PROFILE HEALTHCARE HOMES GROUP
Group CEO Gordon Coc hrane (fourth left) with HR director Sam Dixon (centre) at the Shipdham Manor hom e
WHAT STAFF SAID Ashley Gardens Care Centre manager Jo Mazza has come away from the experience feeling positive about the impact on staff. She said: “For my staff, it was an opportunity for them to showcase their world. They wanted to show the challenges and struggles they face every day, but also the areas they are extremely proud of. “Opportunities like this support everything we feed back to the senior team, whether this is comment and suggestions over resources or strategy, or proudly demonstrating our achievements.” THE FUTURE Commenting on the project, Cochrane said: “This has never been about policy re-design or widespread business change. It’s really important that we [don’t] become corporate and anonymous. I hope that when staff see me in uniform, joining them in their daily work, it March/April 2019
reinforces what they regularly hear from the senior team: we’d be nothing without our staff, and we want to hear what they have to say.” Cochrane has now committed to carrying out ‘Back to the Floor’ visits every six months across the group, and is creating a system whereby care homes can apply for a senior team member to join them for the day. He said: “I’m often asked what I have taken from the project and whether there is anything we will be changing as a result. The stories of compassion, care and absolute commitment to dignity and respect across our homes were really quite humbling. Alongside this, we listened to very honest accounts of the challenges our staff face, which we know are shared throughout the industry. “It’s now my job to ensure that we continue to listen, that we act, and that we build on our culture of quality care for our service users and our staff.”
About the Healthcare Homes Group
Launched in 2005, the Healthcare Homes Group provides residential and nursing care to residents in 37 homes located in Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Dorset, Kent, Avon, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire, Middlesex, Berkshire and East Sussex. The homes employ specialist carers in dementia or physical disabilities.
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