All Ideal Care Homes are part of the local community

This week, residents at our Greenacres care home in Meltham were blessed with a visit from Bishop Tony Robinson as part of his visits to community dwellings in his district.

Like all our homes, Greenacres has made excellent links with the local parish and Meltham Reverend Maureen Elizabeth Read who hosts regular services at the home.

Both Bishop Tony and Reverend Maureen spent the afternoon getting to know those who live and work at Greenacres and were met by Home Manager Trish Starr who had arranged a relaxed afternoon of tea and cakes in the home’s garden. Our Managing Director, Mark Greaves - former Director of Adult Social Services for Kirklees Council – also went along.

It fills me with warmth to know that our homes are accepted into their local areas and that they are seen to play a key role in offering local residents somewhere great to live. Bishop Tony said: “It’s a delight to see a residential home that is so much a part of the fabric of the community.”
Below is a picture of resident Wilfred Woodhead, carer Audrey Hunter, Bishop Tony Robinson, Home Manager Trish Starr, and resident Michael Morris from earlier this week.

Greenacres has provided first-rate residential and dementia facilities for Meltham since it opened in July 2010. The two-storey building situated on Huddersfield road offers a home for 64 people – 31 residential beds and 33 beds for those living with dementia.

Reverend Maureen commented how she sees Greenacres as ‘part of the community’ and that due to the popularity of her services in the home, she will now visit twice a month.

Its arrival was supported by Kirklees Council as part of our move to modernise services for older people in the area. Our construction company LNT Construction picked up the Partnership Award at the Local Authority Business Control awards last week for our outstanding relationship with the council.

LNT Group scoop Sunday Times Fast Track 100 Best Management Team award

The diverse range of companies housed in the LNT Group picked up an award this week for Best Management Team at the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 conference and awards dinner at the home of Sir Richard Branson in Oxfordshire.

Beating all other 99 companies in the Fast Track League Table, the award sponsored by the UK firm of international accountancy network BDO was presented to me by Corporate Finance Partner at BDO, Alex White, as Ideal Care Homes was recognised for its proficient team who are set to triple the number of private care beds we provide to 3,000 in three years.

I was delighted to receive such a prestigious award in front of 100 of the fastest growing companies in the UK. It endorses our open and inclusive style of social entrepreneurship where everyone in the group is a shareholder and benefits from its success.

Our group of companies has been recognised by the Sunday Times as the 28th fastest growing company in Britain and as the fastest growing company in Yorkshire for its 90% annual sales growth over three years. The annual league table celebrates the sales growth and sustainability of Britain’s private businesses and entrepreneurs: in 2011 the LNT Group will grow again and further climb the ranks of the table when next year’s results are published this December. Above is a picture of me and LNT Group Development Director, Andrew Long, grinning our heads off.

It's been a positive week for industry recognition for the LNT Group as LNT Construction and LNT Software were both finalists in the property and technology categories respectively, at the Health Investor Awards held at the Grosvenor Hotel on 2nd June. LNT Software provides care home management software to over 1,000 care homes in the UK with its innovative cloud based technology platform.