Housing group snaps up leading home care provider

Published by Max Salsbury for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Communities

The Midlands-based Accord Group has doubled its capacity for providing healthcare and support services in homes by acquiring home care provider Direct Health Group.

The deal will see the housing group approximately double both the turnover and reach of the care services it offers, enabling it to provide around 3.5 million hours of home-based and residential care each year.

The Accord Group – which is made up of six organisations which together provide 11,000 homes - has also announced that the agreement will help it to create around 2,000 new job opportunities over the next three years, driven by a planned expansion in services and natural vacancies. There will be no job losses.

Direct Health will continue to operate as an independent company under its existing management structure but will now become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Accord Group.

It currently operates 18 branches across the Midlands, North East and North West regions from its head office in Nottingham and is the ninth largest provider in the UK.

Dr Chris Handy (pictured), Accord Group Chief Executive, said: “This is an exciting announcement for both businesses as well as for communities across the Midlands and North of England.

“Direct Health is one of the UK’s leading providers of care to people in their own homes and it is a business which has always enjoyed solid organic growth.

“We have seen it build an excellent reputation, both for the quality of its care and for its strength as a business, becoming fully-integrated into the communities in which it operates.

“Our customers tell us they have a strong preference for receiving care in their own homes and in acquiring one of the leading providers in the UK, we are responding to this demand in a direct, logical and positive manner.”

Jonathan Vellacott, Chief Executive Officer of Direct Health, said: “Direct Health is a solid and well regarded operator within the domiciliary care sector. I believe that becoming part of the Accord Group will enable us to provide a broader range of services into the communities that we serve.

“We believe that this solid base will allow us, with Accord’s support, to accelerate Direct Health’s growth; focusing specifically on geographical expansion, a broadening of the care offering into higher acuity services and acquisition of further complex care capability.”

Managing 11,000 affordable homes and planning to build a further 2,000 new homes by 2015, the Accord Group has been offering a range of health, social care and support services to its customers and the wider community for more than 20 years.