At the start of 2024 we asked our customers about their priorities for the year. We wanted to know their aspirations for their homecare businesses, as well as what might be holding them back. It’s all part of our mission to help the homecare kylä (village) thrive and grow.
Business aspirations
We asked our customers what they would most like their businesses to achieve in 2024.
Unsurprisingly, the top answers were largely about growth. Most customers wanted to find more clients (79%), closely followed by increasing revenue (68%). Next up, was care quality, with 46% of customers expressing a desire to improve their CQC rating. The third priority was an expansion or diversification of the business: offering new services (42%), opening new branches (36%) and supporting different types of care needs (41%).
We love to see our customers' drive for growth balanced with a strong commitment to care quality. This dual focus is crucial for sustainable success in the homecare sector.
Barriers to growth
We also asked what they felt was holding their homecare businesses back.
As you might expect, the two biggest challenges were finding new clients (95%) and recruiting more carers (58%). Interestingly though, there was more of a focus on finding new private clients (55%), over winning more council contracts (40%).
Even more interestingly, staff challenges were actually about expansion rather than staff turnover; there was a much greater need to find new carers to meet the growing numbers of clients (38%), rather than to replace staff that had left (21%).
It isn’t hard to see why companies want to win more private clients, as there can be substantial benefits. Higher profit margins and streamlined operations improve financial stability. Customisable services without strict limits allow for improved quality of care and care outcomes. Faster, streamlined invoicing and payments can improve cash flow, and independence from public sector uncertainties creates a more stable environment. For businesses seeking sustainable growth in a competitive market, balancing your business with a book of private clients presents a compelling opportunity towards business growth, however many companies do scale successfully through council contracts.
More time in the day
We were really keen to find out what our care managers and business owners would do if they had a little more time in the day.
And the answers here were really noble. Almost three quarters of leaders would invest the extra time into training their staff (73%), as well as improving their own skills as a manager (67%). After this, the next biggest focus was on understanding the needs of their clients better, in order to improve their overall quality of life (58%).
Interestingly, it was only after this focus on carers and clients that business leaders turned their attention to ‘growth’ in the most direct sense. 54% said they would spend the time researching new business opportunities, while 37% said they would use it on sales and marketing activities.
Nursebuddy is really excited to be partnering with some amazing organisations that will facilitate staff training and manager development, as well as access to some cutting-edge AI tools that will help you gain an in-depth understanding of your client’s wellbeing. Stay tuned for some exciting news about these great services available soon in an all-in-one add-on subscription to help give you more hours in the day.
Carer retention
Knowing that carer retention is a big challenge in homecare, we wanted to understand whether there was anything that our customers thought might help.
64% of managers/owners were keen to find ways of improving their teams’ experience of work, whereas 45% would like more insight into who was unhappy. 30% would focus on exit interviews and trying to learn from the reasons why people had left the business.
It’s typical of our customers to want to take a proactive approach to supporting their team. Their interest in identifying unhappy staff members reflects the importance of early intervention. By addressing issues early, managers can boost morale and retain valuable team members.
Nursebuddy can help managers understand how carers are feeling through our in-app Carer Wellbeing Survey. Carers report on how their day was, and trends can be spotted so that managers can act before the situation escalates. Find out more about how Nursebuddy can help you retain carers here.
Business partners
Our final question was about how helpful Nursebuddy is to our customers. And we were delighted to find out that over two thirds of homecare business leaders described Nursebuddy as an “insightful, reliable partner and integral to my business’ success”. Thank you! 🙏 That is what it is all about for us; we are here to help homecare businesses to thrive and grow, so that we can better support our society with connected, high quality homecare services.
