RAM GOYAL, MANAGING DIRECTOR, HALLMARK CARE HOMES IN FOCUSAugust 2019 | CARE HOME PROFESSIONAL 33Care Home Design’ award for winning
the ‘Best New Care Home’ title for so
many consecutive years.
Ram said being profitable enough to
not have to look at design on a purely
financial basis was key to its success.
“When we are looking at designs that
have been prepared by the operators or
a property developer they are always
trying to maximise the number of
bedrooms,” he said.
“We are looking at designs from a
longevity point of view and whether
they will be fit for purpose in 20 years’
time. The first home we built in Cardiff
had up to 15 sq metre rooms and wide
corridors. It’s still fit for purpose for a
home designed in 1998.
“We have continued to improve our
facilities, including introducing bigger
café areas and celebrations rooms,
owing to their popularity. We don’t have
pressure from venture capital or private
equity or from a return on capital. We
don’t have to model everything on
purely a return on capital basis.”
Ram said technology played a key
role in supporting person centred care
and improving team retention.market over the next three years.
New launches include a care home in
Henley this year, and its first assisted
living scheme in Hutton in 2020, and
three homes in Bath, Eastbourne and
Angmering in 2021.
“The idea is to create clusters that will
allow synergies of sharing people and
resources and regional management
so that career progression becomes
easier,” Ram said.
Commenting on Hallmark’s move
into assisted living, Ram said: “There
is real undersupply of good quality
assisted and independent living. A lot
of people still want their own front
door and there’s a huge opportunity to
look at that and how it can be delivered
in a meaningful way.”
The Hutton site is composed of 55
1, 2- and 3-bedroom apartments along
with a 77-bed care home.
“It’s one of our biggest investments.
It’s an exciting time,” Ram noted.
“The care village concept allows
people to move into established
communities. It also can remove
some of the uncertainty people have
regarding the move into a care home,
if they are not quite ready for full
time care. There’s also an important
social and security aspect of making
new friends by living in a community.
People are now proud to say they have
loved ones who live in our care homes.
It’s really heart-warming to see
that change.”
While continuing with its growth,
Ram stressed that it remained essential
for Hallmark not to grow too big so that
it could retain its family culture.
“When you have people who share
your values they can cascade them
through the organisation,” Ram stressed.
Ram helps embed Hallmark’s family
culture by being a regular visitor to
the provider’s homes and has been
travelling the country to judge the
Hallmark’s Got Talent team talent
show competition.
With Ram’s children Ashish and
Nisha already having begun their
Hallmark careers, the care home
provider’s family culture legacy looks
secure for many years to come.WHEN YOU HAVE
PEOPLE WHO
SHARE YOUR VALUES
THEY CAN CASCADE
THEM THROUGH THE
ORGANISATION”
The care home provider uses the
iCare electronic care planning system.
“This allows the team to spend
more time with the residents,”
Ram explained.
“They spend less time doing
paperwork and it’s easier to access their
records on a tablet.”
Hallmark also uses Access Group’s
eMAR electronic medication records
system which allows nurses to spend
more time with residents as well as
increasing data accuracy and provide
trend analysis so that improvements
can be made.
Ram revealed Hallmark was seeking
to recruit a head of innovation so that it
could continue to be at the forefront of
care enabling technology.
The care provider has a healthy
pipeline of new homes coming to theBanstead Manor