Executive chairman, Dr Robert Kilgour, announced the five-year strategy as the company celebrates its 20th anniversary. The plan involves increasing turnover from £46m to over £100m and expanding the number of care homes from 17 to over 30.

This expansion will build upon Renaissance Care’s track record of improving care home quality standards through personalised care and the use of new technologies. The group is also set to acquire its 18th care home and open two specialist units for patients with head injuries and Huntington’s disease.

Dr Kilgour, who also founded Four Seasons Health Care some 36 years ago, believes that the future of elderly care lies in strong regional operators like Renaissance Care. He views this expansion as a way to provide a lifeline for smaller operators struggling in the aftermath of the pandemic and ongoing economic challenges.

He said: “When we started out, the UK’s ten largest care home operators ran 27% of all care home beds but that figure has now reduced to around 18% as several large, UK-wide operators such as Southern Cross (854 care homes) have gone into administration and been broken up.

“I firmly believe that the positive future for elderly care in the UK lies in strong but smaller regional care home operators.”

He added: “Care homes continue to struggle in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing cost-of-living and energy crisis. However, acquisition strategies like ours can provide an attractive and meaningful lifeline for many smaller operators as strong regional groups of between 30 to 60 care homes can achieve better economies of scale while still maintaining a personal care approach for both residents and staff which larger operators simply can’t deliver.

“I firmly believe the sector is ready for a new type of regional consolidation and our expansion plans will therefore focus on acquiring homes to join the Renaissance Care family, providing more quality, individual care to hundreds more residents across Scotland.”

Starting with just two care homes with 90 employees and a turnover of £2m in 2004, Renaissance Care now employs 1,300 people caring for 800 residents across its 17 care homes throughout Scotland, with an annual turnover of £46m.

Dr Kilgour explained that they are now reaping the benefits of the introduction of a flexible working model in 2022, with staff retention rates far above industry norms, a low staff vacancy rate and very limited use of agency staff.

He continued: “When I suggested introducing a flexible working model, people within the industry told me it would never work. However, as we celebrate 20 years of Renaissance Care, it is clear that treating our staff with the same personalised care that we provide for our residents has resulted in a sector-leading staff retention rates that allow our teams to develop far better relationships with our residents.

“Flexibility around the needs of our staff has allowed for an improved working environment that properly supports our staff and we remain incredibility passionate about accommodating the individual needs of our employees.”