Care UK: Martin Friend

Martin Friend, Care UK
Martin Friend

Care UK has appointed Martin Friend to the newly created role of chief operating officer, effective from January, reporting to chief executive Andrew Knight.

Friend will be responsible for operations across the business, particularly for transitioning the 26 Sunrise and Gracewell homes which come under Care UK’s management next month.

Friend has been chief operating officer at Nuffield Health since 2017 where was instrumental in integrating a number of acquisitions, including Virgin Active and, more recently, Aspen Healthcare. Before that, he was responsible for Nuffield’s fitness and wellbeing services, a role he took up in 2009 after working in the leisure, telecommunications and sporting sectors.

Knight said: “The addition of this role into our business is a natural evolution given our ever-increasing scale. I have no doubt Martin’s experience, energy and his fresh perspective will bring a valuable contribution to our future growth plans, particularly our focus on expanding our role as a quality provider of homes for people funding their own care. I look forward to working with him to build on the great work of our operational teams and deliver on our longer-term operational strategy.”

Friend commented: “The arrival of teams from Sunrise and Gracewell, alongside Care UK’s already ambitious development programme, make this a fantastic time to be joining the company. My first priority will be to meet as many of the operations team as I can to really understand the challenges of the business and how we can best deliver on the company’s long-term goals.”

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