Ameet Kotecha on Why Care Home Culture Matters Most
By Ameet Kotecha , Founder, Boutique Care Homes
You can have the best policies in the world. The most comprehensive procedures. A filing cabinet full of care plans and compliance documents. But if your team doesn’t genuinely care, none of it matters.
I learned this early. You can teach someone how to help with medication or mobility. You can train clinical skills. What you can’t teach is heart. That’s the difference between a service and a feeling, and in care, feeling is everything.
At Boutique Care Homes, our success isn’t rooted in what we do. It’s rooted in who does it. Our team’s warmth and dedication are the reason residents, and their families choose us. That’s why building the right culture isn’t just important, it’s the foundation of everything.
Culture Starts With Values, Not Rules
When we were growing from one home to three, then four, I faced a challenge I didn’t anticipate. How do you take something as intangible as a feeling, that warmth you sense the moment you walk through the door, and turn it into words everyone understands?
It took time. We listened closely to feedback from colleagues, residents, families, and our wider community. Their insights helped us formalize what became our BOUTIQUE values:
- Belonging: A home where you belong and are loved as part of the Boutique family
- Openness: Transparent, honest care where you are listened to and respected
- United: A united family coming together to create something extraordinary
- Trust: Building relationships based on trust and respect
- Involvement: Involving and empowering you to live your life in a way that is right for you
- Quality: At the heart of everything we do
- Uniqueness: A unique home where we celebrate you as an individual
- Embrace: We embrace our ethos ‘A warm and loving family where everyone feels at home’
These aren’t posters on a wall. They’re lived out every day in how our teams interact with residents, with families, and with each other. When you hire for heart and reinforce it with values, culture takes care of itself.
Hire for Heart, Train for Skills
I’ve said this for years: hire for heart first.
I’ve seen it time and again, team members who go beyond their job descriptions simply because of who they are. During the pandemic, one of our Home Managers was struggling with Covid herself but still picked up the phone daily to check on residents, making certain they were safe and cared for. That’s not something you can put in a training manual.
More recently, when one of our managers got married, something remarkable happened. The team brought the celebration to the care home, recreating the wedding day. A resident who’d been with us from the beginning walked the manager down the aisle and delivered a speech that brought everyone to tears.
Those moments don’t happen because of policies. They happen because of people who genuinely care.
That’s what I look for when we’re hiring. Does this person share our vision? Will they see residents as individuals? Do they understand that this isn’t just a job, it’s about creating a home where people feel valued, respected, and loved?
When you get the people right, everything else follows.
The One Team Approach
Our team is defined by collaboration. We call it the “one team” approach, activities, care, housekeeping, management, everyone working together to create a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere that enriches residents’ lives.
This isn’t just feel-good language. It’s practical. When housekeeping notices a resident seems quieter than usual, they mention it to care staff. When activities coordinators spot someone struggling with mobility, they loop in the care team. Everyone looks out for everyone.
Visitors often tell us they immediately feel part of the Boutique family when they walk through the door. That’s not because we’ve trained our team to smile on command. It’s because the warmth is real, and it radiates through everything we do.
Recognition and Growth Fuel Culture
You can’t expect people to stay passionate if you don’t recognise their contributions or invest in their development.
We’ve built recognition into the fabric of how we operate. A “thanks” app where colleagues celebrate each other. WOW Cards for exceptional care moments. Team recognition awards that highlight outstanding contributions. These aren’t HR initiatives, they’re genuine celebrations of the people who make magic happen every day.
We also focus on nurturing internal talent through upskilling programs and career development opportunities. I’m consistently impressed by the range of projects and qualifications our colleagues pursue. Many of the most innovative ideas originate from our team members, insights and contributions that wouldn’t have occurred to me without their input.
The results speak for themselves. Our team retention is among the highest in the sector, 98% at the time of writing this. When people feel valued and supported, they stay, and they do their best work.
Culture Is What Residents Experience
Here’s the truth: residents don’t experience our policies. They experience our culture.
They experience it when a team member sits down for a chat instead of rushing through tasks. When their favourite song gets played because someone remembered. Culture is what turns a care home into a home. It’s what makes families look forward to visits instead of dreading them. It’s what makes residents wake up with purpose, not just routine.
Every Boutique Care Home that’s been inspected by the CQC has earned a Good rating across all categories, safe, effective, caring, responsive, well-led. But I’m prouder of what those ratings represent: a culture where exceptional people are empowered to do exceptional work.
The Bottom Line
Policies matter. Procedures matter. Compliance matters. But they’re the baseline, not the goal.
Great care happens when you hire people who genuinely care, give them a culture rooted in shared values, recognize their contributions, and empower them to grow. That’s when magic happens. That’s when residents thrive, families trust you, and teams stay.
Because at the end of the day, care isn’t about what you do. It’s about how you make people feel. And that starts with the people doing the caring.
About Ameet Kotecha
Ameet Kotecha is the Founder and Managing Director of Boutique Care Homes, an award-winning group of care homes across South East England. Since founding Boutique Care Homes in 2019, Ameet Kotecha has championed family-centred care, life enrichment, and team culture excellence. Under Ameet Kotecha’s leadership, Boutique Care Homes has earned multiple national awards including Care Home Group (Small) of the Year at the 25th and 27th National Care Awards. Ameet Kotecha’s vision is rooted in personal experience caring for family members and a commitment to ensuring every resident lives life to the full.
Click here to read more about Boutique Care Home’ Founder Ameet Kotecha.