Pictured above: (l-r) Alan Darby, tax director for Wright Hassall, Sarah Day, head of HR consultancy for Wright Hassall, Shelia Scott, CEO National Care Association, John Rouse, partner at Wright Hassall

A Midlands law firm has received praise from a national healthcare figure after staging its inaugural care conference.

Wright Hassall brought together a host of speakers from the healthcare community to provide advice and support for care home owners and operators with practical tips on how to operate their businesses more effectively, protecting themselves from risk and saving costs.

Sheila Scott, chief executive of the National Care Association, said it had been an excellent conference.

"It was a terrific event and I really enjoyed it," she said. "There were a wide variety of speakers to be heard and I feel this contributed to the strength of the event.

"What I found particularly useful were the various solicitors from Wright Hassall who spoke about the different departments they work in because I learnt quite a lot from them.

"I would be interested in being involved with future events organised by Wright Hassall and I know from talking to some of the people who attended on behalf of the care homes, that they really valued the information they gained."

Mark Miller, partner at Wright Hassall, was another of the key speakers, felt the feedback had been extremely positive.

He said: "We come across a lot of people within this industry as part of our day-to-day work advising care home owners and operators.

"We were able to bring together a number of high-profile speakers including the Care Quality Commission's Compliance Manager.

"Compliance is a very hot topic for the care sector at the moment so we were pleased that the CQC were able talk through their plans for the future and what it means to care homes.  

"Overall the event went very well and considering it was the first time we had run a conference of this kind, it was well attended.

"The Care Sector is under considerable pressure from a compliance and regulatory perspective.

"Keeping up-to-date is essential for all care homes managers and owners and due to the success and overwhelmingly positive feedback we received, we are thinking of running similar seminars every six months."

For more information about Wright Hassall, please visit their website here: www.wrighthassall.co.uk