The best way to get care home work?

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Hi,

After being in business 18 months I have manage to take on only one care home to visit every six weeks. The thing is there are a huge amount of homes in my area and I really struggle getting any form of response from them...is there a best way to do it?

What do other people tend to charge for homes of 30+ residents?

Thanks

 

Most/all homes probably already have someone who services them. They only going to take on someone new when they are unhappy with the current service provider. They are not going to dump them every time someone comes along and offers their services. The best approach is to make sure you are one of the options that they consider when they are ready to change the provider.

 

Hi ,
I have been in a similar situation . After years of practicing I finally branched out by myself . As starting any new business from scratch I am under no illusions it will take time for my clinic to build up , at least a year. Working in care homes seemed a great opportunity to have 'regular' work , the downside is you can't charge what you might charge in the clinic , it is roughly about half . But considering
I was on 50% fee share in my last practice , I am no worse off.
Anyway, I now have 3 care homes I am working in, it has taking me 5 months to get all three . It has been hard , but I got a list and either phoned , emailed or wrote letters and one by one I got all three I have not given up until I have enough work to 'survive'.
I must admit , the reasons the homes have given me to work there , have been because they have not been happy with their past podiatrist, one of the care homes has a smae podiatrist , they have been splitting the work , but many of the patients now are preferring the way I work and have been requesting me.
What is beneficial if you are a private practitioner is that most nursing homes want the services of a private podiatrist rather than rely on Nhs , when I first qualified the Nhs provided all the care for nursing homes now it has switched so there is a lot of work out there if you are willing to keep plugging away and market yourself. Good Luck !

 

Blue123,
Who is the name of sweet reason wants care home work?

The pay is derisery, there are never enough staff to help you, and some residents are in bed which makes the work back-breaking.

Most homes don't have a dedicated medical room so it's either the communal lounge (not private) or residents' rooms, which means packing and unpacking your case 8x.

Mrs Bloggs hasn't got any money in her account this week because the relatives haven't left any, so can you call back for it? Or can you send an invoice? - and then you wait 6 weeks to get paid. :craig:

Residents have the habit of dying and then you have to wait to get paid because you can't harrass the bereaved relatives. Sometimes you don't get paid at all.

99% of the patients are high risk because of age and infirmity and most have polypharmacy or peripheral vascular disease or both.

Personally, I would concentrate on general doms to start with. You can charge 3x the price for care-home work and have 1/3rd of the hassle.

 

Podess,

except with the comment about starting with general DOMs, I agree 1000% yes 1000% with everything that you have said.

In particular, "The pay is derisery, there are never enough staff to help you, and some residents are in bed which makes the work back-breaking.

Most homes don't have a dedicated medical room so it's either the communal lounge (not private) or residents' rooms, which means packing and unpacking your case 8x.

Mrs Bloggs hasn't got any money in her account this week because the relatives haven't left any, so can you call back for it? Or can you send an invoice? - and then you wait 6 weeks to get paid"

excellent comments

 

Actually , I have to disagree. If we are talking financial gain , in London the rate is about £20 per patient in a care home which is what I was earning as an associate on 50% fee share basis. Then in a private practice no matter how established you are there are sometimes quiet periods , in a care home I have guaranteed work also in the care home I don't spend 30 mins per client like I do in clinic , more like 15 mins .
As for getting paid, my contract is with the nursing home ,they have a duty of care to their residents so they include podiatry as part of the residents care package so there is no quibble or hassle about payment. I invoice them on a Wednesday and get paid on a Friday.
As my own practice starts to get established it at least helps to pay the bills .

 

YDR,

you must be very lucky then wrt payment!

 

I sent fliers to over 400 care homes within 90 minutes drive after moving house and soon had plenty of work ( I visit 20 care homes) . If a care home is not very good or bad at paying move on and find another one! I find the care staff very helpful its often about your own attitude. Befriending the care staff will get you more assistance and they are also useful ambassadors for your business spreading the word to other homes that you are a good chiropodist. Care homes are also a good source of other clients. I chat to visiting relatives and am always willing to give free footcare advice to anyone this often leads to new clients. Many homes have residents on respite and again giving a good service will often lead to them wanting you to visit at home.

good luck with your business and I hope that this has helped

 

The real question is why would you want to do care homes? They suck! If you want regular work in one place, but don't want to have a surgery, try retirement flats. Some of them have a room where you can set up, so no moving from flat to flat. The house managers can be very useful, so go chat some up and see if that works.

 

Thanks to all of you,

I do also disagree with Podess, I dont think all care homes work in the way that you describe - certainly the one that I do have does not and I get paid with 7 days in full.

And if we all have this attitude then who cares for the thousands of residents in these homes in our areas?

From my experience I find this work rewarding, maybe my mindset will change if I get my wish of more homes...we'll see!

Thanks for the advice jon

 

There are of course some exceptions, I go to just one care home which is a minutes drive from my surgery. They pay me at the end of my session there, but this is the only one I have ever visited which was so good. I just won't take on any more now, as I find it too much work for too little gain.
Good luck and I hope you can find some good ones, and if, like YDR 1973 says, you leave the ones who have terrible conditions, then perhaps it will start to show them that we will no longer put up with being treated like a necessary annoyance.

 

I have been practicing for 20 years plus and have a thriving private practice and go in and out numerous homes in my area, I charge the same price for a nursing home patient as I do for a clinic patient. I don't understand why some podiatrist complain about the low fees....charge more! If we are all undercutting each other and some are willing to go into these establishments for a piitence...it reflects badly on our profession. I find you get a good mix of patients some are only nail cuts others require a lot of work and I usually travel room to room.

 

Jonnorthnants, you said in post #8

That works out at up to 3 hours travelling time per care-home visit. How can that be cost-effective? How many residents at what price would make this viable?

If one of the residents in such a home had a problem, would you be prepared to do a round trip of 3 hours just to see that patient?