A Family-Owned Approach To Scaling Care

Dr Hannah MacKechnie, managing director and co-founder of Radfield Home Care, reflects on building a national care franchise from its roots in Shropshire. Drawing on her upbringing in her family’s care home, she explains why ownership, quality and long-term thinking have determined the company’s growth. Here, she sets out how remaining family-owned continues to influence the way Radfield operates and expands.

Alex and I grew up around our parents’ care home in Shropshire, and that experience shaped how we see this sector. We watched our mum build a culture where staff felt valued and residents were known as individuals. It was never only about running a business; it was about creating an environment where people felt safe, respected and properly supported. That belief still underpins Radfield today. If you look after your people well, they will look after your clients well in return.

When we founded Radfield Home Care in 2008, we based it in Shrewsbury because it is home and because it made sense for us personally. We both moved back to the area, and for a period, we ran the new home care business alongside the existing care home. Being rooted in Shropshire has never felt like a limitation. Our franchise partners come to see us here, they meet the wider team who support them, and they understand that we are accessible. As we have grown, we have not felt the need to relocate simply for appearances.

In the early years we expanded through company-owned offices across Shropshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire and Cheshire. That model allowed us to test and refine our systems, but over time we began to see its constraints. We had strong regional managers who were capable and committed, yet there is a difference between being very good in a role and carrying full responsibility for a business. What became clear to us was that the gap was not skill; it was ownership.

Running a care business requires constant attention to quality, thoughtful people management and sustained local business development. Those demands rarely sit comfortably together in an employed structure. Franchising offered a different alignment - the person leading the business locally is investing their own capital and reputation, and that changes the level of focus and accountability. For us, it created a way to grow without loosening our standards, because we were partnering with people who were motivated to build something of their own within a proven framework.

When people hear the word ‘franchise’, they sometimes assume light-touch oversight. In care, that simply is not possible. Compliance with CQC requirements, safeguarding processes, training structures and brand standards are set centrally and are not optional. Our franchise partners often say that this clarity is reassuring. They are not starting from scratch or interpreting regulation alone; they are building on a model that has already been tested.

That structure is backed by dedicated teams. Our quality and compliance team carries out audits and delivers ongoing training and support. Our business performance team works with partners on planning and financial oversight, while marketing support covers both digital activity and local outreach. We made an early decision that we would rather grow steadily, with the right level of support in place, than expand quickly and risk stretching the centre too thinly. The ratio of support team members to offices reflects that approach.

The outcomes give us a useful measure of whether the system is working. Every CQC-assessed office in our network is rated Good or Outstanding, and franchisee satisfaction has been recognised with consecutive Workbuzz Five-Star awards. Those indicators matter more to us than headline office numbers, because they show that quality and commercial performance are aligned.

Remaining family-owned influences the way we make decisions. In a sector where some larger networks are backed by private equity or overseas groups, it is common to see strategies influenced by relatively short investment horizons. We do not operate against an exit timeline. That means we can slow territory sales if necessary, decline prospective partners who are not the right fit and prioritise steady, sustainable growth over rapid expansion.

We also think carefully about longevity. Franchise partners sign 10-year agreements and deserve confidence in the direction of the business. Over time we have built a strong management team so that Alex and I are increasingly focused on long-term strategy rather than day-to-day operations. Investment in technology forms part of that thinking, particularly where it improves efficiency and visibility across the network without compromising care quality. For franchise partners, the most impactful form of succession planning is a model that remains profitable, compliant and trusted locally.

Working together as siblings has required clarity and discipline. In the early stages there was a tendency for both of us to be involved in everything, which can create confusion for teams. We have learned to divide responsibilities according to our strengths. My medical background and operational focus sit alongside Alex’s strength in strategy, brand and communications, and that separation provides clearer leadership internally. We encourage the same clarity among franchise partners who enter the business with a spouse or friend, because well-defined roles at the outset tend to prevent tension later.

Looking ahead, the home care sector will face both opportunity and pressure. Demographic trends point to rising demand, but increasing employment costs and regulatory requirements will continue to challenge margins, particularly for providers reliant on local authority funding. We operate in the private-pay market, which allows fees to move in line with genuine cost increases and supports continued investment in our teams. That positioning is as much about stability as it is about growth.

From a single operation in Shrewsbury to a national network, the central idea has not changed. We focus on quality, ensure that ownership sits locally and make decisions with the long term in mind. Scale matters, but only if it is sustainable, and our aim has always been to build a business that will still be strong many years from now.