10 minute read
A CHANCE FOR LIFE
As A Chance for Life marks its 20th anniversary, NR Times learns how the case management and rehabilitation business has grown into a leader in the North of England, and continues to grow and develop as it enters its third decade
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From starting life in the spare bedroom of Louise Chance’s home in 2002 as a means to continue her love of supporting people with brain injury, case management company A Chance for Life has grown beyond all expectations over the past two decades - not least Louise’s. “It was just me, the plan was never to employ anybody,” recalls Louise. “But then as I got busier, my next door neighbour came in and did a little bit of secretarial work, and that was it. “Gradually you realise you need support. There were some peers who asked to join me and we formed a very small team, which has gradually expanded over the years to where we are today.” Now, A Chance for Life Ltd has a team of around 80 people across the North of England and Scotland, with case managers, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and rehabilitation support workers working with adults and children with complex life-changing injury. Having celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2022, the progress of the Cumbria-based business shows no signs of slowing down, with its acquisition of Neurocare Physiotherapy in 2021 and the impending creation of its OWL Barn service to continue to improve lives through specialist rehabilitation both highlighting the ambition of A Chance for Life in planning for the future. “I'll always be looking for opportunities for us to do even more, go even further,” says Louise. “My mum had her own market stall business and I was brought up on there from a very early age. I had all sorts of businesses before I was even 16, so it’s just in me, I think. “We’ll never be standing still, that’s for sure.”
The background that inspired a business
Having worked as an occupational therapist since 1988, Louise had become an established name in brain injury rehabilitation in and around Manchester. Working at key sites including the renowned neuro-rehab specialist Highbank Centre in Bury, with the turn of the millennium, Louise began looking for her next move. “I loved working in brain injury, I absolutely adore brain injury, but I realised I wanted to fulfil more of what I knew I could do without being constrained by somebody else’s business model,” says Louise. “I didn’t want the constraints of a manager or organisation with goals or targets, it was about me setting those myself and knowing what I needed and wanted to deliver. “I felt I had a good clinical background and was very privileged in some of the places I had worked, and in 2002, it felt like the right time. It wasn’t an overnight thing, but over time I could feel things coming together.” By the early 2000s, case management was becoming more known and accepted within the world of personal injury, having previously been prominent in the United States, but not widely adopted within the UK. “There was really quite a buzz in the brain injury and medico-legal world at that time,” says Louise. “There was a real explosion in research from the late 1990s, which meant we knew and understood much better what we could achieve in rehabilitation.” “So it was a very timely way of starting my business, there was a lot of good energy around and it felt like the right time.” Initially based at Louise’s home in Bolton, supporting clients in an increasingly wide geographical area, A Chance for Life took on its Cumbrian roots when Louise was tasked with producing an acquired brain injury pathway for Lancashire and Cumbria. “This really showed me that there was a need for more training, some co-ordination, we needed more specialists in Cumbria for the treatment of ABI in particular,” she recalls. “While it is a very challenging place to start a small business, in a rural area without much infrastructure, it was clear the resource was very much needed.”
Specialist support across the North
In moving to Penrith, A Chance for Life has brought vital and much-needed provision in brain injury and complex care to Cumbria and the wider North of England. With a team of specialist case managers and therapists, and a separate team of rehabilitation support workers, the business has worked with clients as far afield as Inverness, the Isle of Man and everywhere in between to bring high quality, person-centred support and rehabilitation to those living with life-changing injury. Its core case management business continues to win new clients based on the strength of its reputation; a reputation which is shared by the specialist occupational therapy and neurophysiotherapy services the team also offer. The business is also a stand-out name in the sector through its provision of in-house, CQC-registered rehabilitation support work, with its specialist team established in 2011. In 2021, the team delivered 52,660 hours of rehabilitation support.
While many working in healthcare struggle to find support workers amidst the ongoing recruitment crisis and growing pressure on resources, the fact A Chance for Life has its own dedicated team means they regularly work with a host of businesses across the sector - including other case management companies. “I saw an opportunity to develop the support side of the business, and directly employ our own support workers, driven by need. If we hadn’t, we would struggle to carry out the therapy and the case management with some of our clients in Cumbria, because we were lacking that skillset,” says Louise. “We provide anything from 24-hour packages to smaller packages of around 16 hours a week, and that has now grown into about half of the business. I’m very proud of the work we do here, and the need we are helping to meet through the excellent work of our team.” While the business has developed over the past 20 years, so too has its team, with several longserving members of staff who have grown and developed with A Chance for Life. “We've been able to provide career progression for our support workers in particular, there are a number of staff who have progressed as they gain skills and experience, they move into team leader positions in areas of responsibility,” says Louise. “We have one person who started as a support worker, she went to team leader, and she's now my registered manager. We believe in supporting our people to develop their skills and do the best they can in their role and their careers.” And as well as its team and clients, Louise is also keen for her business to support its local community in Cumbria by becoming an advice and signposting resource for anyone who needs it. “With the Cumbria hub, I want people to pick up the phone and say ‘I’ve seen this on your website, can you tell me where to find this, can you help with this?’,” says Louise. “I’ve always wanted us to be an organisation where people can ask us something and we’ll signpost and point them in the right direction. I want people to use our expertise to help them and their families when they need it.”
The challenge of - and response to - COVID-19
While the challenges along the way in building a business are many and frequent over the past 20 years, Louise points to COVID-19 as being the most significant. “While in the early days of the business, when I was setting up our Cumbria hub in a very rural area with little resource to support our service and a lack of infrastructure, that was a challenge. I’m very pleased I did it, but it was a huge challenge,” says Louise. “But with COVID, it was a challenge like no other, like nothing any of us had seen, and beyond anything we could have planned for. It was certainly the biggest test for me as a businesswoman and as a clinician.” When the pandemic hit in March 2020, many businesses closed their doors, others retracted or condensed services, and countless more struggled to cope with the unprecedented challenges and guidance that changed almost by the day. But for Louise, it demonstrated the strength of the infrastructure of the business, and how well shaped it was to respond to the most unforeseen of circumstances. “We were able to maintain our service throughout COVID. Our office was open, we were issuing PPE left, right and centre - in the early says paying £100 for a box of gloves! - and making sure our staff were safe, our clients were safe, and our service was still being delivered,” she says. “The admin team were in every day, offices rearranged and meeting rooms repurposed to allow for distancing, the rotas were all managed, nothing slipped. That is the backbone of our whole operation and because that was strong, our service remained strong. “I am so proud of the work we did. We had over 100 clients out there relying on us, we had 24hour packages that were maintained all the way through. If we had a client who needed overnight care who got COVID, then our staff would stay with them throughout. “It was a privilege to be able to be with our clients during that time, it was very humbling. We were able to support clients through COVID during times when families were not able to visit, we were playing a very privileged role. “But we got through it with real teamwork. Teamwork within the business and then, once we could work with the families again through the creation of support bubbles, teamwork with the families. “It was quite phenomenal and it does make me emotional thinking about it. The responsibility for staff livelihoods, for client and staff safety, was huge, but despite the challenge, we did get through it. I am a big believer in looking after each other and am really proud of the work we did during that time.”
Continuing to grow and develop
Having marked its 20th anniversary year - with celebrations continuing until May 2023, which will raise money for the Great North Air Ambulance - A Chance for Life has taken a welcome opportunity to reflect on its many achievements. But with so many exciting plans yet to come, the achievements look set to continue. With the acquisition of Neurocare Physiotherapy, which has worked across the North West since 2003 - and whose own 20th anniversary is this year - A Chance for Life broadened its offering further, building on its core services to now be able to offer highly specialist physiotherapy treatment for people with a wide range of neurological conditions including stroke, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. Work is also underway to create the OWL (Onward With Life) Barn in Cumbria. This will be a social enterprise, which will focus on a range of recreational activities to support rehabilitation including cooking, horticulture, woodwork and animal husbandry. “It’s going to be somewhere for people with complex injury for assessment, treatment and a social community. All of our work will be therapy-led, underpinned by clinical reasoning,” says Louise. “This is a very exciting project, we’ve been planning it for a long time and work began just before COVID hit, so it has taken a while - but we are looking forward to unveiling it in the coming months.” And while A Chance for Life continues to develop its resource, the now 20-year- old business is also concentrating on the development of its own infrastructure to help lead it into the years ahead. “I think when you get to this stage, you do have to look at the sustainability of the business, building up the skill mix so we can carry on for many years to come,” says Louise. “We’re building the infrastructure and increasing the skillset at a leadership level, so it is not reliant on me. We have the systems in place now and I’m keen to carve out a bit of time so I can do some research. “But we will continue to look for the opportunities, like I’ve always done, and continue to do what we do for our clients.We’ll never be standing still.”
