Renaissance Care Staff newsletter: December 2020

December 2020

Inside your staff newsletter:

BREXIT: what do I need to do? p2

Gordon Nimmo joins Renaissance Care. p3

2020 round up,

by Louise Barnett. p4

Financial performance and challenges faced during 2020. p6

‘What a rollercoaster ride!’

This has been an extraordinary year and one I believe few of us will forget - though many may try!

There have been many challenges and low points, but we have also experienced some incredible acts of kindness and team spirit as well as welcoming a new care home, Kingsmills in Inverness, to our Renaissance Care family. I remain humbled and truly inspired by the fearless effort our workforce has displayed, not only to support our residents but to support each other and lend an encouraging hand to colleagues through tough times.

I want to offer you my sincerest gratitude, from the bottom of my heart, for the truly gallant efforts you have displayed on a daily basis.

I know that everyone has gone above and beyond and I can assure you it has been hugely appreciated not only my myself and the management team, but most importantly by our residents, relatives and local communities.

You are the pride of our nation and

hopefully our sector will never again be so under-appreciated.

We are looking forward to welcoming back our residents’ relatives in a safe manner as they form a significant part of the environment in our homes and our residents’ lives. Hopefully, there will be many other aspects of our daily lives will soon start to resume some semblance of the best of how they were pre-COVID. Throughout this difficult and challenging time, with the need sometimes just to ‘keep the show on the road’ and other times having to fight for the whole care sector, I have continued to develop my vision and strategy for Renaissance Care.

Notwithstanding all the challenges this year, including financial challenges, I remain optimistic about the future of Renaissance Care. I intend to take a positive view of our future prospects by

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increasing investment in Renaissance Care; investing in our people and our facilities. Renaissance Care is in a strong financial position to look forward to continuing success, the maintenance of our residents’ homes and job security for our hard-working staff.

Despite this year’s challenges, I am keen that we all take a ‘glass is half full’ approach as we continue our journey together, energised and excited by our future prospects and the journey itself.

Once again, many thanks for your incredible efforts throughout this year and I wish you, and your families, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year when it comes.

Here’s to healthy, happy and successful 2021.

Robert D. Kilgour, Executive Chairman.

Renaissance Care (Scotland) Ltd

WORKFORCE W ELLBEING During such difficult times, it is very important that you continue to look after yourself and each other. If you are struggling and feel you would benefit from free confidential support, please use our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) who can help with: BERE AVEMENT SUPPORT Qualified and experienced councillors can help you through bereavement or grief.

LIFE ISSUES Unlimited access to confidential helpline for advice and support.

FINANCIAL & LEGAL INFORMATION Support and guidance on balancing budgets or debts.

MEDIC AL INFORMATION Qualified nurses on hand to offer medical or health information.

You can access this support via the following: www.caresourcer.com/eap or calling 0800 028 1256 | Username: Caresourcer | Password: EAP

BREXIT: WHAT DO I NEED TO DO? EU citizens: Protect your rights by applying to the EU Settlement Scheme The EU Settlement Scheme allows you and your family members to get the immigration status you need to continue to live, work and study in the UK. Except in a few cases, EEA and Swiss citizens, as well as their non-EU family members, need to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme. Even if you have lived in the UK for many years, or you have a UK permanent residence document, you still need to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme. You do not need to apply if you are a British or Irish citizen or have indefinite leave to remain or enter.

It is free to apply and to do this you will need to complete a short online application. The deadline to apply is the 30th June 2021 and successful applicants will receive settled status or pre-settled status, depending on how long they have lived in the UK.

Find more information about the scheme and how to apply here: www.gov.uk/settled-status -eu-citizens-families

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We do not require proof that you have applied but getting status through this scheme will protect your future rights, so it is very important that you apply by the given deadline.

HOSPITALITY UPDATE Gordon Nimmo joined Renaissance Care in early 2020 as Group Hospitality Manager. more manageable for our kitchen teams.

The diaries have been well received by our catering teams, and all have found it easier to record and check temperatures.

G R E AT T H H AV E H I N G S T H AT A PP T HIS Y E ENED AR

The new Cook Safe Audit has also been provided to all homes for Managers to complete regularly with the first Audit having taken place in October 2020. This should be well maintained quarterly and stored with compliance documentation.

The role was designed to ensure that as a group, we were continually progressing towards creating exceptional mealtime experiences with healthy and nutritious food options at every serving. The role is to support homes and our chefs create their dining experience.

All homes are now using the new E-Foods food ordering system – Freshmarkets. This is an electronic ordering system that tracks and calculates the food ordering process with ease and oversight on spend. This is giving our catering teams transparency of spend, making it easier to control outgoings but also ensuring the quality and versatility of meal plans is on point for residents.

So far, it’s been really effective and provided us with much more control of our buying power.

Gordon has given us some highlights from his time with us.

We have been working on creating safe guidance and supportive documentation to ensure our food safety process are compliant across the group.

All homes should now be using their new Cook Safe Manual Version 2020, for all guidance and issues relating to Food Safety and Legislation, this manual is required to be available for all EHO and local authorities who visit the Homes to conduct audits.

WHAT’S NEX T?

We are currently in the process of building a new 28 day menu for Homes based on nutritional value and resident preferences. This will include allergen information, recipe cards and costed to meet homes set budgets. This is hoped to be rolled out in the new year to all Homes.

We have also implemented Daily Kitchen Diaries which replaced all the older versions of the Cook Safe temperature monitoring and recording paperwork. This was created to make ease of recording and documenting

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Christmas may look a little different this year, and the idea of having a party is a longed-for celebration. However, we will make it as special and magical as we can – remember, it’s the people that make the fun times, not the event.

2020 ROUND UP LOUISE BARNETT, MANAGING DIRECTOR

As we come to the end of 2020, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all the very best of Christmases and hope that the New Year will bring a return to some sort of normality.

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G R E AT T H IN GS H AV E H A PPE T H AT NE T H IS Y E A R D

G R E AT T H H AV E H I N G S T H AT A PP T HIS Y E ENED AR

The last nine months have been a time like no other and one that I hope we never have to experience again, however, this should also be a time that you all look back on with immense pride. I am truly in awe of every single person within Renaissance Care, who despite your own worries and fears, about family and your own health, have shown total dedication in caring for the residents and each other.

Thanks to your incredible efforts, operationally, the Homes have coped remarkably well. The increased focus and scrutiny on Care Homes throughout the pandemic has seen the Home Managers alone given an additional 39 weekly tasks on top of their already busy roles. Additional to this, there has been regular visits and calls from Public Health, Care Home Support Teams and the Care Inspectorate. This has brought an immense amount of pressure on the homes and everyone within it, despite this, feedback from the majority of visits has been extremely positive

and incredibly complimentary of our workforce and their dedication to their roles and their residents.

Understandably, it has been a tough battle with occupancy this year, however, I’m pleased to say that the group has returned to over 90% occupancy and agency use is minimal. This means that the quality of care delivered to our residents is consistent with what our relatives have come to know and love about Renaissance Care. Going into 2021, I hope we can continue to deliver against our investment programme to ensure that as a group, we are investing in our people and our homes, this continues to be a priority to us.

Christmas may look a little different this year, and the idea of having a party is a longed-for celebration.

However, we will make it as special and magical as we can – remember, it’s the people that make the fun times, not the event.

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On a parting note, I’d like to finish by saying that although this feels like a never ending battle, please remember that one day we will be out of this pandemic and we will be able to spend time with, and hug, our friends and loved ones again. Until then, I’d like to offer my sincerest gratitude for everything you have done, and everything you are continuing to do for our residents. The cakes, doughnuts and chocolate which have been sent will never be enough to thank you personally, however, I hope the token of appreciation shows that you are always in our thoughts.

To sign off, from myself and the whole Operations Team, Merry Christmas and a very happy new year to you and your family when it comes.

Thanks again, Louise

Like many in this crazy world, Renaissance Care has been adversely impacted (emotionally and financially) by the current pandemic. However, I want to reassure you, straight-off, that the business remains on a sound footing and able to provide a high level of job security. At the start of 2020 (when we’d still to experience the first awful wave of COVID hitting our homes) the business held cash reserves for emergencies. As the greater picture of COVID started to emerge, we took an early decision, in the midst of all the uncertainty, to put on hold various refurbishment projects in order to conserve that cash and so ensure we were able to weather the storm ahead.

FINANCE UPDATE Now that we are nearing the end of our financial year, we thought perhaps it would be useful to provide an update on Finance and the performance and challenges faced during 2020.

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As a result of this decision, and despite a serious downturn in trading, we have been able to meet all our banking obligations, pay rents; wages and most importantly, support staff who needed to self-isolate. As an organisation, we have had access to an element of government support via local authorities.

FINANCIAL IMPACT

102%

100% Sadly, the virus caused a sharp drop in 98% occupancy and inevitably, this 96% badly affected our profitability.

94% An important point when 92% mentioning profit (a dirty word in some circles) is 90% that, put simply, over time profit 88% translates to cash – this is required 86% for reinvestment into our homes 84% to ensure our Dec environments are the best they can be for you and our residents. That is important because unless we generate cash there can be no investment (such as new carpets or furniture) in the homes and a lack of investment will negatively affect the business longterm. The good news is that in recent months we have seen occupancy recover in most of the affected homes and while not back to pre COVID levels, good progress towards that has been made. Hopefully we can continue that progress over the coming months despite battling winter and wave two of the virus.

GR EAT TH IN GS TH AT HAVE HA PPEN ED TH IS YE AR

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Some additional components that have impacted profit and cash flow have been the necessary increases in use of PPE, of cleaning products and disposal of clinical waste. This is 100% unavoidable within the homes and an absolute necessity to keep each and every person within Renaissance Care safe and healthy.

We have however, seen suppliers increase the costs of these materials by as much as 4 times. We’ve used cash reserves held at the beginning of the year to meet these costs.

SUPPORT OF THE FINANCE TEAM

As a team, our job is to support you and the homes. We work hard at safeguarding company finances to ensure the future of Renaissance Care, reporting on results and working with senior operational management to procure savings or help introduce effective ways of working.

As and when we move beyond this pandemic, and as soon as we are able, we expect to be in a position to move forward with the delayed refurbishment works for the homes.

We really want all residents and our people to live and work in the 7

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Aug

Sep

best possible environments, homes that are both healthy and happy.

Thanks to the incredible work each individual has contributed throughout this pandemic, we have managed to stabilise the business to ensure we enter 2021 in a position that allows us to recover and rebuild, hopefully future proofing Renaissance Care.

This pandemic has not been easy for any of us and that is especially the case for those who work in the homes. We are so proud to be associated with you and offer our heartfelt thanks to you for all you are doing. Thank you and I wish you the best possible Christmas and New Year when it comes.

Please continue to keep safe.

William McLeish Finance Director, Renaissance Care Ltd

G R E AT T HI H AV E H A N G S T H AT PPE T HIS Y E A NED R

GREAT THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED THIS YEAR

From top left: Beech Manor reading group, Whitecraigs Blackpool, Persley swingball, Letham birthday, card signing, Rosepark, Whitecraigs windows, Rosehill Easter, Torry, Croftbank – Violet Panton 100th birthday.