YOUR CARE HOME MEANS LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES - THE EXPERTS TO HELP YOU MEET THEM ARE HERE

There are many aspects to the support required. On the business side, contracts of all kinds must be drawn up. Buying and selling healthcare businesses, drawing up shareholders’ and investors’ agreements, and negotiating with public authorities and health trusts must all be supported by carefully worded agreements. Your business may also require regulatory advice and representation during planning and other enquiries.

In addition, those in your care may need assistance with their wills, trusts, lasting powers of attorney, Court of Protection work and more.

In some cases, they will need legal representation in such matters as reclaiming care fees. Some may have retained investments and business interests which demand legal oversight.

It is vital for you to be able to call on legal professionals who understand the care home industry.

At Rangewell, as part of our commitment to supporting UK businesses, we have put together a directory of people with the skills you need - and made it free for you to use. So, if you need professional support for your Care Home business, call us for details of the professionals who can help with the expertise and services you need - and who cover your location.

Our Business Support for Care Homes includes:

• Accountants
• Advisors
• Sales and acquisition agents
• Equipment suppliers
• Legal Services
• Media services
• Partners
• Valuers

With so many regulatory and budgetary pressures on your Care Home business, you need practical, cost-effective legal advice and professional support to avoid problems - and where disputes do arise, to provide swift and cost-effective resolutions.

Providing this kind of service requires expert knowledge. Legal professionals working in the Care Home sector can provide expertise to help in a wide range of situations that include:

Property and business acquisition

Buying property is the foundation of most Care Home businesses. Buying a property requires skilled legal oversight - buying a business, with the complications of staff contracts, existing contractual and legal obligations with residents, formal relationships with suppliers and local authorities is simply beyond the scope of most generalist legal professionals.

You need to be able to call on legal experts with a specialisation in the sector and familiarity with the issues and legislation involved to ensure that your business purchase can be problem-free.

Estates rationalisation, litigation, structuring and property asset management will all have legal aspects. Understanding the issues and the steps that must be taken to safeguard your interests requires specialist expertise.

CQC Regulation

A poor report from the CQC can seriously affect your reputation and cause a major impact of your business, and particularly on referrals from stakeholders. However, it is possible to challenge a CQC report - if you have access to the legal and technical expertise required. With expert support, you can explore a draft report and successfully challenge its findings, allowing you to improve your ratings and minimise the negatives of the original.

Mental Capacity, Mental Health and Court of Protection

Understanding the legal implications of mental incapacity is becoming ever more important. Having legal experts to call on can be important for both your business and the interests of your residents.

Making fair and appropriate provision for residents with mental health issues may be an essential provision for their care. A legal advisory with experience of the medical, legal and financial issues involved may be essential.

Clinical negligence & complaint handling, commercial litigation & disputes advisory

Dealing with elderly, frail and demented patients can be a minefield, leaving you at risk of false accusations and your residents at risk of not receiving the care they need. Expert legal representations can avoid such issues, helping you avoid financial liabilities and loss of professional reputation.

Understanding the issues and liabilities involved can be key to developing best practices which will help your staff deliver care that is appropriate and which will reduce the risk of errors, misunderstandings and false accusations.

Staffing

Care Homes are dependent on staff. This opens the way to a wide range of complex employment issues, ranging from discrimination to whistleblowing, and immigration to disciplinary procedures. Litigation is always a possibility.

A good understanding of employment law will be essential - as will familiarity with pension rules, working hours and immigration.

Regulatory advice

The care home sector is subject to a wide range of regulations, some supported by legislation. Safeguarding your reputation means ensuring that your business meets all those requirements.

A legal expert with experience in the sector can protect your business, your reputation and you and your staff from personal liabilities. Meeting your information governance and GDPR obligations, providing support for your CQC and health and safety record and maintaining your awareness of the new factors and changes to legislation is essential. A call to the legal experts in our Care Home ecosystem can provide it.

Contract management

Your care home business will probably have a growing list of contracts with suppliers. Establishing these contracts on a sound legal basis will be vital to avoid trouble in the future if disputes arise. 

A lawyer with an understanding of the sector will be able to draw up contracts that are fair, legally sound and unambiguous. Your business will be on a firm footing and protected in the event of corporate and commercial breaches, negligence and other disputes.

Whether you’re rationalising homes or acquiring them, taking on new suppliers or arranging funding, you need legally robust CMA compliant agreements to support your interests.

Protecting residents

Protecting your residents’ interests can be considered as part of your duty of care - and that protection may extend to the legal area. You need legal support from specialists who can demonstrate understanding with vulnerable clients, provide advice to families and other professionals regarding the legal aspects of paying for care.

Your legal representative can become part of your care team, working closely with local social services, mental health and rehabilitation hospitals to ensure that your residents will have the level of care and protection that they would wish for themselves - and acting in their interests when any legal issues or disputes occur.

As a trusted friend as well as a legal professional, your legal partner may be able to act with matters such as IHT and estate management, wills and probate.

Finding the legal specialists to support your Care Home

At Rangewell, we work with Care Home businesses across the UK. We help them secure the finance they need at every stage, from finding funding for new ventures to different areas of the care home industry including finance for elderly care homes, supporting property acquisition and business launch, everyday operations and growth.

This means that we work closely with many professionals serving the sector. 

We are always happy to share our network of contacts. Please call us on 020 3936 8607 where we will be happy to introduce you to Care Home legal specialists in your region.

Joining the Rangewell Care Home ‘ecosystem’

Are you a legal professional serving the Care Home sector? Please contact us to discuss being included in our Care Home database. There is no charge for professionals who wish to be included in our ‘ecosystem’.

Call us now on our Care Home Support Line on 020 3936 8607 for support or any other care home funding challenge.