“I’m very proud of the services we provide”
Braeburn Care prides itself on offering dependable, compassionate, high-quality and bespoke at-home private care services. Eileen Leahy meets its founder and CEO Harriet Smith to discover more about this award-winning business which is redefining the way personal care is delivered…
Harriet Smith possesses quite the impressive corporate CV. Not only is she CEO of Braeburn Care, an award-winning domiciliary care business, she is also the CEO of Sammons Recruitment Group and an alumna of the prestigious Goldman Sachs 10K Small Business education programme. She also won this publication’s Entrepreneur of the Year award at our inaugural business awards last December.
I’m pleased to say Harriet has found time in her very busy schedule to talk to me about Braeburn Care which has its headquarters here in Tunbridge Wells and services clients in the local area as well as Tonbridge, Sevenoaks and Crowborough.
“I built my career in the healthcare sector, gaining extensive experience managing and launching organisations, including SMEs, franchises, and entities within the NHS. This led me to launch and manage Braeburn Care, a multi-site domiciliary care business,” she explains.
Harriet says that with ‘just an idea, a laptop and a lot of guts,’ she got to work on launching the business in 2014. The name if you’re wondering is inspired by her dad Martyn’s favourite apple variety.
“He has been instrumental in supporting me over the years,” says Harriet.
Braeburn Care’s success grew exponentially and the business went on to be one of the largest care providers across West Kent, offering everything from bespoke personalised care to specialist dementia support.
“We had three offices covering Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge, Sevenoaks, Dartford, Gravesend and Swanley. And at one point we employed 86 members of staff. It was a very large organisation but it was heavily reliant on me which unfortunately took its toll on my health,” reveals Harriet.
Her dad, who was approaching retirement at the time, suggested they explore going into business together on the proviso that Harriet first built the leadership structure needed to step back from the day-to-day running of Braeburn Care. Recognising the importance of strong management, Harriet focused on strengthening the team and appointing an Operations Manager to oversee the service.
With those foundations established, Harriet and her dad were able to pool their experience and skillsets to explore new opportunities together. That journey ultimately led them to acquire Sammons Recruitment Group, with offices across the South East, in 2019 – marking the start of their wider business partnership.
“It was of course just a few short months before COVID hit and although I had trained someone to replace me at Braeburn Care after a while she told me she couldn’t do it anymore,” adds Harriet.
And that’s when she made the difficult decision to close that chapter of Braeburn Care, taking the lessons and experience forward into her next venture.
“I met with Kent County Council and the NHS and they couldn’t believe it because we had such a good reputation and had worked with them for so long.”
Harriet did due diligence by her staff and customers by finding them alterative jobs and providers.
Then in 2023 Harriet was accepted onto the prestigious Goldman Sachs 10K Small Business programme which equips students with the tools to grow sustainably and unlock their full potential. Harriet credits this with being the catalyst for relaunching Braeburn Care.
So she picked up the phone to her original Senior Management Team who all agreed to return.
“There was one big condition though and that was for me not to be involved at the level I had been previously,” continues Harriet.
And now two years later, Braeburn Care is enjoying another successful run after Harriet scaled back the areas it covers and gave her management team more responsibility.
Although the business has finally been registered by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after many months of pursuing the organisation, they are still awaiting their official inspection.
“This means that although we can now carry out our personal care services we can’t currently work with Kent County Council or the NHS. Neither will certify you until you’ve had your first rating from the CQC – and I totally agree with that – but it’s just frustrating that it’s taking so long.”
And that’s why Harriet has had to think outside of the box getting Braeburn Care’s name out there given she can’t go down the traditional referral route at present.
“While waiting for the inspection I have done a lot of business development and professional networking. I have also encouraged my staff to go out into the community. In this day and age you can’t sit in your office and wait for the phone to ring so it’s important to make those connections.”
One quick glance at the very impressive Braeburn Care website also shows that Harriet has worked hard on getting the business visible online too.
There’s extremely comprehensive information about the myriad services the company offers and an engaging news feed where you can read all about Braeburn Care’s unique approach to what they do.
All staff receive expert in-house training in order to ensure the best responsive and reliable care for clients.
“We have been consistent and proactive in everything we do and I’m exceptionally proud of what we have achieved so far.”
Tel: 01892 577 680
Email: enquiries@braeburncare.co.uk
Website: www.braeburncare.co.uk
