Care home ownership transferred to secure future investment

Published: 21 January 2020

Derby City Council has today transferred ownership of three of its care homes to Agincare to secure investment in the homes for people in Derby in years to come. The homes provide residential care to older people within the city.

The care homes being transferred are Merrill House, Raynesway View and Coleridge House, with an aim of ensuring that the existing residents are provided with a quality care service for the remainder of their stay in care homes, at no additional cost to them.

Agincare has been operating for over 30 years and is a family-owned business comprising an experienced Board of Directors with skills gained across health and social care (central and local government included). They were recently ranked in the top three ‘Top Rated Workplace, UK private sector companies’ by Indeed, the online employee review company.

Their head office is in Portland, Dorset but they have operations across the country, including Wolverhampton, Nottingham City, Nottinghamshire, Lincoln and North Staffordshire. The founder of Agincare, Derek Luckhurst, Chairman, has owned care homes since 1986 and supported by the CEO, Raina Summerson, Agincare has been successfully grown to become a leading provider of a range of care services. Having operations in Derby will strengthen their East Midlands portfolio and provides an opportunity for their other services to enter the care market in Derby.

Council Staff and residents have been meeting staff from Agincare in recent months in the lead up to the transfer. Agincare will be working closely with residents and looking to improve the homes as part of the conditions of their sale, to secure the facilities into the future for Derby’s elderly citizens. The company expects to create over 100 new jobs in the area as part of this process.

Cabinet Member for Adults, Health and Housing, Cllr Roy Webb, said:

We are very glad to be able to secure investment and jobs in the care sector in Derby, at a time when Council resources are coming under increasing demand. The Council looks forward to building its relationship with Agincare and also for Agincare to meet other care providers in the City.

Raina Summerson, CEO of Agincare said:

We are pleased and proud to be given the opportunity to welcome these services, which have historically been such an integral part of their local communities, into our organisation. We greatly look forward to working with the existing Derby residents and teams through what will be major refurbishment of these homes. This will bring these sites ‘back-to-life’ as fantastic community hubs, with fit-for-future facilities and high quality but affordable care provision for local Derby residents, both funded and self-funded.

Business, Health