Sharan Dhaliwal launched her Caremark (Cardiff & The Vale of Glamorgan) franchise after a career in the NHS, spanning 25 years.

The former Nurse, Midwife and Health Visitor had a personal encounter of specialist care after her husband was involved in a road traffic accident, sustaining life-threatening injuries. He required around-the-clock, in-home care and Sharan witnessed the devastating impact of poor-quality support in the home.

“I soon realised that the quality and standard of care was generally poor when carers visited our home and I knew then I could do a better job. I spent a year doing research into the domiciliary care sector and decided to combine my background working for the NHS with the new business skills I had picked up whilst running my husband’s retail business. In September 2015, I made the leap from a career in the NHS to launching my Caremark franchise.”

Sharan’s business has gone from strength to strength, with two CIW regulatory inspections passed – Care Inspectorate Wales is the Welsh governing body which inspects and rates care providers, much like the Care Quality Commission – and an ever-expanding team of care workers joining her business on a regular basis.

Sharan puts much of her success down to the detailed planning and research conducted when initially considering the franchise opportunity.

“I had a solid business plan to start with which I reviewed periodically. Plus, I determined simple critical business goals – you have to know where you are going before you get there. Building a successful business depends heavily on how well you work with and relate to others. I mainly listen more than I speak.

“The planning paid off and I exceeded my targets for growth in care hours set for the first year of business. I’ve also taken risks which I feel is key to building a successful business – for example, taking packages of care which are complex and having evidenced positive outcomes for my clients. We are one of the providers of choice with the Local Authority and have a good reputation.”

Sharan’s commitment to providing great quality care to vulnerable people living in her local community continues to drive her to grow the business further. She admits that, without her team, this wouldn’t be possible.

“I continue to foster a competent and caring team who apply Caremark’s aims and objectives in their everyday practice and it gives me great joy to see young care workers having lots of opportunities for progression within my business. In terms of personal achievements, I’m really thriving as a franchisee. I have some important short and long-term goals but, most importantly, I want to be an instrumental part of Caremark’s success.”