Issue 14
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PCP’s passion for people strikes GOLD! Regional charity the Pioneering Care Partnership (PCP), struck GOLD with it’s recent Investors in People (IIP) Assessment! Carol Gaskarth, PCP Chief Executive, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to sustain the IIP Gold standard, and we’re delighted our commitment and passion for supporting our people has been recognised, with improvements demonstrated across all areas. “We’re a health and wellbeing charity, and whilst our focus is on helping communities, we strive to go above and beyond to provide an excellent employee experience for everyone who works with us. The IIP accreditation provides PCP with independent confirmation we’re making work better for staff working across the organisation. “Staff appreciate our approach to flexible working, they said the support received during COVID was outstanding and they feel involved in decision-making. Everyone felt engaged in innovation and transformation from small to big thinking and they described the leadership team as great people, approachable and supportive – leading by example.
"In a nutshell, this award is extra-special because it’s our people and teams who determine the outcome through discussion with the assessor and anonymous surveys to see how this aligns with the view of leaders. The Assessor said, ‘You inspire people to be on their ‘A’ game and work at their best.’ What more could we ask for!” Over 50,000 organisations are accredited by IIP, with only 17% of those achieving gold status – making PCP a great place to work. PCP came 181st worldwide when benchmarked against other organisations with 50-249 employees – simply amazing for a charity in the North East. PCP’s IIP report went on to explain: You are progressive, seeing that your people are provided a variety of opportunities to spread their wings, and you seize opportunities to bring in other expertise when needed. People are motivated by active involvement in supporting communities, their work is delivered with pride, and they want to do the right thing for the environment and the future. Career progression was a definite outcome of learning being part of your culture and your people confirmed the commitment and approaches were strong.
PCP shortlisted for international Investors in People Award Shortlisted amongst ten charities, the Pioneering Care Partnership (PCP) is the only organisation in its category to deliver solely in the North East. IIP celebrate and recognise organisations around the world that strive to develop their people. PCP holds gold accreditation standard from IIP, which reflects how it leads, supports and develops its workforce.
PCP recently sustained its IIP gold status, showing that our passion for health and wellbeing doesn’t stop at the communities we support – we also offer excellent employee experience.”
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Read more about us being shortlisted here. PCP attended the Investors in People Awards on Tuesday 14th November although we didn’t take home the crown this time, it was fantastic to be shortlisted amongst other leading organisations for making a difference.
Sandra Roberts, Governance and Development Manager said: “We are over the moon to receive more positive news about our IIP status.
Community focused ‘Love to Knit’ group launches at PCC Come along to the Pioneering Care Centre in Newton Aycliffe to get ‘hooked’ on a new Love to Knit group offering support to your local community. The group will meet every Thursday from 1.30pm until 3.30pm. The group will knit, crochet, and sew squares, to create dressing gowns for those in need of warmth and comfort this winter. Experienced knitters and beginners are all welcome. For those who are unable to attend the onsite sessions, the Pioneering Care Partnership (PCP) can deliver materials to your household in the Newton Aycliffe area. Ann Bell, PCP Community Projects Officer, said: “The PCP is pleased to be able to provide this new knitting group, which helps our local community at the same time.
“By supporting people to take part from home, we can reach out to the housebound of Newton Aycliffe and include them in this special project. The group will be supporting the local community, by providing dressing gowns to the vulnerable during the winter months. Read more about ‘Love to Knit’ here.
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Staff Spotlight - Liz Godfrey Can you give an overview of your role? Last October I became Project Lead for Stockton Community Wellbeing Champions and now I also lead on Community Connect, a social prescribing project and a wellbeing project called Well Aware in Stockton Borough. I’ve always worked on Community Learning, Engagement and Development projects at PCP supporting people to improve their wellbeing, increase their confidence and achieve their goals. I’ve worked with individuals and groups delivering information, advice and guidance sessions, accredited and non- accredited learning. My focus has been health and wellbeing and employability. I’ve coordinated and delivered various PCP over the years projects eg. Arts for Wellbeing, Health Trainers, Employability Mentors, Check 4 Life, Positive Steps, Growing our Community (a community garden project), Work for Health to name some of them. Six years ago I moved from the Pioneering Care Centre to Catalyst House and delivered Healthy Me, Confident Me on the Step Forward Tees Valley programme across Middlesbrough, Redcar and Darlington. During the lockdowns, moving from face to face to online groups was a huge but enjoyable learning curve for me. I work with the general public, internal staff and external partners which is very rewarding. My days are Tuesday - Friday so it feels like a bank holiday every Monday! Previously I worked as a Cover Supervisor, in a secondary school and worked in a Drug and Alcohol Service.
Describe a day-to-day in your role No two days are the same for me, we have a network of 70 plus Community Wellbeing Champions, from a variety of organisations and backgrounds so meeting with them is really interesting. I attend meetings with Public Health, we have Wellbeing Pop Up events, monthly wellbeing Net-Walks for the Champions and general public. Then of course there’s reports, meetings etc! What do you like about working for the PCP? In 2005 I joined PCP on a 13 month contract to deliver Learndirect (IT) courses, 18 years later I’m still here! I spent 12 years based at Pioneering Care Centre (PCC) then for the past 6 years based Catalyst House in Stockton. I’m lucky that I only have a small team to look after who are amazing (Tom, Leonie, Shelly and Vicky). We also share our office with Healthwatch Stockton-on-Tees, another amazing team (Natasha, Lynn, Kathryn and Jan). We work really closely with them to ensure we offer the best possible service to residents of Stockton. Read Liz’s full staff spotlight here.
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Options Halloween Party! On Thursday 26th October, Options held its annual Halloween Party! Attendees enjoyed a spooky disco, a raffle, dressing up in their costumes and a lovely meal of pie, peas & gravy. Thank you to all that attended, we hope you had a ‘spook-tacular’ time!
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Staff Spotlight - Becky Gustard
Describe a day-to-day in your role
Can you give an overview of your role?
For Quality I co-ordinate & monitor the internal auditing processes and document control for ISO and help to maintain the Quality Action Plan and Management Review to ensure we meet the deadlines of all our standards. For BHAWA, this includes contacting new businesses to recruit onto the awards. I carry out training on the online assessment portal, taking part in health & wellbeing webinars and spending a lot of time with my (currently 25) businesses to guide and support them through the processes.
I started PCP part time on 2nd January 2001 on reception as my previous working experience had always been in customer service. My role quickly moved to full time and I progressed through the organisation – administrator, supervisor, PA to previous CEO, quality co-ordinator. My current role is now split over three days. As Compliance Co-ordinator, I ensure PCP keeps on track with the maintenance of their Quality Standards and deliver quality inductions to new staff. My second role is with the Workplace Health Team, supporting and assessing businesses in County Durham & Sunderland to achieve their Better Health at Work Awards. Pre-COVID I worked in the Pioneering Care Centre and travelled to the various BHAWA (Better Health at Work Award) businesses for appointments.Since the pandemic I am now mainly home based, visiting PCP for Quality meetings but the majority of communication with my businesses is via Teams, this means I can support many more throughout the day than if I had to visit and this seems to suit them as well in their busy workplaces.
What do you like about working for the PCP? As previously mentioned, I started 2nd January 2001, I have many memorable moments having seen the organisation grow from about 12 staff when I started to 130 now! One personal special moment was when Carol nominated me for the international Investors in People award in the community worker category. We travelled to London (Senior Management and my friend Kath, the then PA) and attended the glittering awards ceremony. To my shock I won, this was a global award, so it was an amazing moment to which I was very proud to win. Being what I like to call ‘semi-retired’ working three days a week I don’t strive to achieve anything new, I just love to work with the businesses and feel good when they achieve their awards, and working to maintain or reach the higher levels of our Quality Standards. Read Becky’s full staff spotlight here.
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Healthwatch Sunderland Star Awards Return! Our Healthwatch Sunderland team is looking for nominations for the Star Awards! As a Healthwatch, the team often hear about those services that shine or individuals who go the extra mile. Celebrating these services or individuals is an essential and enjoyable part of their work.
Healthwatch County Durham Mental Health Services Survey
The ‘Nominate a Star’ scheme is the team’s way of acknowledging all the good we hear about. If you would like to nominate a staff member, team or service for one of our Star Awards for the difference they have made to you or someone you know, you can nominate them now! Nominate a star here!
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Staff Spotlight - Liz Fisher Hi, I’m Liz Fisher and I’m the new Deputy Chief Executive at PCP, I started my role with PCP on the 8th of June 2023. My career started as a Youth and Community Worker in the East End of Newcastle, running the very first National Trust Inner City Project, after almost ten years of community development work, I moved into general management within the National Trust, running portfolios of properties across Yorkshire and the North East. Within my roles my community development roots never left me, and I always ensured the properties linked to their communities. I then moved onto The Auckland Project in Bishop Auckland, to develop the community aspect of the project, but because of my skills and experience gained at the National Trust, I soon became involved in the development of the capital projects and operation of the visitor attractions. All my previous roles have included staff management, networking, strategy development, project management, and connecting people and place, bringing benefit to all. I joined PCP, because I wanted to go back to my community development roots in the voluntary sector with a value based organisation, whose mission and purpose resonated with mine. I bring to the table a lot of senior leadership and management experience, and over the past five months, I’ve been on a steep learning curve to understand the sector that PCP operates in, as well as all the projects, workstreams and contracts we deliver. Over the past five months, I’ve spent my time getting to know PCP, our staff, volunteers, and external stakeholders.
I’ve loved every minute, highlights so far have been: a memorable weekend at Kepplewray with OurOptions day group, a world Menopause Day event 'Blood, Sweat and Tears' at the Riverside Stadium organised by our Healthwatch South Tees Team. Attending events with our Lived Experience leads and Community Resilience Team, as well as our Together 21 graduation ceremony and visiting some of the Happiness Hubs that we have funded, plus many more. I’ve come away from many of the events with a tear in my eye, full of admiration and proud of the work you all do. The Deputy Chief Executive role is a new one, brought in to support our Chief Executive, Carol Gaskarth, giving her the capacity and headspace to think about PCP and how we develop over the coming months and years. Carol and I are taking time to evolve how we work together; how we can play to our strengths to take our work forward and grow the organisation to a new level, with more reach in the North East and beyond. It’s an exciting time to join PCP, we’ve got a new senior leadership team and as a result energy levels in the organisation are high. Read Liz’s full staff spotlight here.
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PCP Annual General Meeting Our Annual General Meeting (AGM) took place on Monday 16th October at the Pioneering Care Centre, Newton Aycliffe. We would like to say a big thank you to all who attended the AGM, and to all who spoke. If you could not make it, but would like to find out what we have been up to between April 2022 and April 2023, our Annual Report is now available for you to read. Read our Annual Report here.
Macmillan Coffee Morning On Thursday 28th September, we held our annual Macmillan Coffee Morning! It was great to come together and raise money for a brilliant cause. We raised a total of £195! A special congratulations to Luke Liddell, winner of our 'Staff Star Baker' competition for the second year running!
Volunteer Fair On Thursday 14th September, we held a Volunteer Fair! The public were invited along to the Pioneering Care Centre, in Newton Aycliffe, to explore the volunteering opportunities we have on offer. Thank you to all who came along!
25th Anniversary Staff Celebration In September, the PCP celebrated its 25th anniversary with a staff celebration at Bowburn Hall Hotel. Staff gathered to take part in fun activities, such as a glow workout, origami, herbal tea making, all while enjoying mocktails provided by the Wellbeing For Life team. Staff were treated to a meal, and party bags to take home! We hope you all enjoyed our staff celebration!
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Healthwatch South Tees ‘Blood, Sweat & Tears’ Menopause Event Healthwatch Middlesbrough and Healthwatch Redcar & Cleveland came together this October to host their ‘Blood, Sweat & Tear’s menopause event, at Middlesbrough Riverside Stadium. We would like to say well done to Lisa and the team at Healthwatch South Tees for hosting such a wonderful event. The event had excellent speakers and great personal stories. Well done everyone and thank you for continuing to raise awareness!
World Mental Health Day Tuesday 10th October was World Mental Health Day. Our projects & services celebrated in a number of different ways. Teams came together for ‘Tea & Talk’ sessions, group walks and fun, light exercise sessions. Thank you to each and every team that celebrated World Mental Health Day, and helped to raise awareness on a number of different mental health issues.
Pioneering Care Partnership (PCP) For any enquiries regarding this publication, contact jenny.lee@pcp.uk.net
Registered Office:
@PCPandCentre
Pioneering Care Centre Carer's Way Newton Aycliffe DL5 4SF
@PioneeringCare @PioneeringCare Pioneering Care Partnership
Tel: 01325 321234 Email: enquiries@pcp.uk.net Website: www.pcp.uk.net
Pioneering Care Partnership