This week, we’re handing over the blog to Parklands Care Homes to celebrate their 30th anniversary! A multi-award-winning care company with homes across Moray and Highland, this week they’ll be sharing their proud history and their ambitious plans for the future.
Read below to find out more about how Parklands beginnings, and their plans for Member of the Week.
About Parklands
Parklands Care Homes is a multi-award-winning care company with homes across Moray and Highland. Our homes offer a wide range of services including residential, respite, nursing, personal and palliative care.
Parklands was formed in Buckie in 1993. Today, it operates 11 homes across Moray and the Highlands, including new state of the art homes in Fortrose and Grantown. The group employs over 750 staff and provides round the clock care for almost 400 residents.
Over the past 30 years, our commitment to improving local care facilities in largely remote and rural areas has positively impacted the lives of thousands of people – residents, their families, and those who provide (and have provided) exceptional care for the company.
Parklands is expanding. We have an ambitious investment programme which includes a new integrated care hub in Inverness, a new 40 bed care home in Elgin, and new care developments in in Turriff and Alford, our first ever in Aberdeen-shire.
Rooted in family
Parklands was founded by Ron Taylor who grew up in Buckie. As a student in his early 20s, Ron cared for his elderly grandfather. It was a difficult and challenging period, but also emotionally rewarding as Ron was particularly close to his grandfather. The experience was also revealing as it highlighted the lack of person-centred care services for older people in the town.
It was during those precious moments together that the seeds of Parklands Care Homes were sown – a vision of a care group that would deliver the highest standard of person-centred care to others, just as Ron had cared for his grandfather.
Overcoming Challenges
In the past few years, we’ve faced some of the most formidable challenges in our 30-year history. The pandemic presented us with unparalleled hurdles, and more recently, we’ve grappled with the relentless surge in energy costs, an unprecedented wave of inflation and labour shortages.
In response, we’ve taken proactive steps to enhance our recruitment and retention efforts. This includes offering incentives for new nurses, worth up to £2000. This year we increased salaries across the board including a new £12 an hour rate for front line carers, a full year before the Scottish Government implements this rate at a national level. We did so because our people are our greatest asset, and we weren’t prepared to wait a full 12 months to pay our staff a fair wage for their efforts.
The social care sector is facing a difficult time as a result of the cost of living crisis and lack of Government funding, with one care home closing every week according to Scottish Care. In such a challenging climate, we have taken steps to reduce costs wherever possible, without impacting on care standards.
For example, in 2022 our agency costs stood at almost £1 million. We’ve been very focussed this year on reducing our use of agency staff and instead recruiting locally, wherever possible. As well as reducing costs, this also benefits our residents because it ensures they receive care from employees they know and trust, and means we can invest more in our permanent staff.
A week to celebrate
We’re celebrating our 30th anniversary this year and after a challenging period for the social care sector, we want to help raise the profile of social care and the remarkable people who work in it.
The sector is not without its challenges – labour shortages are at an all-time high, the cost of delivering care has soared and the lack of support from central government is palpable, and a source of continuing concern.
But, despite these challenges we are blessed to care for 400 remarkable men and women and equally blessed to work alongside hundreds of dedicated care professionals across Moray and the Highlands. This week is a celebration of their achievements and selfless hard work.