Home Instead (Durham)

Having worked in health and social care for more than 35 years, I am aware of how excellent care can improve the lives of those we support and ease the stress on families.

I have had personal experience of trying to get the right support for family to enable them to stay living at home, and sadly it was a very poor experience. During that time I would frequently say to friends and colleagues "there has to be a better way to provide support at home" and their response was always "you should provide home care, at least then it will be done right"

And that is why today I am the Owner and Director of Home Instead Senior Care Durham, I love the fact that I am in a position, as a business owner to be able to ensure that the care we provide is only that of the highest quality and that it is delivered with care and compassion by the wonderful Care Professionals we employ.

I was honoured and delighted in 2002 to be recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours with a British Empire Medal for my service to care and older people.

Our Care Pros and office team all have to pass my personal test which is 'would I let this person care for me or any of my family?'

I am so proud that I can now provide the type of care that I just couldn’t find for my mum, I provide care and support the way care should be provided but sadly, very often isn’t.

We provide the right care, at the right time, in the right way to meet your individual needs.

I have worked for the NHS and in social care for 45 years.

Caring is my passion, I am a very 'hands-on' Manager, I am responsible for the smooth and efficient running of the office, making sure that our quality and high standards are maintained.

At Home Instead Durham we don’t tell our client’s what they need; we take the time to find out what is required and what is important to the individual, once we know what that is, then we write bespoke care plans, tailored specifically to the individual.

I also ensure we comply with the Care Quality Commission standards.

We were rated OUTSTANDING at our last three inspections, something I am very proud of.

I have worked in the care industry for all my career, running and managing residential homes and supported living services.

I’m proud to work for a company where the person who needs the support is at the centre of the decisions and directs their own care.

I am passionate about what we are doing and I really feel like I have a new lease of life, we are just so positive this is what we want to do. Everyone deserves good care and we will only provide a service that we would want for our own family.

I am responsible for all of the CAREGivers, I interview them, ensure they are fit to work with our clients, take 6 references and carry out a police check.

I am responsible for ensuring that clients have the highest quality care and that we exceed all their expectations.
I am registered with CQC who monitor the provision of care, ensuring that standards are met. I'm very proud to work for a company who has achieved the rating of OUTSTANDING from CQC three times. This is the highest rating they can award.
I have managed a variety of care settings over the last 25 years and I always take a person-centred approach to the care we deliver.
I meet new clients and their families to discuss their needs and the type of care that they would like, we work to meet the needs of the client, we don't expect our clients to fit in with current schedules, the client tells me when they would like their visits and for how long, I then write a care plan unique to the individual and match them with care pros to ensure a really good relationship is built.

I joined Home Instead Durham in 2019 as a Care Quality Supervisor, and then gained promotion to Deputy Manager. I support Helen on a daily basis and I have a varied role which includes supporting and supervising our team of staff, delivering training, meeting new clients and families to plan their care, visits to clients to monitor the quality of the care they receive and directly supporting clients to ensure we are providing the best possible quality care.

I have been with Home Instead for 10 years, I am the first point of contact people have with Home Instead, I answer the phone and greet visitors.

My role is to ensure that our clients get the support they need at the right time, with the right care pro. We carefully match our carers and clients so that we can provide relationship-led care and support.
I love being involved in hosting our companionship cafes and making sure people feel welcome. I have a lot of contact with our care pros and I’m part of the retention team, making sure we look after our team so they can look after our clients.

I joined Home Instead Durham two years ago. My role is to share the knowledge of our local communities to benefit older people, and to build relationships in the community.
I can be found out and about in our local area delivering scam prevention talks to help keep older people safe, and with Karen holding dementia workshops for families of people living with dementia, to help them understand the condition more. I also lead in hosting our 4 companionship cafes each month.
The other part of my role is engagement with our wonderful care pros.

I joined the Durham team as a care pro in 2020, after working for another Home Instead office in Devon, in 2021 I was promoted to join the office support team.
My role is varied, from recruiting new care pros, meeting prospective new clients and their families and developing a bespoke care plan that carefully meets their needs. I support with the training of care pros and I am the designated Mental Health First Aider, a role which allows me to give extra support and signposting to any of our team who need it.

I started working at Home Instead Durham in 2019 as a care pro, then I was successful in 2021 in getting a role as part of the office support team as a Care Quality Supervisor. My role is to supervise and support care pros to deliver the highest quality care. I work with new staff to ensure they are well supported and to guide them through completing their Care Certificate.
I visit clients to carry out quality monitoring as well as supporting them with their care and to carry out moving assessments as required.

I joined Home Instead as a care pro in 2016 and loved visiting my clients and supporting them. Then I had the opportunity to join the office team as the scheduler ensuring that our clients are matched with the right care pros so relationships can be built and that care pros have schedules that meet their availability, whilst ensuring consistency for our clients, and that every visit is always for at least 1 hour.

I joined the team 2 years ago as a care pro and I have just started a new role as part of the office support team. This role includes supporting care pros to provide outstanding care, carrying out 1-1 supervisions, and visiting clients to either provide care or to check that their care continues to meet their needs and they are happy with the quality of the service we provide.