Family Run Domiciliary Care Company

Some of our health and social care clients are family-run businesses specialising in a particular element, such as paediatrics or learning difficulties, whilst others offer a broad range of services which can include domiciliary care, end of life care, day and night care, specialist dementia care, domestic services and live-in carers. We have completed bids for these types of services into many local authorities across the UK.

This case study focuses upon a medium-sized domiciliary care provider who wished to submit a domiciliary care tender in the Midlands. As ever, the emphasis was on personalisation, outcome-based planning and reablement. These are key points to address in all submissions and we worked with the client from the first day of the project to ensure that all responses were as strong and evidence-driven as possible.

This project was delivered by Matthew Walker with all writing and project management delivered remotely. In addition, we assisted in writing the business plan which had to be included in the quality submission. This ensured that the client received comprehensive support throughout the tender process.

The tender contained a large number of questions, most having a 600 word limit. This made the drafting of responses difficult, fitting a large amount of information into a word limit whilst still making it both readable and relevant. In domiciliary care, or home care, this is especially challenging as this is a service which can be complex given the wide range of legislation, regulation and best practice guidance in place. As a result, we work closely with clients to ensure that we obtain all relevant supporting information so that it can be fitted into any page, word and character limits.

In this case, we decided to deconstruct each question down to its constituent parts and then assign a specific word limit to each sub-section. An example question is provided below:

‘Please describe how your organisation will deliver outcome based approaches to increase independence, encourage the development of daily living skills and decrease reliance upon paid support over time.’

By dividing our answer into three parts, we ensured there was equal focus on each element of the question, that we answered each part of the question and that it was clear to the evaluator that we had considered each response very carefully. As a result of this approach we were able to make the whole submission as strong as possible by answering the questions fully, and supporting our answers with relevant evidence. To gain the relevant information from the client, we carried out two telephone interviews, which were recorded. We needed to cover a lot of questions with the registered manager of the company, and got some great information. Matthew then went through the information to dissect the most important parts for our responses, to ensure the bid was tailored to the client, using the most specific pieces to adhere to the restrictive word limits.

Main Strengths

• The company was able to provide strong case studies, examples and supporting documents to strengthen each question fully.
• The company were experienced in the sector, having won a similar domiciliary care tender in the region
• There was a desire from the client to avoid complacency, and to refresh the bid to make it as strong as possible. This included thoroughly checking the submission and providing guidance on improvements to incorporate before finalising it. The process was a real team effort.

The submission was completed to the highest possible standards thanks to the close working relationship between the two writers and the client. The client was successful in bidding for the contract. This has allowed them to grow and develop as a company, and they wish to maintain our working relationship when bidding on all future opportunities.