Member Article

Interview: Darren Taylor, MD at Alcyone Healthcare Ltd

With a wealth of experience in the care sector spanning over 30 years, Darren Taylor established Alcyone Healthcare three years ago to provide a unique approach to offering care and support.

Now, with the company’s first 50-bed care home, Baedling Manor, set to open its doors early next spring in Bedlington, Darren’s vision is to pioneer a support model that empowers those with disabilities, promoting independence.

Revealing his decisions behind launching the business, Darren said: “Having enjoyed a varied career in care as regional manager for the North of England and a service quality inspector, I wanted to be able to create a service that incorporated many of the positive elements of the industry that I have experienced as well as incorporating my own personal ideas for bespoke care packages.

“I think it is important to not only care for the residents, but also include and help their family members to continue to support their loved ones. It can be a difficult decision deciding when the right time is to move a loved one to a residential care facility. The care and support provided by family is paramount to good health and general well-being.”

So, how does Darren expect to add value to the industry in the North East?

“It is a given that most care homes say they are a ‘home from home’ and some attain excellent ratings, however, we want to be able to not only care well for our residents but to also actively encourage them to continue and retain their own life skills and abilities and live well in the way that they choose.

“At Alcyone, we think it is important to partner with community healthcare specialists, external agencies and our regulators to be able to consistently deliver excellence. Having worked for larger corporate care companies throughout my career, I knew which parts of the industry frustrated me and which parts I wanted to change and that was largely the outcomes for residents.”

Certainly Darren’s passion for the healthcare sector seems unrivalled, as he looks to continue investing in a programme to allow families to remain close to patients.

He continued: “If we can help them live well and work with residents individually to support them to maximise their potential, support families as well as provide a quality, safe and secure, caring environment and look after our team then for me, that is why I got into this sector in first place.

“We have privately invested £3.5m into Bedlington to help resource an area that some locals feel has been neglected. This means that people who want to can remain in or near their home town and retain their community identity. We can also offer care and support packages that are flexible in terms of meeting the needs of individuals, as well as affordable and competitive with the larger organisations.”

He added: “Our priority is to work with individuals and their families to establish activities that best meet the needs of the individual – looking to provide exactly the right level of support to meet their social, spiritual and emotional care needs as well as any clinical needs.

Of course, setting up Alcyone Healthcare and Baedling Manor has not come without its challenges.

Darren revealed: “Because we have chosen to build in a prominent position in the heart of Bedlington market place, which is a conservation area, we had to deliver a design that is in keeping with what was there whilst still meeting the needs of the client group and using traditional materials in agreement with local council planners.

“Another challenge is finding the right manager to head up Baedling Manor. We have had excellent CVs so far by extremely competent candidates, however, we are putting a lot of focus on genuine compassion and core workplace values as well as experience. The manager must share the same heartfelt values and commitment as we do to be able to deliver the service that we want so we are still encouraging more candidates to come forward.”

Once the manager is in place, more recruits are set to follow at Baedling Manor, meaning the business will have created around 50 jobs for Northumberland.

Now Darren is planning to grow operations to create a tightly-knit group of three or four different developments in the next few years across the North East, providing furhter job opportunities for the region.

He commented: “People are living longer so the need for more homes that concentrate on providing a luxurious, homely, safe and nurturing environment whilst stimulating residents is vital.”