Gordon Cochrane has been promoted to chief executive of Healthcare Homes Group. 

Cochrane (pictured) initially joined the company in October 2016 as commercial director. 

Healthcare Homes has also hired Helen Gidlow to fulfil the role of group chief operating officer. Gidlow, a registered nurse, was most recently at Barchester healthcare where she had responsibility for 65 care homes. 

Meanwhile, Matt King has been promoted from group financial controller to group financial director. King has worked at the care home business for over eight years. 

Cochrane, Gidlow and King join a senior management team that already includes HR director Sam Dixon, clinical governance director Maggie McDow and operations director (home care) Janice King. 

David Bates, co-founder and director of Healthcare Homes, said: “Myself and co-founder Graham Lomer have known Gordon Cochrane for many years and we are confident that under his stewardship and leadership, the Healthcare Homes Group will be in good hands as we continue our journey of development and growth, whilst retaining our core values. As chief executive, Gordon is 100% focused on maintaining the quality and delivery of our existing residential and home care services, therefore enabling Graham and I to now fully concentrate on pursuing future growth opportunities for the business as a whole."

Founded in 2005, Healthcare Homes operates 35 residential and nursing care home throughout East Anglia and the South of England. It also has a domiciliary care division Manorcourt Homecare, which has 16 branches and undertakes over 1.5 million visits per year to service users. 

The group was acquired by US REIT Omega Healthcare Investors in 2015 for $175 million (then £115.2 million).