Bluebird Care Lancaster & South Lakeland

My job is to make sure we provide our customers with precisely the care they want, in the way they choose, offering the value-for-money they expect.  That means:

-working with our customers and their families at a personal level to get things right
-recruiting the best staff, with the right values and caring, "can-do" personalities 
-investing in the training, skills and professional development of our staff, as well as offering terms and conditions commensurate with a high-quality service.
-developing effective and robust quality systems that guarantee reliability and consistency of service to customers, whatever unforeseen obstacles might get thrown in the way
-always looking for ways we can innovate so as to continually improve on what we offer 

About Me
I started Bluebird Care Lancaster and South Lakeland in 2015, having always had a personal interest in care and caring, and hands-on experience supporting close relatives with dementia. 
My professional background is in public policy and administration – my first career was as a diplomat, but I moved to Lancaster in 2005 to raise our children and worked for Lancashire County Council in promoting transparent and accountable public services.  
I have been hugely inspired by the opportunity to develop my own care business as a member of Bluebird Care network, to bring together my passion for excellent care with my professional skills.
I am married with four children. I love living in the Morecambe Bay area, proud of its rich natural beauty and cultural heritage.   My hobbies include reading and sports - especially walking in the Bowland or Lakeland hills.  And as I move past the 50 mark, I find I am loving gardening too!

Alyson's role is to lead and oversee a safe and effective care service, making sure we never compromise on our quality commitments

Now partway through her Leadership Development Programme, Alyson is linked to numerous local and national best practice forums. She's always on the lookout for fresh ideas and new developments in the sector. 

Alyson knows each and every one of our customers and their families, never losing touch with what’s really important. This is what truly motivates her to do the best she possibly can in managing our premium service. "We've got a fantastic team of carers out there and I feel privileged to be leading them," she says. "I can honestly say we've got a top-class service."   
 

Nicola's task is to provide you with the right carers at the right time, and in the right place, delivering the quality of care that you expect. Not only does Nicola produce the weekly schedules, but she also leads our team of carers, seniors and supervisors to make sure we always get things right

Nicola is qualified for Level 5 in Health and Social and has many years of experience in care management

"When I joined Bluebird Care I was made so welcome by the team. I share their passion for care, and I enjoy meeting the daily challenges that this work can present. Supporting our customers by providing the best possible care is our aim every single day".

We are extremely proud of our live-in care service. Jana has quickly worked her way up to the post of Live-in Care Manager, bringing her unique style and care skills together.

Our live-in care service started in 2016 and demand continues to grow. Jana employs a team of expert live-in carers and provides them with the specialist training required for this work, as well as the right support and management. Jana also oversees carefully all details of each customer's care and liaises with other professionals and family members as any issues arise. She will go out to visit at the drop of a hat to make sure all is well.

A key skill of a live-in care manager is matching a carer with the right skills and temperament for the customer, and making sure they get sufficient rest between placements.

Working with the Care Managers, Ritika both oversees and supervises our carers delivering a premium service. In this way, we ensure that standards are always met or when issues arise, they are resolved swiftly.

In addition, Ritika works closely with our customers and their representatives to ensure that the instructions to our carers reflect exactly what is wanted and that we are at all times fully compliant with UK legislation. And that we never fall below the quality standards that we set ourselves.

Toni's main role is to make sure we get ALL the relevant information we need to provide a premium care service to each of our customers.

Not only must we develop a detailed understanding from our customers of what they both need and prefer, making our service 100% person-centred in each case, but as a regulated care provider there are also substantial legal requirements for us to fulfil in each case.

Toni takes all this information and creates a care plan for each of our customers, which in turn forms the basis of what is provided by the carer. Getting this right and updating it accordingly and timely fashion is essential

Steph recruits caring people to work for us, people with the right values and attitudes. We select our staff based on decency, compassion, kindness, professionalism, reliability and a willingness to learn.

Once recruited they then enter our in-depth training programme. This starts with a week-long induction programme followed by 1-2 weeks of shadowing. New staff are then monitored and supported every week through their first 12 weeks. Training is refreshed annually and additional training on specialised procedures is provided as and when required.

Rohit is a highly skilled business manager and technical expert. Amongst his wider work portfolio for us, he acts as our Accounts Assistant with responsibility for producing invoices, paying our staff and managing cash flow to ensure we remain financially viable.