all in the care sector do.”

“There has been a notable shift in the perception of care providers through the pandemic which has been reflected in the number of young people seeking roles with us. Of course this has been partially driven by a reduction in opportunities in the sectors that have suffered in the lockdowns, but is really a reflection of Care being seen as a great career option. I consider myself very lucky to be part of that welcome trend.” q