Company Information

Dec 6th, 2011 - ADASS vote of confidence for Four Seasons Health Care

Directors of adult social services have welcomed Four Season's 'mature and transparent' attitude towards working to show the public the financial stability of care businesses.

ADASS President Peter Hay, who has led for the Association throughout the Southern Cross episode, has stressed that a draft assessment of Four Season's financial prospects, leaked to the media within the past fortnight, was very much a 'work in progress'. Its leak, while incomplete, has met with a mature response from Four Seasons and the company's decision to participate wholly in the completion of a full and public financial analysis.

He also emphasised that the original document, used by other organisations to undermine the Four Seasons' takeover of Southern Cross homes, "was a first step towards discovering what the company is doing with social services departments up and down the country, and to sharpen up our knowledge, in the light of the Southern Cross experience, of how care providers are structured and funded.

"The first draft report was put together by an independent source using publicly available information, to give us some idea of what a `Statement of Transparency' would look like. It painted a mixed picture as Four Seasons (like the majority of care providers) isn't a publicly listed company and not all its data are in the public domain.

"ADASS deeply regrets both the leak of this draft and its use to draw inaccurate conclusions. Our actions over recent months have been consistently to reassure residents and relatives, and ADASS would not wish to do otherwise.

"We are delighted that Four Seasons has responded to the leak with a commitment to developing this insight work together. We're now working with Four Seasons, with the same independent author using the same format to use all the data available. Four Seasons has given us full transparency and access to information. Our shared aim is to produce tools that help the public make decisions about care following the Southern Cross experience. This type of financial statement has never been produced before and we welcome the commitment to exploring its use."

Using the new direction of transparency that central government is promoting, ADASS wants to work with care providers to create shared understanding of how the financial structures of providers support the quality of care and the investment needed. This is particularly crucial for companies like Four Seasons who will need to invest to improve their recent acquisitions

Mr Hay said today: "I am absolutely delighted by Four Seasons' response as it can give us real confidence in this process."

He went on to 'disagree fundamentally' with the analysis that Four Seasons will replicate the failure of Southern Cross. "It follows a very different business model indeed," he said, pointing to two core facts.

"First, Four Seasons is a profitable business. The second core fact is that Four Seasons owns two thirds of its property whereas Southern Cross was not a property owner at all, and had struggled throughout with its landlord model - this is a fundamental difference between the way the two business are organised."

Mr Hay concluded: "The confidence I have in Four Seasons is founded on a wider belief - that only people who have something to hide tend not to favour transparency. I am absolutely delighted that Four Seasons are committed to working with us in this very transparent way - and I think that that alone is a significant reason to be confident in what they are offering the public at this time.

"We are sure that other care providers will follow Four Season's example and that together we can give the public the peace of mind they deserve when buying care"

Dec 1st, 2011 - Four Seasons Chief Executive Pete Calveley named most influential individual in HealthInvestor Power50

We are very proud to announce that Four Seasons Health Care's Chief Executive, Pete Calveley, has been voted as the most influential individual in the healthcare sector for the HealthInvestor Power50 awards.

Pete has received this prestigious award due to his achievements at Four Seasons Health Care, as well as his significant influence across the sector.

Geoff Westmore, Chairman of Four Seasons Health Care said, "We are enormously proud of Pete's achievement in winning this prestigious award. Pete is passionate about both quality of care and commercial performance and has demonstrated time and time again that one naturally follows the other. His passion and commitment to help improve the health and care sector is second to none and his charismatic leadership style ensure things get done. This award is very well deserved."

The following is the text from the HealthInvestor Power50 awards booklet, covering why Pete was voted into the top spot:

“The collapse of residential care giant Southern Cross has dominated the headlines in 2011. The 'work out' if its estate of 752 homes, 31,000 residents and 44,000 staff, has left the sector transformed. In the post Southern Cross landscape, Four Seasons Health Care has taken on the mantle of the UK’s biggest residential care home operator.

This was no quirk of fate, though Four Seasons’ charismatic chief executive, Pete Calveley was a principal architect of the restructuring and helped to avoid the homes going into administration, while also protecting continuity of care and jobs. By pulling together to find a workable solution to an extremely complex problem, Pete and other sector leaders helped to avert a catastrophe that would have exacerbated what was already a nightmare scenario for the independent sector.

HealthInvestor readers said Pete had “consistently demonstrated such strong leadership and skill that he has been able to rapidly expand and grow his business”. Despite having spent a considerable amount of time in refinancing talks since taking over as chief executive at the indebted care group, readers praised Pete for “continually promoting excellence in healthcare delivery”.

As well as his duties with Four Seasons, Pete is a member of the Department of Health’s Forward Thinking Group, helping shape the sector’s future. He led development of an award winning dementia care programme that is studied internationally and has taken a sector lead in developing higher dependency care services.

Pete has been instrumental in raiding awareness in government and the NHS of the capability of independents to help free up hospital bed blocking. Under Pete’s leadership Four Seasons has restructured its finances, transformed quality from below average to among the best in class, dramatically improved occupancy and operational performance, and this year grown capacity by 40%.