Scott Falconer HCPC — Founder and CEO
I’m old enough to just remember the 1970s. I grew up in Dunfermline and then moved around a fair bit — Edinburgh, then London, then as far north as Thurso and Aberdeen — before eventually settling back in Edinburgh where I live now. I’m happily married with two children, both currently at high school.
Outside of work my only real hobby is keeping fit. I used to be a keen road cyclist and triathlete, but these days most of my time on two wheels is downhill mountain biking — something my son got me into, and which still terrifies me at times.
Q&A — Meet the Founder of 1st Focus Homecare
1. What led you to start 1st Focus Homecare?
I started 1st Focus Homecare after years working as a paramedic and seeing every level of care — from outstanding to shockingly poor. I knew I could build a service where dignity, consistency and compassion weren’t optional, but standard. An ethos which is strongly engrained in every part of the business.
2. Are you still working as a paramedic?
Yes. I still work as a Paramedic alongside running the company. I trained and worked with the London Ambulance Service from 2008–2013 before moving back to Scotland to work with the Scottish Ambulance Service, including time training new technicians and paramedics in the education department. I now work as a bank Paramedic where I work one shift a week. I still enjoy my Paramedic work and it’s not something I can ever imagine walking away from entirely.
3. What geographical areas do you provide care in?
When we started the company in 2018, we solely delivered care to those in the SE and SW areas of Edinburgh. Since then, we have expanded the area we cover to areas such as North Berwick and Haddington.
4. What types of care at home do you offer?
We provide full care-at-home services including personal care, home help, dementia care, hospital discharge support, reablement, and palliative/end-of-life care. We can basically cover all needs, from companionship visits through to end-of-life care and support.
5. Do you provide overnight care?
Yes. We offer sleeping nights, waking nights and live-in care. Recently we have found live-in care to be a popular home caregiving choice for families. Not many people want to be in care homes, and live-in care gives people the ability to remain at home. I would argue live-in care is of a higher standard than a care home as you receive one-to-one care rather than having staff looking after multiple residents.
6. What is the benefit of care at home instead of a care home?
Care at home allows people to remain in the place they feel safest and most comfortable — their own home — while still receiving professional support tailored to them. There’s a lot of research out there that evidences that people’s health and life expectancy deteriorates when moved to a care home. People living with dementia probably suffer the most due to the changes in the living environment. I think a lot of families see care homes as being a place of safety for their loved ones, but statistically the evidence suggests otherwise.
7. How do you ensure quality and safety?
My clinical background shapes everything we do. We recruit carefully, train thoroughly, and supervise continuously — compared to most care companies we do run with a large management team, but this is something I see as essential to maintain standards and ensure we are always working towards improving the service we deliver.
8. How do families stay informed?
We recently moved to electronic care plans and care notes. Families (with consent from the clients) get access to these so they can stay informed and involved even if they live elsewhere. We also include families in risk assessments and quality monitoring reviews. In addition to this we actively encourage families to speak to us with any concerns they have so issues can be addressed immediately. Feedback is a very important way to improve!
9. What kind of people work for 1st Focus Homecare?
We hire people who are naturally kind and reliable from all different backgrounds. We have a broad multicultural team working for us, both in the care team and the management team, who all bring their own life experiences with them.
10. What is your long-term vision?
My long-term vision is to have 1st Focus Homecare become the go-to care service for everyone, so when people are looking for care, we are the first name that pops into their heads. I would love to see the company grow to a point where we work across multiple locations and cities, but something I have said since day one is that I will not allow the company to grow to a size where we cannot deliver the care standards we have set ourselves. The care we deliver comes miles before profit and I will not allow that ethos to change.
