Care UK make savings with de Poel

THE NUMBER ONE procurer of temporary agency labour de Poel has joined forces with Care UK during the last part of 2010 to help reduce temporary agency costs; so far the relationship has blossomed for both parties.

Care UK, a leading independent provider of health and social care, are the 15th in a string of new care clients for the managed service provider, and in doing so are de Poel's biggest care client since they began trading in 2001.

Working with de Poel to rationalise their supply of agency labour, Care UK aims to cut costs whilst maintaining the 'quality care' that has become synonymous with the Care UK brand.

Indeed, early indications are that 12% net savings will be achieved on agency labour costs by working with de Poel.  Care UK has plans to reallocate the money to more critical frontline care work.

By utilising de Poel's unique timesheet and invoice-processing system e-tips®, they now also have better access to crucial management information at both a national and regional level, and in doing so will reduce the number of invoices processed from approximately 12,000 to just 52 per year.

Group Procurement Director at Care UK, Christoph Marr, said: "I am delighted to be working with de Poel.  Saving money and increasing visibility of our spend in this area is of course important to Care UK, but our primary concern is to uphold the quality of care we provide and our ability to offer tailor-made service solutions to our customers; using the de Poel solution allows Care UK to strike the right balance.  Their expertise in the agency marketplace, coupled with their appreciation of the specific needs of the care industry, has given us confidence in their ability to deliver exactly what they said they would."

Working in close partnership with local authorities, PCTs and SHAs to provide care and support for over 25 years, Care UK now employs 13,743 members of staff in the UK and provides primary and secondary healthcare, residential, mental health, learning disabilities and community care services to thousands of service users every day in the UK.  This area of health and social care is a first for the de Poel organisation. 

Speaking about the partnership with Care UK, Chief Executive of de Poel, Matthew Sanders, said: "Care UK is one of the largest and best providers of health and social care in the UK right now, and we are extremely proud to be working with them.  The care industry is a growing market for us and the organisations themselves are fast becoming some of our most loyal customers. Not only do they benefit from savings and more formal regulation of agency suppliers, but they really appreciate our ability to relieve the administrative burden associated with agency recruitment, as it gives them more time and resource for more important things, such as the frontline care work.