The future of a north home care provider has been thrown into doubt after its NHS contract was withdrawn amid concerns over its financial viability.
White Heather Home Care Ltd (WHHC) has been a key player in supporting vulnerable people in their own homes across the north.
But the company, which is based in Caithness and also has an office in Inverness, has had its contract withdrawn by NHS Highland due to concerns about its financial assurance.
Last night the company hit back, accusing the health board of being “misleading” and trying to close down WHHC without justification.
The company has been one of the largest home care providers used by NHS Highland, taking on 3,800 hours of work for the health board in October last year alone – just at the point it was suspended from taking on new referrals.
NHS Highland insisted that contingency plans have been put in place.
A spokeswoman for WHHC acknowledged there had been a “mix up” with HM Revenue and Customs in March 2016 which had resulted in a petition to liquidate the company.
But she said this was resolved and the petition was withdrawn with no debts due.
WHHC said that after this, NHS Highland gave it a “big vote of confidence” by commissioning more hours of work from the company – up from 2,500 hours in April to 3,800 by October.
However, White Heather was then suspended from taking new clients on October 11.
The company said the health board investigation “has not been fair and appropriate”, insisting it was in profit at the end of October.
The spokeswoman said: “At no time was the company threatened with a suspension and in fact were doing new package reviews the day before suspension which we had recruited and trained to.
“The actions of immediate suspension on behalf of NHS Highland actually put service users at very high risk in the days and weeks following October 11 as no arrangements were in place to support those service users apart from WHHC being ready so to do.”
The company and health board have been in dialogue since but NHS Highland said it had not received sufficient assurances.
WHHC, which was named “young business of the year 2016” by the Caithness Chamber of Commerce, said the futures of more than 50 staff were now in doubt.
The company said: “NHS Highland stated on numerous occasions that they were worried about the service which is why they suspended WHHC.
“This is illogical as the company was trading well and the actions of NHSH show very conflicting aspirations. They commissioned us to grow and grow which we did to meet the needs of the service and then with no justification they have arbitrarily terminated our contract destroying a business that has worked tirelessly for the service users and staff.”
An NHS Highland spokeswoman said: “It is critical that wherever there is any doubt about the viability of service that assurances are sought from providers to ensure the services will continue and that vulnerable individuals are not placed at risk.
“This includes absolute assurance on financial robustness.
“NHS Highland has been in dialogue with White Heather Home Care Ltd for a number of months to seek financial assurance in relation to the company.
“While information has been provided it has not provided the assurance sought and as such a decision was taken in October last year to suspend new referrals to the provider.
“Further communication has taken place but with assurance still not achieved we have this month given White Heather Home Care Ltd a 13 week notice for termination of contract.”
She added that the board would work to ensure services continue without interruption.
Liz Gordon, GMB officer for the Highlands, said: “We have been raising the difficulties of care sector privatisation with the NHS and MPs for some time now.
“The problems we are told are complex but really they boil down to cost, culture and organisation.”
