‘We’ll take those in care on day trips – for less than the price of a taxi’

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/feb/22/residential-social-care-day-trips-minibus

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When Ben Allen was struggling to get a meeting with someone to talk about his latest venture, he found out they were selling a car. So he arranged to see it, went for a lengthy test drive and used the opportunity to pitch his idea to the captive owner and talk him into getting involved. The only snag was that he had to agree to buy the car.

It was, Allen reflects, a small price to pay to sell his ambitious plan for a fleet of 300 minibuses that, he predicts, will transform the lives of people living in residential care by making outings affordable, frequent and fun. The first five vehicles “sold out” – became fully booked for a year – in just two weeks. The next 20 are now on order. Up to 100 are expected to be on the road within 12 months, rising to 300 by 2020, in a £9.5m programme across Britain.

Allen, a qualified personal trainer, has come a long way since the day in 2011 when he crossed the road from his parents’ hotel in Scarborough and knocked on the door of a local care home, asking the manager to let him run an exercise class for the residents. Not only would it be a great success, he guaranteed, but it would change the care sector for ever.

Still just 31, Allen has never been short on confidence. It is a quality that has helped him to garner a clutch of awards and attract a formidable group of backers for his social enterprise, Oomph! Wellness, which claims to reach more than 1,000 care homes and other residential settings, including sheltered housing, and to be delivering about 40,000 exercise and activity classes a year.

The model has evolved over six years of trading. Allen began by sending exercise leaders into care homes, but soon realised that the cost of classes could be cut by 90% – enabling homes to run them several times a week – if Oomph! trained and licensed care-home staff to run the classes themselves. In 2015-16, it trained 792 staff in exercise techniques and 303 in activities leadership.

The same thinking on cost reduction has shaped the minibus scheme, Oomph! Out and About, which began to come together in Allen’s mind as he realised that many care-home residents rarely left the premises – even if their home had a minibus of its own.

“We got frustrated that what we were doing was all about life inside the home and we started exploring why it was so difficult to get residents out,” Allen says. “I was blown away by how hard and confusing the whole thing was.”

Research for Oomph! by consultancy Deloitte found that while 55% of for-profit care homes claimed to provide a minibus service, either with their own vehicle or one that was hired, the average cost was £1,800 a month for, typically, two trips. It was hard to find drivers – and was time-consuming to plan itineraries and check destinations for safety and facilities. Some homes seemed to keep a vehicle mainly to impress residents’ families and care inspectors.

Under Oomph!’s scheme, homes will be able to book a minibus for a half-day trip for eight people for £160 – “cheaper than a taxi,” Allen boasts – and the cost will include full preparation by a “conductor” who will not only drive, but also plan the outing according to residents’ wishes and undertake all checks.

A three-month pilot in Surrey and Hampshire, using vehicles provided by a bus operator who happened to be that car seller, proved highly successful. Care-home residents chose to visit Kew Gardens, museums, galleries, markets, pubs, farms and church services. Because of the low cost, Allen believes that any home should be able to join the scheme without charging residents: one of the first care groups to sign up is Hica, on Humberside, whose residents are overwhelmingly state-funded. “If they can do it, anyone can,” he says.

The minibuses are being leased, so all maintenance is taken care of, and they’ll be fitted out according to Oomph!’s exact specification. They will, for instance, be fully wheelchair accessible and have toughened windows so they are safe for younger adults whose behaviour may be challenging. Recruitment of conductors will be critical, Allen agrees, and he is looking for people first and foremost with the right qualities – “people who will make you smile” – who can be trained to drive and taught the other skills required. The 300 conductors and regional managers for Out and About will add considerably to Oomph!’s current payroll of 26 and could potentially quadruple its £1m-plus turnover within 12 months. It’s a big step up and there are those within the care business who worry that Allen doesn’t fully grasp the risks in a sector characterised by extremely high staff turnover and (currently) thin margins.

Against that, the youthful Oomph! team is overseen by a board now including several experienced care sector hands, notably chair Mike Parsons who founded Barchester Healthcare and who is chipping in to the £1.5m equity investment needed to get Out and About off the ground. Other investors include Nesta, which backs new ideas to tackle social problems, and Social Finance UK.

Allen, who retains a controlling interest in Oomph!, says no one will be seeing a return on their money anytime soon. First call on any profit, as written into Oomph!’s articles, is reinvestment in Oomph!’s social cause, which is still the motivating factor behind Allen’s relentless drive.

“I was at a care home last week, a brilliant home, and I was chatting to a resident who said, ‘I absolutely love it here, but I haven’t had the wind in my face for weeks’. If we can make that possible, that’s the victory.”

CV

Age: 31.

Lives: Wimbledon, south London.

Family: partner.

Education: McLaren High school, Callander, Stirling; University of Hull, BA sports and leisure management.

Career: 2011-present: founder and chief executive, Oomph! Wellness; 2010-11: lecturer, European Institute of Fitness, Alicante, Spain; 2009-10: personal trainer; 2007-09: teacher, English Venture language school, Scarborough.

Interests: Cycling, surfing, outdoors fitness, travel.