Bridgehead Communications
Portrait of Joanne Balmer BEM
Photo: the group’s website

MID-SIZE GROUP/12 HOMES

Joanne BalmerBEM

Chief Executive Officer, Oakland Care

Joanne Balmer BEM is chief executive of Oakland Care, a 12-home luxury care group in London and the South East, and a Care England trustee.

BIOGRAPHY

Joanne Balmer BEM is chief executive of Oakland Care, a luxury care home group that runs 12 homes in London and the South East of England. She has led the group since August 2019 and has been a trustee of the provider body Care England since January 2024.

She began in care homes at 16 as a care assistant and started training as a registered nurse at 18. She worked in hospitals and GP surgeries, then at Denbighshire Local Health Board in North Wales, where she held senior nurse manager and clinical governance roles in primary care. By her own account she left the NHS in 2010 to work only in care homes. Her LinkedIn history lists Southern Cross Health Care (head of practice development, 2011 to 2012) and Barchester Healthcare (commissioning general manager on new-build homes, 2012 to 2014). She studied for an MBA in health services management at Keele University between 2009 and 2012.

From 2013 she worked for Gracewell Healthcare and then Sunrise Senior Living, the UK care home operator. She was senior director of care and quality there until 2019, and in her last year she also acted as senior director of operations. Oakland's own profile credits her governance and quality assurance work at Sunrise and Gracewell with six homes being rated Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission.

Oakland appointed her in August 2019 to lead its growth as new homes were built. The group has since opened Harpenden Springs, which it describes as its flagship sustainable home, and Berkshire Manor in Bracknell, its twelfth home. In 2021 Oakland became the first UK care home group certified carbon neutral, a status it has kept for five consecutive years. In September 2026 she received a King's Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development on the group's behalf from the Lord Lieutenant of Essex.

She was awarded the British Empire Medal in the 2021 Queen's Birthday Honours for services to social care during the Covid-19 pandemic. HealthInvestor named her the first ESG Champion at its Power Fifty Awards, reported in January 2023.

About Oakland Care. Oakland Care is a luxury care home group with 12 homes in London and the South East. It was certified carbon neutral in 2021 and won a King's Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development in 2026. See its rank and history

CAREER

  1. JAN 2024 – NOW

    Trustee · Care England NOW

  2. AUG 2019 – NOW

    Chief Executive Officer · Oakland Care NOW

  3. JAN 2018 – NOV 2019

    Board Trustee · DENS

  4. SEP 2014 – AUG 2019

    Senior Director of Care and Quality (acting Senior Director of Operations in the final year) · Sunrise Senior Living

  5. DEC 2013 – SEP 2014

    Director of Care and Quality · Gracewell Healthcare

  6. NOV 2012 – JUL 2014

    Commissioning General Manager, New Build · Barchester Healthcare

  7. NOV 2011 – NOV 2012

    Head of Practice Development · Southern Cross Health Care

  8. 2006 – 2011

    Senior Nurse Manager and Head of Clinical Governance (Primary Care) · Denbighshire Local Health Board

ARTICLES, INTERVIEWS AND APPEARANCES

COUNTED FOR THE RANKING

3 articles in the twelve months to 6 October 2026 (2 trade, 1 local).