passionate about care

Annual Report 2015

Message from the Chair of Trustees

The past 12 months has seen significant changes in the Care Sector, not least with the Care Act 2014 which aims to bring uniformity to care provision across England with wider legal responsibilities for local authorities and a much more focused, person-centred approach to care provision.

The Fremantle Trust welcomes this clarity, which we see will assist those who access care as well as those who provide care in the communities in which we work. We also welcome the Care Quality Commission’s Fundamental Standards which asks of all services the questions:

Are they safe?

Are they effective?

Are they caring?

Are they responsive?

Are they well-led?

These will help focus the efforts of all providers, Fremantle included, on the quality of every key aspect of care provision, and will help to ensure that we continue to meet and exceed the expectations of those who use our services every day.

Particularly satisfying this year has been the official launch of our new care homes, the first, Mulberry Court in Chalfont St Peter, a 24 place specialist dementia home and the first home we have acquired in our history. The second is Chesham Leys, a 62 place nursing home launched as the final home in Project Care, a major local initiative led by Buckinghamshire County Council, more on which will be covered later in this report.

More people use our services now than at any other time in the charity’s history and we are continually striving to understand their needs better, as well as those of our other stakeholders and partners, such as local authorities, housing associations and the NHS. This is critical as we move forward.

Critical too will be how we and the wider care sector cope with the demands of the Care Act. At The Fremantle Trust we are confident but never complacent that we are doing everything we can to ensure that we comply with and exceed the regulatory and quality standards set out.

Review of the year 2014 – 2015

“The Fremantle Trust has developed an enviable track record in providing exceptional care and support…and is set for further growth.”

Ian Shepherd

1

passionate about care

The Fremantle Trust has developed an enviable track record in providing exceptional care and support to older people and adults with a range of learning disabilities across Buckinghamshire and the surrounding area and is set for further growth. I am proud to be associated with its work and I’m very keen to build on the excellent work of Paul Fletcher, our outgoing Chair of the Board of Trustees as well as setting new goals for us to achieve.

The past 12 months have been difficult for the charity as this report will show. However, with the investment we have made in new care homes, the focus we are planning on the areas that offer the greatest opportunity and the commitment we have from our people at all levels across The Fremantle Trust, I am confident 2016 will see significant progress towards becoming a stronger organisation, growing to meet the demands of the communities we serve.

Ian Shepherd Chair of the Board of Trustees

A view from our Chief Executive

The past year has been a challenging time for everyone in the care sector and The Fremantle Trust has not been immune.

We are operating against a backdrop of rising costs, increasing challenges from some of our key customers with regards to fees and, along with everybody in the Health and Care sector, challenges with finding new people to join us.

This past year has also seen us faced with the challenges of equipping and filling two new homes, Chesham Leys and Mulberry Court this year and a third, Fremantle Court launched last year. But while these have all performed better than expected, we have seen an increase in agency workers and with it, our costs and therefore our margins, have been under pressure.

The focus on quality care is something we pride ourselves on and we have continued to invest in this area.

These investments have created a negative result for us in 2014/15, (see Money Matters section), but will enable us to take more advantage of what looks like a growing market moving forward.

We will continue to see a challenge on costs, but continued investment will see some fees increase and, as our properties reach maturity, our margins will slowly grow back.

Steve Flanagan, Chief Executive

2

Some compelling statistics:

The Fremantle Trust finished the year ending

March 2015, providing care and support for around

760 older people in our residential and nursing

homes, up in both our Buckinghamshire and

Barnet homes by almost 25% overall on last year.

The number of individual admissions we

managed into all of our care homes, including

short term respite places also increased by over

10% to almost 630 during the year.

These increases were in part due to two new

homes we launched in Buckinghamshire, which

increased the total number of places available to

932, further establishing the Trust’s reputation as

the leading provider of care and support for older

people in the county.

Mulberry Court, specialist dementia care home is officially launched

Mulberry Court, officially launched in June 2014 by Rt. Hon. Cheryl Gillan MP, is Fremantle’s only wholly owned service. Located in the beautiful village of Chalfont St Peter, it offers specialist residential dementia care for private funders and any surpluses that are generated are covenanted back to the Trust to help support our work. The ‘boutique’ style care home, which has 24 en-suite rooms and has the ability to accommodate couples, reached full capacity by the year end.

Making an impact across older people’s services

“… Our family and friends have always been impressed by the care and compassion of all the staff, not only for my aunt and uncle, but also for ourselves when the family visit them.”

Relative of Meadowside Care Home, north London, Feb 2015.

Cheryl Gillan MP officially opens Mulberry Court, pictured with resident and Fremantle Team

Individualadmissions

increased by

10%

Total olderpeople provided

with care andsupport increased by

25%

3

passionate about care

The final Project Care home, Chesham Leys opens

The second home which officially opened this year is Chesham Leys, a 62-place nursing home with a dementia care specialism. Chesham Leys, in its market town location, is a modern, well designed nursing home and represents the final home to be built in what has been one of Buckinghamshire County Council’s most ambitious initiatives, ‘Project Care’ - involving the Council, The Fremantle Trust and specialist housing provider, Housing Solutions.

Over nearly a decade, Project Care’s aim was to replace all of the council’s older style care homes with modern, fit-for-purpose services, designed to meet current and future care needs. Chesham Leys, which spans three floors, offers places to local authority as well as privately funded residents.

“At long last it’s great to see a home for people with Alzheimer’s that has all their special needs and requirements catered for.” – Russell Grant

Celebrity Russell Grant, pictured (centre) at Chesham Leys, who was a carer for his grandmother who had lived with Alzheimer’s for over five years. (The tree sculpture was donated jointly by Castle Oak and Housing Solutions).

Fremantle’s North London Homes received a facelift

A major refurbishment programme was initiated during the year throughout all our homes across Barnet in north London, including Dell Field Court, Meadowside and Apthorp Care Centre. This has involved considerable investment in resources, using colour schemes and stylish decor to ensure we provide high quality living environments that are welcoming and comfortable for residents and their visiting families. The programme is due to conclude in 2016.

Proud of the quality of care we deliver – but don’t just take our word for it…

During the year we commissioned an independent survey to look at all aspects of the quality of the older people’s services we deliver. The results of this were made public at each of our homes and shared with residents, family members and staff.

The research invited the next-of-kin of some 800 residents both past and present, to respond anonymously to a survey covering a wide range of categories. An impressive 44% responded giving their views on all aspects of the services we provide.

From this, we were able to gain a greater understanding of what we were doing well and how we could improve through sharing these insights with colleagues.

99%

94%

98%

86%

say the home is generally in excellent condition and is well maintained

of relatives/ friends are satisfied with the services that The Fremantle Trust provides

say we provide high quality personal care and support

say the food served is of a high quality and appetising

4

Our services for adults with learning disabilities

continued to make a significant difference during

the year to the lives of some 218 people across 20

different locations in Buckinghamshire,

Bedfordshire, Milton Keynes and Hertfordshire and

of these, around 10% were new to our services.

This included people living with a wide range of

learning disabilities including autism, some also

requiring nursing, personal care and support or

day support. In some cases individuals had

additional physical or sensory disabilities.

Flexible, person-centred care

Support was delivered in a range of different settings including care homes, domiciliary care, supported living and day care environments. During the year, work commenced on a new service for adults with learning disabilities in Bedford to be named Poplar Tree Court, which is due to open during the next financial year.

We are fortunate that our learning disability services are highly regarded, both by the people we support as well as the local authorities with whom we work in close partnership.

Supporting choice and independence for adults with learning disabilities

“…you are always prepared to listen and help when you can. I am so thankful that F is happy being involved with Nclude. Thank you so much. God Bless you, M”

Family member

5

Fremantle Feedback

Given that quality is of paramount importance in everything we do, we carry out research to ensure that the highest standards of quality are maintained. We do this via ‘Fremantle Feedback’, a regular questionnaire designed to capture the views of those who use our services, their families and advocates. This valuable information is then used to improve what we do or to pass praise on to colleagues for their good work.

Small changes that have a BIG impact

Case study - In Milton Keynes where we provide support for around 50 people with learning disabilities, one lady risked eviction from her flat due to her inability to manage her finances. After working closely with her in partnership with the community team over some months, we were able to support her to understand the importance of saving. Now, not only can she pay her bills, but she has had a holiday this year for the first time, purchased new clothes and is planning to have her flat decorated – something she wasn’t able to consider this time last year.

passionate about care

Driving Up Quality

As further demonstration of our commitment to quality, The Fremantle Trust subscribed this year to Driving Up Quality (DUQ), a national voluntary initiative set up by the Driving up Quality Alliance in response to Winterbourne View. Made up of providers of learning disability services across the country, the Code commits Fremantle to ensuring the support we provide is focused on the individual so they can enjoy a good quality of life and reiterates our commitment to strong leadership and management within the Trust.

This self assessed initiative, has involved service users and families providing feedback on service quality through workshops, and these have resulted in action plans to drive forward improvements, such as better ways of engaging with the local community. We will be reviewing these plans quarterly to ensure we implement these commitments to improvement.

MyTime, Bedford

This year MyTime has enjoyed continued success, building on its growing reputation, with client numbers rising to 75. MyTime provides opportunities for adults with learning disabilities to enjoy inspiring new experiences, which, this year have been as diverse as travelling on the UK’s most popular narrow gauge railway at Wicksteed Park and attending the Elvis Exhibition at the O2. In doing so, MyTime aims to get the best outcomes for each individual client. New to the service this year has been popular Journalism and ‘Sound Expression’ sessions, the latter quickly reaching full capacity.

MyTime has also been involved again in the popular ‘In Touch’ events which bring together friends past and present from the local learning disability community and continues to find new ways of helping people to maintain friendships and make new relationships in a safe environment.

Nclude

Our Aylesbury-based learning disability day service, Nclude, was set up in partnership with local charity, Talkback, in 2011. Now with 74 people using the service, a broad range of activities is delivered one-to-one as well as to groups. Nclude is an excellent example of self-directed support which enables people to speak up and make choices for themselves so that they have more control over and influence in their own lives.

Such has been the demand for this service during the year, with frequent visits from external brokers and care managers, that we are looking for larger premises next year to support its growth.

The activities and courses available, many of which are co-led by people with a learning disability, have been identified by the service users themselves and this year we saw an increase in the range on offer.

Around a quarter of attendees receive individual support which helps them develop a host of skills, as well as confidence in accessing community resources, using public transport and experience of voluntary work.

“…He loves his sessions at the allotment and comes home full of news about what they’ve been doing. He really enjoys spending time outdoors and gardening. The allotment session allows him to achieve this in a friendly, caring environment.

Nclude service user family member

6

Care and support in the heart of our local communities

“It’s the place of friendly faces and friendly staff…laugher can be heard every day and I wouldn’t miss it for the world”

Lady Elizabeth House Day Centre service user

We recognise that creating a strong sense of community is integral to the wellbeing of those who use our services, to balance the need for person-centred support while encouraging people to live as independently as they are able to.

The Care Act promises to place greater emphasis on the part played by local authorities, families, carers and advocates in supporting people to

achieve this.

Fremantle Connect

Fremantle’s care at home service, Connect, has become a well-established domiciliary care service, which is highly valued by the communities we serve.

As people grow older, many will need extra support so that they are able to remain at home, near to friends and family. Each person has individual needs and it is important that their care is tailored appropriately and according to their needs and wishes.

Much in demand, Connect provides individualised care and support in people’s own homes delivered by trained Support Assistants. Among the services offered, Connect provides personal care, home-from-hospital support and end of life care. It can also deliver ‘non-care’ support which includes providing company to individuals as well as domestic support; this year Connect has generated a surplus for the Trust.

Care and Activity Centres

Our five Day Centres which reach across North London and into Buckinghamshire, play a vital role in supporting individuals to stay as physically and mentally active as possible, as well as providing a place where people can socialise and maintain contact with friends in the community in which they live.

Renamed Care and Activity Centres this year, to better reflect the breadth of support offered, they are valued for making a real difference to older people’s lives and have been an essential form of much needed respite for carers.

They have also provided opportunities to make links with the wider community.

Councillor David Coppinger, Cabinet Member for Adult Services and Health, pictured with service user at the opening of the new day centre at Lady Elizabeth House, Maidenhead.

7

passionate about care

Our People

This year, we appointed our first Director of People, a newly created post recognising the value we place on our people, our greatest asset.

Fay Small joined The Fremantle Trust in February 2015, having previously held a variety of positions in HR and Training and Development in several healthcare organisations during the past 20 years.

Recruitment of permanent employees remains a significant challenge across the entire Care sector and in making this a priority for the Trust, we took action this year to address these challenges as we strive to find the very best people to join our team. Our primary aim is to recruit people who value care highly, both personally and professionally.

Investing in our teams

We enable our people to provide first class care and support through our passion for delivering leading edge training. This will be a significant focus for further investment for us over coming years.

Our Training and Development Department have continued to provide dedicated support to our colleagues to ensure that we deliver the most appropriate programmes for each team.

We have also integrated The Care Certificate into all induction training to ensure that every new member of our team has a rounded knowledge base to provide the highest quality care at all times.

2015 has been a year of new developments within Fremantle too, with the launch of two new BTEC programmes, which have been highly popular and valued in the workplace. These are the ‘Awareness of Dementia’ (Level 2 BTEC) and ‘Supporting Adults with Learning Difficulties’ (Level 2 BTEC) programmes.

Management and Leadership Development also continues to be a prominent theme as we foster the emerging talent within our management population, with strong numbers of delegates successfully completing Management Programmes at Levels 3 and 5.

Fay Small Director of People

The Trust’s first office based apprentice, Mike Dearing

National recognition

In March, Fremantle’s Training and Development Team (below) were national award winners in the category ‘Best Employer Support for Apprentices’ at the Skills for Care awards and were highly praised by the judges.

Apprenticeships – Growing the Workforce of Tomorrow

Our commitment to developing young people for tomorrow’s care industry continued during the year, when we took on another cohort of six apprentices; five as front line carers plus our first office-based apprentice, Mike Dearing, (top right), working as part of our Business Development Team.

Our Training and Development Team celebrate their win

8

Community relations and events

Jeremiah Blake resident at The Heights prior to his

return to his Caribbean homeland of St Vincent.

Peggy Wilkinson bakes a celebratory cake for Older People’s Day

Christmas Shopping brought to

Lewin House by Tesco Stores

Unusual animals from ‘Wild Science’

visit to Apthorp Care Centre

Joe taking in the sun at July’s ‘In Touch’ event

Ladies Day

at Carey Lodge

Icknield Court celebrates ‘Around the World’ themed Care Home Open Day

Scooter Rally enjoyed by

residents at Carey Lodge

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff involved with our dad’s care, and appreciate all your support.”

Family member of a Connect service user

9

2015 Financial year summary Year to March 2015 £’000 Year to March 2014 £’000

Income breakdown

Total Income 43,744 39,877

OP Care Homes 32,256 28,927

OP Domiciliary 1,140 863

LD Care Homes 4,418 4,423

LD Supported living 5,687 5,095

Other 243 569

Total Expenditure 44,658 40,099

Contribution to Reserves (914) (222)

Total Reserves 3,933 4,363

4.7%13.7%

10.1%

71.5%

Money matters

73.7%

0.6%13.0%

10.1%

2.6%

OP Care Homes

OP Domiciliary

LD Care Homes

LD Supported Living

Other

Staff Costs

Homes Direct Costs

Homes Fixed Costs & Charges

Central Support Costs

Year end to March 2015

Expenditure breakdownIncome breakdown

The information has been extracted from our audited accounts, a full copy of which can be obtained from our website or from the address on the back cover by writing to our Director of Finance.

passionate about care10

The Fremantle Trust Woodley House

64/65 Rabans Close Aylesbury

Buckinghamshire HP19 8RS

Telephone: 01296 393000 e-mail: enquiries@fremantletrust.org

www.fremantletrust.org

The Fremantle Trust is a company limited by guarantee (Company Number: 2722437) and a registered charity (Charity Number: 1014986) and not for profit organisation.