HAPPY birthday to award-winning homecare company marking ten years in business

A Gloucestershire company, which was born out of a need for homecare for a family member, is celebrating its tenth anniversary.

DoCare, based in Stroud, was the brainchild of Steve and Una Mills, who saw a need for more homecare provision in the county when they were unable to source support for Una’s elderly father.

In 2004 the business consisted of Steve and Una working from home.

Ten years on and as well as the headquarters in Stroud, there are six locality offices – in Cheltenham, Cirencester, Dursley, Gloucester, Witney and Yate; the company employs more than 130 staff, and supports more than 300 private and social services referred clients in Bristol, Gloucestershire, South Gloucestershire and West Oxfordshire.

Over the decade, DoCare has delivered more than 564,000 hours’ support and made nearly a million visits.

“I never imagined ten years ago that we’d come as far as we have,” said Steve, DoCare’s Development Director.

“We needed support for my father-in-law, Gilbert, but there was nothing available and the council had a huge waiting list.

We went out on a limb and set up our own business, but the first year was very difficult, learning everything from scratch and delivering support ourselves.”

Now Steve, Una and their General Manager Sue Mothershaw, who has been with DoCare since 2005, are surrounded by a strong, award-winning team including current Great British Care Award South West winner Natasha Richardson and former National Dementia Carer of the Year Kerry-Ann Lees.

Last year DoCare won two Gloucestershire Business of the Year awards.

Una, Operations Director, said: “Much of the success of DoCare is down to our fantastic team and the dedication they have towards making every day a better day for our clients.

We plan to celebrate our anniversary with them in the summer and look forward to making this, our tenth year, the best yet.”