RECENT NEWS

Covid restrictions on care homes in England will be eased from 31 January as Plan B measures are removed nationwide.

Care home occupancy levels are set to recover to pre-pandemic levels in 2022, according to property adviser Knight Frank.

Care homes that rely heavily on agency staff may be two-and-a-half times more likely to spread Covid-19 to their residents, a study has found.

North Yorkshire provider Saint Cecilia’s Care Group has acquired Oakland nursing home in Whitby from Mondial Care, saving it from possible closure.

Social care law firm Royds Withy King is to merge with Goodman Derrick on 1 May and will be known as RWK Goodman LLP.

Care England policy director Ann Mackay and external affairs advisor Louisa Collyer-Hamlin are to leave the representative body for independent providers of adult social care.

Signature Senior Lifestyle has been granted planning permission to build a 92-room care home on the site of a former four-star hotel in Enfield, north London.

Vida Healthcare has increased the wages of its frontline care staff by 30 per cent for a variety of roles.

New entrant to the care sector Principle Care Homes has secured £10m in funding from Virgin Money for the development of Heron Manor, its flagship care home in Fleet, Hampshire.

Connaught Care and Halebourne Care have secured an £11m loan from Octopus Real Estate for their joint development of a 71-bed care home in Bedhampton, Hampshire.

Cornwall Care is leading a new project for care home residents to enjoy the Eden Project through virtual reality.

Care home staff vacancies in England nearly doubled in the six months to the end of December 2021, according to Care Quality Commission (CQC) data.

Most people admitted to adult care homes in Scotland will no longer have to self-isolate for two weeks under new guidance issued to care home operators.

Cornerstone Healthcare has secured a loan from Virgin Money to develop an 80-bed ‘eco’ care home in Bristol.

A care home worker who was sacked for refusing to have a coronavirus vaccine has lost an employment tribunal in Leeds.

Anchor and McCarthy Stone have joined forces to plan an ‘affordable for all’ £40m retirement community in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands.

Exemplar Health Care has opened a multi-faith room at its Blackmoor specialist care home in Birmingham for adults living with complex and high acuity needs.

Audley Group has appointed Graham to lead on the construction of a 110-acre retirement village in West Yorkshire.

Avery Healthcare has awarded Horizon Construction the contract to build the former’s £8.4m care home in Braintree, Essex.

Millennium Care has been granted planning permission for a 48-bed care home in Standish near Wigan.