Ark Nursing & Care Agency

What Ark Nursing & Care Agency does

Ark Nursing & Care Agency is a UK family-run private healthcare operator founded in 2002 in Bideford, North Devon, structured around two integrated business lines: a nursing and care staffing agency and a portfolio of six owned care homes. The agency arm supplies trained nurses, healthcare assistants, and support workers to the NHS, Social Services, care homes, hospices, supported living services, learning disability homes, and private hospitals across Devon, Cornwall, and London, with 24/7 on-call support and a 4-hour cancellation policy. The care home division operates Acorn Manor (7 beds), Acorn House (4 beds), and Beachfield (6 beds) in North Devon serving adults with autism, learning disabilities, and challenging behaviour, alongside Hatt House (23 beds), Didsbury Court (20 beds), and The Roses (28 beds) in South Devon serving elderly and dementia care, giving a total registered bed base of approximately 88.

The company also runs a domiciliary homecare service delivering 2-hour to 24-hour care in clients' own homes, an accredited First Aid training course from £70 per person led by a Registered Nurse with 25+ years of experience, and a DBS processing umbrella service. The underlying technology stack is operationally thin: a Squarespace website, job postings on Indeed, a Facebook page, and integration with the Devon and Cornwall Care Record (DCCR) NHS data-sharing system; no proprietary software, AI capabilities, or public APIs are described. The business is privately held by the family of founder Rowena Rhead (now deceased), with her daughters Katherine Glover and Rebecca Marks serving as Directors, and is registered with the Care Quality Commission both as an agency and for each individual care home. Revenue is not publicly disclosed; growth has been entirely organic and bolt-on, with the most recent acquisition being The Roses in October 2022.

Name

Ark Nursing & Care Agency

Legal name

Ark Nursing & Care Agency

Website

https://arknursing.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Ark Nursing & Care Agency is a UK family-run private healthcare operator founded in 2002, running a nursing and care staffing agency and six owned care homes across Devon, serving the NHS, care establishments, and individual families.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Healthcare Staffing and Residential Care Services

NAICS

Home Health Care Services (621610), Continuing Care Retirement Communities and Assisted Living Facilities for the Elderly (62331), Other Residential Care Facilities (6239), Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities (624120)

SIC

Services-Nursing & Personal Care Facilities (8050), Services-Home Health Care Services (8082)

akta.pro primary industry

Home Care Staffing & Nurse Registry Services (HLAFAEAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

General Assisted Living Facilities (HLADABAA), Assisted Living with Memory Care (Mixed Campus) (HLADABAB), Hospital/Facility-to-Home Caregiver Placement (HSABAMAC)

Keywords

• Nursing care services
• Healthcare staffing agency
• Domiciliary homecare
• Residential care homes
• Learning disability care

Headquarters

HQ city

Bideford

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Nursing and Care Agency Staffing: Supply of trained and registered nurses, care workers and assistants to care homes, hospitals and residential homes nationally. Provides temporary staffing solutions for single shifts, multiple shifts, or regular requirements.
2. Care Home Operations: Ark operates its own care homes providing residential, dementia and learning disability care services. Homes include Acorn Manor, Acorn House, Beachfield (learning disability), Hatt House, Didsbury Court, and The Roses (elderly/dementia care).
3. Domiciliary Homecare: Care services provided in clients' own homes, ranging from 2 hours daily to 24-hour care. Includes personal care, medication support, domestic tasks, and specialist care.
4. Training Services: First aid training courses for individuals and organisations, provided by qualified Registered Nurse. Course costs from £70 per person with accredited certification valid for three years.
5. DBS Services: Umbrella service for Disclosure and Barring Service needs, including forms and DBS checks with turnaround of approximately 1 week.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Ark Nursing & Care Agency is a family-run healthcare provider supplying trained nurses, healthcare assistants, and support workers to NHS, Social Services, care homes, hospitals, hospices, supported living services, and private hospitals across Devon, Cornwall, and London. It also delivers in-home domiciliary care (2-hour visits to 24-hour live-in care) and operates six CQC-registered residential care homes in North and South Devon serving elderly, dementia, and learning disability residents.

Product overview

Ark Nursing & Care Agency operates as a dual business: a nursing and care staffing agency plus a portfolio of owned care homes. The agency arm supplies trained nurses, care workers, and assistants to care establishments nationally (Devon, Cornwall, and London), as well as providing in-home domiciliary care from 2-hour visits to 24-hour live-in care. The care homes division consists of five residential homes across North and South Devon: Acorn Manor (Bideford), Acorn House (Westward Ho!), and Beachfield (Westward Ho!) — all serving adults with autism, learning disabilities, and challenging behaviour; and Hatt House (Torquay) and Didsbury Court (Torquay) — elderly and dementia care homes. The Roses (Holsworthy) specialises in dementia care for adults 18+. Additional services include First Aid training, DBS processing, and staffing to establishments. The business was founded in 2002 by Registered Nurse Rowena Rhead and is now led by her daughters Katherine Glover and Rebecca Marks.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Ark Nursing & Care Agency (Agency Staffing) Supply of trained and registered nurses, care workers, and assistants to care homes, hospitals, and residential homes nationally, plus 24-hour on-call support and same-day/short-notice staffing. The largest private family-run nursing and care agency in North Devon.
• Domiciliary Homecare In-home care and support services ranging from 2 hours per day to 24-hour live-in care, covering personal care, medication support, domestic tasks (meals, laundry, cleaning), social outings, and specialist care (palliative, dementia, catheter, PEG, medication). Includes a dedicated Care Co-ordinator and Registered Nurse assessments.
• Supply of Staff to Establishments Temporary staffing of nurses, healthcare assistants, and support workers to nursing homes, residential homes, hospices, supported living services, learning disability homes, and private hospitals across Devon, Cornwall, and London, with 4-hour cancellation terms, 24-hour on-call support, and in-house mandatory and statutory training.
• First Aid Training One-day accredited First Aid training course covering principles of first aid, casualty assessment, basic life support (CPR), care of unconscious casualties, burns, fractures, bleeding, poisoning, eye injuries, and choking. Provided by a Registered Nurse with over 25 years of clinical and training experience. Certification valid for three years, held in Bideford from £70 per person.
• DBS Services Umbrella service handling all Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) needs, from forms to certificate issuance, with a stated one-week turnaround.
• Acorn Manor A 7-bedded residential care home for adults with autism, learning disabilities, and challenging behaviour with complex care needs, set within a Georgian Manor House on over two acres of gardens with a lake and wooded area. Includes 5 en-suite bedrooms and 2 self-contained flats.
• Acorn House A 4-bedded residential care home for adults with autism, learning disabilities, and challenging behaviour with complex care needs, set in the seaside village of Westward Ho!, North Devon. Features 4 en-suite bedrooms, private gated garden, vegetable plot, and is approximately 100m from the beach.
• Beachfield A 6-bedded residential care home for adults with autism, learning disabilities, and challenging behaviour with complex care needs, situated in Westward Ho! approximately 100m from the beach. Features 6 spacious en-suite bedrooms, two living rooms, a dining room/kitchen, and a large garden.
• Hatt House A large Victorian house providing dementia care for the over 65s, set in over one acre of private gardens. Registered for 23 bedrooms, located in Torquay, with features including a grocery shop, post office, three communal areas, and an allotment.
• Didsbury Court A large 20-bed Victorian residential home for the over 65s, located in Torquay. Features 20 en-suite bedrooms, three communal lounges, a conservatory, two courtyard gardens, a dining room, and a hairdressers/beauty salon. Recently extensively refurbished.
• The Roses (formerly Bodmeyrick) A residential care home for adults aged 18+ specialising in dementia care, located in Holsworthy, Devon. Features 28 en-suite bedrooms, a sun room, sensory and reminiscing room, dining room, and a secure garden. Housed in a historic building linked to the early development of penicillin.

Quantifiable outcome

• 4 hour cancellation terms - faster turnaround than industry standard
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Devon and Cornwall Care Record (DCCR)coreTechnology or IntegrationArk's care homes and nursing services participate in the Devon and Cornwall Care Record (DCCR), a secure NHS system that allows authorised health and social care professionals involved in care to view relevant information from different services including GPs, hospitals, community services, and care homes. Sharing information helps ensure professionals have up-to-date details about health and care needs for better and safer care. Ark shares relevant information under lawful basis for delivering health and social care services (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(e) and Article 9(2)(h)).

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves12 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Helping Hands Homecare: UK domiciliary and live-in homecare provider offering 2-hour visits through to 24-hour care — closely comparable to Ark's in-home care service range.
• Allied Healthcare: UK homecare and complex care staffing provider serving local authority, NHS, and private clients — directly comparable to Ark's domiciliary care and agency business.
• Nurseplus: UK nursing and care staffing agency providing temporary and permanent staff to care establishments, plus homecare services — a head-to-head competitor named by Ark itself as a major agency competitor.
• Voyage Care: UK specialist care provider for people with learning disabilities, autism, and complex needs — directly comparable to Ark's three learning-disability homes (Acorn Manor, Acorn House, Beachfield).
• Newcross Healthcare Solutions: UK-based healthcare staffing and home care provider supplying nurses, healthcare assistants, and support workers to care homes, hospitals, and individuals — directly comparable to Ark's agency and domiciliary arms.
• Prestige Nursing & Care: UK provider of nursing and care staffing to establishments and complex homecare to individuals — closely aligned with Ark's combined agency + live-in care offering.
• Maria Mallaband Care Group: UK operator of residential, nursing, and dementia care homes — comparable to Ark's owned care home portfolio, particularly the elderly/dementia sites.

Broad incumbents

• Care UK: UK operator of residential, nursing, and dementia care homes, also providing homecare and hospital services — a broader incumbent whose multi-service model mirrors Ark's agency + home + homes mix at much larger scale.
• HC-One: Largest care home operator in the UK with ~330+ homes focused on residential, nursing, and dementia care — provides the scale benchmark against which Ark's ~88-bed portfolio should be assessed.
• Barchester Healthcare: One of the UK's largest care home operators with a national portfolio of residential, nursing, dementia, and independent living facilities — broader incumbent peer to Ark's smaller regional care home footprint.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/ArkNursing

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Subsidiaries6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ark Nursing & Care Agency