Festive Focus: Meet the CEO of Yorkshire-based Exemplar Health Care

Can you introduce yourself and your business to our readers?

“Euan Craig. I am the CEO of Exemplar Health Care, a provider of specialist nurse-led care homes for adults with complex needs.

“The people we care for often have requirements that other services are unable to meet, and they have arisen from neuro-disability, brain injury and stroke, enduring mental ill-health, autism, learning disabilities and early on-set dementia.

“With 26 homes across Yorkshire, Midlands and the North West, our homes are supportive, welcoming, community-based services which support people to reach their goals. We strive to make every day better and my role is to facilitate this as much as possible via our team and ways of working.

“I’ve been at Exemplar for sixteen years and have been CEO for the last ten. My role is incredibly varied, as you would expect, and one of the best parts of the day is when I get out to our homes and directly engage with our staff and residents. I love learning about who our residents are, what they enjoy and the little things that make them feel special. This is incredibly important in a care setting.

“Due to it being the festive period, myself and fellow Exemplar directors have visited as many of our homes as possible in recent weeks learning more about the Christmas activities taking place – as well as residents attending events in their wider communities, we have in-house nativity productions, pop-up shops and more.

“Christmas can be a difficult time for our residents and for some it might be their first Christmas outside of their family home, and as such, we pull out all the stops to try and make it as magical as possible.”

What was your company’s biggest achievement of the year?

“This year we formed our Service User Council which gives our residents a greater voice across the company. They have already led on several initiatives – from developing their own logo and welcome pack for new residents, to launching their own competitions across our homes, and I can’t wait to see what 2019 brings.

“It has been amazing to see how both our Service User Council and residents have relished getting more involved in not just their homes but their local communities and the wider Exemplar network.

“We’ve unlocked not just entrepreneurial spirit but supported the independence of some of our residents in a manner we never expected.”

How would you approach 2018 differently, given the chance?

“Due to the nature of our business, our day-to-day actions are intrinsically linked with the care of individuals and as such, operationally, we try and keep things as tight and consistent as possible.

“Saying that, outside of the consistency of care there are other ways we can push boundaries and be creative. One such example is the training and educational events we deliver in the location of our homes and if we could approach 2018 differently, it would be in this respect.

“We’d deliver more educational, informative events to support nurses and care practitioners in Yorkshire, the Midlands and North West.

“We’ve already started on our programme of events for 2019 and our teams are booking in speakers for events that will be hugely valuable for not just our employees but practitioners in care as a whole.”

What are your company’s plans for the new year?

“Across 2019 we’ll be opening several new homes based on demand from local care commissioners, so our new year will start with detailed planning ahead of the openings.

“We’ll be preparing sites, fitting out homes, liaising with local communities and engaging with relevant healthcare stakeholders to provide a home for residents who might have been previously cared for hundreds of miles from their families.

“We’re also going to be celebrating our 20th anniversary so it’s going to be a bumper year which will see me challenge our teams to deliver more than ever before to ensure that every residents day is better than the last.”

What’s your favourite Christmas song?

“When a child is born by Johnny Mathis.”