Ex-boss of Priory starts service to spy on care homes
THE former boss of the Priory chain of rehabilitation clinics – famous for their use by celebrities – is making his comeback as a care home ‘spy’.
Philip Scott quit as Priory Group boss in 2012 and has sunk an initial £500,000 of his own money into his new company, Care Protect, which will monitor residents to protect them from abuse.
He said ‘significant further investment’ was being chased to address the UK’s 400,000-strong market of people living in the care sector.
Care Protect is a startup based in Yarm, Cleveland, which Scott said ‘will create 100 new jobs by recruiting independent, trained monitors’, who will be experienced professionals in the health and social care sectors.
The company combines camera and secure cloud technology with the hiring of independent monitoring staff. Scott said: ‘The care homes have no ownership of the data and no ability to edit it and it has an indefinite shelf life. It works by alerts on abnormal movement, sounds or changes in bedrooms. ‘Families benefit from peace of mind about staff, but it also offers protection over unfounded allegations against staff.’
It costs an average 70- bed home £10 per resident a week. The system has been tested in a 76-bed home in Birmingham.
Any ‘red alerts’ are fed to home managers immediately and any criminal activity is also reported to police. Care Protect’s staff have to be approved by the Security Industry Authority.
A typical care home group will need to install £1million worth of technology to monitor residents in the fight against abuse by staff, said Scott. Care Protect will charge about £36,000 a year for the surveillance of a medium-sized home.
He said: ‘I’m the only shareholder at present and I have put in £500,000 so far because I believe in the need we are tackling. The market is potentially massive, with 99 per cent of institutions having no form of independent monitoring. We need serious capital and are talking to banks. Within three to four years we will consider a public offering as the scope of our technology widens to hospitals and even prisons.’