Keeping your care home budget on track
The UK’s care homes are in a tight squeeze. Rising staff costs, an aging population, and budgets being cut, means that every penny counts as care home providers and staff try to give the best care possible.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation says there are three main principal care home cost categories for people looking at their care fees: staffing; other non-staffing current costs (such as utilities, food, etc); and capital costs. But of course there are so many more costs for providers, such as specialist furniture, nursing equipment and cleaning products.
Here are just a few tips from us on controlling costs for new products and devices:
1. Make sure you are up-to-date on the latest product and device requirements from the MHRA and update your medical devices as soon as possible. This is of course not only very important from a safety and welfare perspective for those in care and your staff, but also means you can spread costs as much as possible, rather than having to purchase a whole host of products all at once. We’ll be posting monthly round-ups of the latest MHRA alerts so you can keep updated and view them all in one place – keep your eye out for the first one next week.
2. Make sure you have trusted suppliers that will help keep your costs down. Work with them to keep a regular eye on your budget and where you can save money. For example, here at CLH we use software that allows us to easily track your spending, while also cross-referencing with our current product list to make sure you are getting the best possible deal. This software can be used to highlight trends and usage which means we can offer moneysaving solutions simply by switching to alternative products.
3. Capital expenditure is not always an easy decision; you don’t want to spend large sums on products you are unsure of, or only need for a short period. Speak to suppliers and see if it is possible to hire products instead. Here at CLH we often hire products to care homes that have a patient joining them out of hospital at short notice, or for short periods if a patient is receiving palliative care. Or sometimes it is simply that the purchase price is too great and they would prefer to spread the cost by paying a weekly expense instead. Speak to our team if you’re interested to find out more.
4. If you haven’t got something in place already, look at controlling and monitoring expenditures with an online financial management tool. This can help you to keep track of all outgoings – from staff wages and utility bills, to medical gloves and soap dispensers. Carehome.co.uk have an extensive directory of software.
If you need some help to streamline your spending on specialist products, or want to see the latest deals available, visit our products page, or give us a call on 01392 823233.
