Review - CareTech

Winter 2014
Extraordinary days every day
caretech-uk.com
Review
Let's
Celebrate
Our Stars!
10
YEARS
PLUS
A big thank you to all our longstanding employees
Aina Akinyemi • Alan Mcknight • Amabel Kemokai
Amanda Turner • Andrea Walters • Andrew Williams • Angela Winwood • Anita Copson
Ann Footitt • Anna Page • Anne Hart • Anthea Tauya
Baljit Chohan • Bernadette Concadoro • Braden Lee Stevens • Brian O’shea
Carin Amos • Carol King • Carol Phillips
Caroline Thorne • Carolyn Mccombe • Chandra Shantha Kumar
Chantal Rogers • Charlotte Roberts • Christine Clarke • Christine Johnson
Christine Marlow • Christine Weathered • Damian Duncan
Daniel Payne • Danielle Short • Darren Wellington • David Baker
David
McSorley
•
David
Wheeler
•
Denise
Carter
•
Deonarain
Sakaldip
•
Diane
Cooper
Diane Randall • Donna Martin • Earleen Zinhagel • Elaine Gardner • Elizabeth Cowley
Emma Barnfield • Emma Horner • Emma Norgrove
Eve Riaz • Evelyn Spriggs • Faeza Yahia • Gareth Thomas • Geoffrey Hall
Geraldine Cunningham • Geraldine Smith • Gillian Baker
Gillian Gilham • Glenys Hughes • Grace Chandler • Harriet Child
Heather Evans • Ingrid Zahoor • Jacqui Pritchard • Jane Webster
Janice Ollif • Janis Young • Jann Battisson • Jason Cox • Jennifer Nhodza
Jenny Savage • Jill Godsell • Jill Murray • Joan Bone • John Kentley
John Mlalazi • John Snaith • Jonathan Plummer • Joseph Chandrakumar
Judith Bond • Judith Larter • Judy Purkiss • Julia Ndlovu
Juliet
Newton
•
Karen
Jackson
•
Karen
Jones
•
Kate
Jones
•
Kerrie
Beresford
Kevin Edge • Kim Page • Jackie White • Kulbir Dhanda • Kulvinder Rai
Latifah Mohamed • Laura Gordon • Laura Hamilton • Laura Swaby
Linda Mawson • Linda Norman • Linda Painting
Lona Lynne Jones • Lorna Iverson • Lorraine Mckenna • Louisiana Adeleke • LyndaFuller
Lynette Maxey • Makayba Kumbutila • Mandy Pursall • Margaret Brooks
Winter 2014
Extraordinary days every day
caretech-uk.com
Lyndhurst
Care
Awards
Wowwww!
Rumble
Review
Time to
Celebrate
REGIONAL
FINALIST
2014
Celebrating Excellence Across The Social Care Sector
Awards
Morven House
Celebrate
The Hall
of Fame
LET'S
OUR STARS
A Winning Year
OUTLOOK
Awards
Contents
01
Editors
Note
Hello!
10
Success
Stories
Let’s celebrate a great year –
and look forward to 2015
02
2014 was an amazing
award winning year!
06
Personalisation
Week
Check out some of
the great events you
organised for launch
12
NEW
Developments
14
OUR
PEOPLE
The latest on
16
SAFEGUARDING
Why it’s so
important and
how to play
your part
20
Latest from
Our
Services
16
18
Fostering
News
WHY I
CARE
A day in the life of
Michelle Boxall
22
Events from
up & down
the country
Latest from
the fostering
divisions
24
and finally...
whether it’s awards,
benefits, crosswords
or cupcakes
– there’s something
for everyone
Editor’s
Note
Hello, and welcome to our new
and revitalised Pathways.
We are delighted to be back, and in a vibrant new format, which
we hope you will all love.
At this time of year we all enjoy a good celebration. So we wanted
to take the opportunity to appreciate and celebrate all the stars
we have in our CareTech family. We really have had a winning year
in 2014, with awards for a wide variety of our staff and carers –
so please take a look at pages 2-5 and share in their success.
Looking ahead to 2015, we are very excited to be launching our
own CareTech Awards. Turn to page 2 to find out more and how
to nominate your favourite CareTech Stars. And for those of you
who can’t wait until 2015, we have enclosed some stickers for
you to use with your favourite people straight away!
Our personalisation programme launched recently – and we have
been inspired by the creativity and variety of events and initiatives
amongst the regions. Our award winners get special mention for
going above and beyond in bringing the personalisation strategy
truly to life.
Finally – Pathways is a magazine that is all about you – our CareTech
stars. We want this to be both for you and by you – so your input
is really important to us. We want to know about all the great things
you have been up to and to share this with the wider CareTech
family. So please do send in all of your stories, big or small. The
next issue is all about celebrating the small things. So do have
a think about what little things make the most difference to you
and to the people you care about and
work with, and keep sending these stories
in to us – we love to hear all of your news.
Have a wonderful holiday season and
a great start to 2015.
We are CareTech
We would like to thank all of you
who took part in our discussion
around CareTech values – in
deciding which are the special
qualities that make our organisation
unique. Your input has been
invaluable. We have now analysed
all your responses and have a
shortlist of 10 top values that define
what is most important to us as
an organisation.
We will be sending out a staff
engagement survey shortly to give
everyone the opportunity to tell
us about the organisation you
work for, which will help us make
improvements for both staff and
the people who use our services.
This survey will be available both
electronically and on paper and
can be returned anonymously.
Everybody’s view is valuable, so
please do return your responses
as soon as you can.
This will also be used as a tool
for you to feedback and vote on
the 5 values that CareTech should
be adopting. These are five core
values that define us and are
most important in delivering the
personalised services throughout
the business.
This is for all of us and for all of the
people we help. Let’s make it really
count. I am looking forward to
hearing all of your responses.
Nasir Quraishi
HR Director
Joan Bone, Editor
Share your stories
We want to hear all your news, stories and top tips.
Please send your articles to [email protected]
01
WINNING
Haroon Sheikh, CEO
I’d like to start by thanking you for all of your hard work, efforts
and dedication. It’s very exciting to know that after 21 years in care,
Haroon Sheikh
we are
leadingOfficer
the way and we should all be very proud of our
Chief
Executive
CareTech family.
This edition of Pathways is all about you – celebrating your successes
and achievements. Whether it is big awards, recent developments,
personalisation initiatives, new members of our family or long serving
members of staff – we want to acknowledge and celebrate you all.
As a special mention, we are immensely grateful to Stewart Wallace
for his role in developing CareTech’s services over the last 14 years.
His passion, energy and experience have been invaluable. Stewart
announced his retirement in September from the board of directors.
We are delighted that he will continue to support CareTech in key
areas in the coming months – so it’s not quite goodbye yet!
Finally, I would like to wish you and your families a restful break
and look forward to celebrating your achievements in 2015.
R
VOTE FO
ARS
YOUR ST
THE CARETECH
AWARDS2015
We are delighted to announce
the CareTech Awards for 2015 –
to recognise the wide range of
achievements of our staff across
the four divisions of our business.
The awards ceremony will be held
in a fabulous venue and the evening
promises to be a fun and glittering
occasion, to celebrate and showcase
the determination, hard work and
achievements of our staff.
Carer of the Year
For a family carer who has been very supportive
Nominated by staff
Support Worker of the Year
For outstanding performance
Nominated by service
users
Team Player of the Year
or exceptional generosity, kindness and simply
F
being great to work with
Nominated by staff
Team of the Year
For a team who works well together and has
achieved great results
Nominated by anyone,
including self-nomination
Award for Excellence
For the most supportive administrator/payroll/
finance/office worker/receptionist
Nominated by support
workers
Outstanding Achievement
of the Year
For exceptional qualities or a special achievement
during the past year
Nominated by anyone
Don’t forget to nominate!!
We will be sending out more details in the New Year – but in the meantime please do start to think
about who deserves to be recognised for exceptional qualities – and who you would like to nominate.
02
LYNDHURST
WINS
Wowwww!
‘Best Care Team Award’
at The Great British
Care Awards.
We are simply the best!
It is a great personal achievement for me
as a Manager and an amazing recognition
for my staff – a relatively small team, and
all with unique personalities.
When we combine our skills and knowledge, this is the
result. I knew deep down in my heart, that we will win
the National Award too, after meeting the judges on
12 March. There is something magical about Lyndhurst,
which we managed to pass onto the judges, the feeling
of passion, satisfaction and positive thoughts, faith in
our job and in our clients.
They liked us immediately when we entered the room,
there was this atmosphere, you could feel it in the air.
I am the happiest person on the planet and we have
a great staff team, perhaps this is why we have no staff
turn over.
We would also like to thank Mick Davies and Julian
Spurling for having faith in us and supporting us to achieve
these results. They are both great professionals and very
understanding of the hard day-to-day commitments we
have to endure to enable us to do our jobs successfully!
Diana Slavova
Service Manager, Lyndhurst
03
Rumble
Awards
Morven House - Hertfordshire
Morven Attended the Rumble Awards
for people with learning disabilities.
There were a few categories which ranged from helping
others to amazing achievements.
Emmanuel Griffiths won first prize for the Amazing
Achievements Award.
George Bird got first prize for a Happy Soul.
Most importantly George Bird won overall achievements over all
the other winners and was crowned king of the Rumble Awards.
George Bird
(pictured right)
at the Rumble Awards
THE PETER CLARKE AWARD
Former tank driver Mark Adams
powers towards a top award
A former soldier who drove a tank through
two war zones powered his way towards a
major award for his work as a front line carer
for young people.
Mark Adams, 36, spent five years serving
with the British Army before joining the staff
at the Branas Isaf care centre in Llandrillo,
near Corwen, in Wales 12 years ago.
During his time in the service he drove
Chieftain battle tanks in Bosnia and Kosovo
in the 1990s and after leaving the army
took on the challenge of helping to turn
around the lives of teenagers with complex
interpersonal, emotional & behavioural
difficulties, which he says can sometimes
be difficult but is still very rewarding.
It is the “motivated and supportive” way he
handles his role as a team leader at Branas
Isaf that has seen Mark shortlisted for the
prestigious Wales Care Awards 2014.
He is a finalist for the Peter Clarke Award
for Promoting Excellence in Services for
Children, sponsored by ACT Training.
The glittering presentation ceremony
was held at City Hall in Cardiff.
The awards are in association with Care
Forum Wales, a not-for-profit organisation
set up in 1993 to give independent care
providers a single professional voice –
04
how to provide better quality care for those
who need it most.
Mark said “Although I’m basically still a carer
I am now also a team leader. I work a shift
pattern of two days on and four days off but
on the two days I live in and am responsible
for decision making for my team of eight or
nine staff.
“Our role at Branas Isaf is to give 24 hour
support for up to seven boys aged 11 to 18
with complex emotional and behavioural
difficulties. They all have complex needs
and we try to help them get their lives back
together by working with them often in a
one to one situation.
“We try to support the young people as
much as we can and also have some fun.
I frequently take them on trips to places like
the cinema and out in to the countryside.
I’m a basic expedition leader and I support
them on kayaking and canoeing trips such
as the week-long one we’ve just had in the
River Wye.
“It can be quite a difficult and a stressful job
but doing the work I do is rewarding and
seems very natural to me.”
In nominating Mark for his award, Branas
Isaf manager Kirsty Nelson said: “He is very
much a focused individual who takes his
role as a support worker very seriously.
He is a motivated and supportive staff
member who not only takes time out
to develop new staff but also to support
the more experienced team members.
“Within his role, Mark promotes the young
people to have a voice and encourages
them to make healthy decisions about their
future as well as providing a high standard
of daily care and nurture.”
Mario Kreft MBE, the Chair of Care Forum
Wales, said the Wales Care Awards had
gone from strength to strength.
He said: “The event is now firmly
established as one of the highlights in
the Welsh social care calendar. The aim
is to recognise the unstinting and often
remarkable dedication of our unsung
heroes and heroines across Wales. It is a
pleasure to honour the contribution of all
the finalists. Each and every one of them
should be very proud of their achievement.”
Outlook
Care
Awards
Our first annual award ceremony was a great success.
A number of Long Service awards were given out
to both carers and staff on the night including:
10
5
5 Years: Joan & Leon Brown, Emma Sanders
& Brian Laidlaw, Elaine & Bill Thornton and Kay Ashe
6
6 Years: Karen & Mick Keepence, Chris & Kevin Watson,
Sharmaine Worrell, John & Wendy Curtis
7
7 Years: Susie & Mark Harding,
Charmaine & Paul Waterhouse
8
8 Years: Len & Rina Colombini, Josie & Derek Warner,
Ginny Sage
9
9 Years: Sarah James
10 Years: Elaine & Gary Thomas, Pam Sousa
Karen and Mick Keepence received the
Foster Carer of the Year award for Essex
and Charmaine and Paul Waterhouse
for Kent.
Kim Hannington, John Curtis, Sharon
Powney and Sue Lydon received awards
for successfully completing the Level 3
Diploma in Children and Young People
– well done.
Our Panel Chair, John Collins also
received an award for services to the
Outlook Fostering Panel. The evening
was a great success.
”Thank you to you and everyone at Outlook
for a lovely evening. We had the best night
out, the meal, the entertainment, the hotel
staff, the whole social event was wonderful.
It was lovely to have everyone socialise
like that together. The award and gift
card was amazing to receive, definitely
a night to remember!”
Susie Harding
”Just wanted to say a huge thank you for
a fantastic evening. It was like being part
of a large family and we enjoyed meeting
foster carers we had never met before”
Maisie Brown
”Thank you for a great evening. Lovely
venue, lovely food, great company. It was
nice to be able to put faces to names of
the people at Outlook. Also to meet up
with carers from the other areas we don’t
see often. Thank you very much for the
award. Look forward to other events
like that it is a great morale booster
for everyone. Thank you all once again
for the award.”
Ian and Tina Killner
Here’s what some of you had to say.
05
Julian Spurling
Managing Director – Adult Services
For over 20 years, person-centred support and care
has been core to the values of CareTech. For us as an
organisation, putting the interests and needs of the
individual is at the heart of everything we do.
You are all now aware of our personalisation programme, which was
launched in October – to refresh and deepen our thinking and practices
in person-centred support across the entire organisation. And we have
all made a great start in embedding this strategy into everything we do.
WHO THIS
HELPS
Colleagues
People we
support
Helen Sanderson
06
Families
The
Organisation
Chief Executive of Helen Sanderson Associates
“For me, this marks a significant piece of work
we are doing together with CareTech, building
on your earlier training with my colleague
Jon Ralphs, and the progress you have been
making with the one-page profiles and
person-centred reviews in the north.
Members of the Board and Executive Team
have already created their own one-page
profiles, and there’s already significant progress
in one-page profiles being used throughout
the organisation, with both people you support
and colleagues, too.
Colleagues have also been working with your
HR, Recruitment and Training teams to look
at how person-centred practices can be used
to further develop your ‘staff journey’, looking
at how people join CareTech and progress
through to supervision and appraisal.
I look forward to what we can learn together
over the next two years as we support your
determination to become a more personcentred organisation.”
A
Great
Start
Personalisation Week
13-19 October 2014
Across the regions, we have been inspired to see so much engagement and enthusiasm
for the personalisation strategy and have seen great creativity and variety in the events
you all created to launch the programme.
In celebration of your commitment, we are proud and delighted to announce our regional
award winners, in recognition of their great contributions.
r
Winne
Home Counties
Well done to all our services who organised and took
part in such a range of activities during the week.
We are delighted to say that both staff and families have been very
positive about new agenda and initiatives. We look forward to chairing
our first of many Personalisation reviews.
Here are a few of the initiatives our teams created:
WELL DONE TO
Park Road,
Lavenders, Tewin
Road, St Agnells,
Westbrook House,
Cedars House,
Kenton Road
“In my shoes ...or my chair”
This was a workshop that would allow for the staff team to get a feel for
what it is like to be a service user.
“This experience has made me realise that we can change our behaviors
just slightly to make the service user feel less vulnerable and more included.
More personalised, This should be an experience everyone should try.”
Overall a successful
start to our
Personalisation
Agenda
Amy Geoghegan (Employee of the Month July 2014)
Undercover Boss
We organised for the staff team to complete tasks that they would not otherwise
do, to allow them to appreciate their colleagues and the pressure and enjoyment
each job role brings.
The feedback we have received is that staff appreciate the pressures that everyone’s
job roles entails and the impact it has on the service when people don’t work as a team
and support each other.
Staff and
service users
taking part
“How well do you know me?”
Staff were asked to complete not only their own one page profiles but also that of one
of their colleagues, which allowed the staff team to get a view on how their colleagues
like to be managed/supported.
Multi-Cultural Lunch
The services were asked to arrange a “Personalisation Party”. The theme at the parties
was “Multi-Culture”. This was to allow us to celebrate the many cultures we have within
our services’ and to evidence that we personalise our care to ensure that we consider
everyone’s background and culture. The staff teams prepared many dishes from
different countries. The feedback from the families and service users was very positive.
Everyone
enjoying a
well deserved
lunch
What next?
Now that we have introduced this initiaitve among the staff team, service users and families
we will now be inviting the local authorities and care managers to join in.
We are confident that now the staff team are much more aware of what it is we are trying
to achieve they will feel confident in discussing the “Personalisation Agenda” with the
external professionals.
We look forward to working with you all, ensuring that we offer and provide the best care
we can for our service users.
07
r
Winne
Kent - Magnolia House
Congratulations to our winners at
Magnolia House, who organised an
impressive variety of events to launch
and celebrate personalisation.
Games Day
Friendship Day
High Tea Party
Fancy Dress Night
Client of the Day
Pin the tail
on the
donkey
Fancy
dress
Tea
party
r
Winne
Midands - Dudley Street
Creating the
Personalisation
Poster
Dudley Street organised tombola,
hook a duck, guess how many
sweets in the jar, cake stall, foods
from around the world, name the
teddy, raffle, and bric-a-brac.
They also made posters to put up
in the house, on the windows and
on the gate to tell people passing
what was happening.
Creating the
Personalisation
Poster
Doing some
baking for
the fete
08
NAL
NATIO ER
N
WIN
National Winner – Prestwood
Prestwood Services Fun Day
What a huge success the Personalisation
Launch was for the Prestwood Services.
Take a look through our pictures to see
what we got up to during the launch
of our Personalisation Strategy with
service users, staff, family and friends.
A BIG thank you to all
service users and staff
that took part by adding
information on the
Company Review
and Forum.
We now have an action
plan for all service users
to have a look at and be
informed that they are
being listened to. This
was ultimately the priority
of the day.
We had bright goody
bags for everyone
who attended which
included information on
CareTech and our new
Personalisation Strategy.
We also have some interest
and nominees for a service
user forum.
Our strategy was
proudly displayed for
everybody to learn all
about it.
Guess how many
chocolates in the jar.
John Davies and Karlos
Wilshaw, did a great job
with the Bingo Calling.
Having fun playing the
giant Jenga.
09
Success
Stories
Congratulations to Alice Boden
Alice Boden from Porthill Children’s Home had been preparing and
looking forward to her interview with CareTech for weeks. She was
excited, planned her outfit and prepared her portfolio of qualifications
ready for the big day.
The position was for Junior Receptionist
and the interview took place at the Hanley
office. Alice’s portfolio was outstanding,
she answered questions professionally and
clearly showed passion for the role.
Alice was thrilled with the news that she
had been successful in her interview and
was offered the position. Alice immediately
reorganised her schedule to accommodate
the hours that had been offered and is very
excited about working with CareTech.
Further good news for Alice includes her
10 year anniversary with CareTech this year.
Alice also helped at the CareTech (Progress
Care Exhibition) stand in Manchester. Alice
is a very bright and active colleague who is
involved with the company at many levels
and a delight to be around.
Edward’s road to recovery
My name is Edward*. I grew up in a northern town with my mum,
brother and sister. My father had mental health problems and
was not allowed to see us, so my mum struggled to bring us up.
I didn’t have any qualifications when I left
school but I did get a job in an engineering
factory. They tried to be good to me and
as my OCD symptoms and fear of grease
got worse, I was moved into the office.
I worked there for 14 years until my
symptoms became too bad to continue.
I lived with my mother until she was
placed into a nursing home with dementia;
I moved into my own flat. Unfortunately,
things got worse for me – I ended up not
washing for over a year, not drinking and
refusing to go out.
The police had to break my door
down because I was afraid they would
contaminate my things if they came in.
I was at Uplands for years. I didn’t like
to shower and when I did, it took so
long to work up the courage I would
miss meals.
I couldn’t go out because touching
my coat would contaminate my hands.
In my last year at Uplands, I was introduced
to the ‘Recovery Star’. It lets me explain how
I feel about things, make my own choices
and work with staff on my problems.
The staff have said I am the expert on
my condition and this is true. I have started
to believe in myself a little more and I would
like to move into my own flat, though this
is scary. Before it was just a dream; now I
believe it could really happen.
There are times that staff have to encourage
me to do things like take a shower or drink,
but they always explain why and show
respect. Through the Recovery Star I can
see where I am on my journey and plot
the progress I’m making.
I shower three times a week now. I have
a volunteer who takes me out once a week
and have been out in a car in town, though
only when the weather is fine. I have also
been able to start talking to my sister again,
who is planning on visiting.
Recently, I moved to a new step-down
rehabilitation house with two other
residents. I help prepare food for the
evening meals, empty the rubbish bin
and even though I don’t like grease, I do
the washing up. I even put on my coat
to go out.
It feels more like home but I still want a flat
so have recently applied to the council to
be put on the waiting list, with help from
my key volunteer.
*Names have been changed to protect the identity of
the service user.
10
n
Annabelle Moving O
Annabelle moved to a residential
service following a lengthy hospital
stay. She was extremely nervous and
anxious about the move and tended
to isolate herself from others.
Over time, her confidence grew.
Staff supported her all the way.
Her skills developed to such a degree that she was able to move on to another
residential service with a supported living model but gave her the background
support she required. Her skills had developed to such a degree that the support
could be stepped down. Over many months, discussions were held with
Annabelle, her family, care management and her support service.
Everyone agreed she needed to move on. Annabelle
was in agreement too. We got Annabelle involved in
searching for a flat. It took some time for her to realise
that what she wanted and what she could afford were
different. This was a functional learning curve for
Annabelle and brought home the realisation of
independent living.
Approaching letting agents, Annabelle had many
disappointments where they refused to let to someone
who claimed benefits. CareTech agreed to rent the
property and for Annabelle to sub-let.
Soon after, she found the property of her dreams
which surprisingly enough mirrored her accommodation
at her residential service.
Consultation with the letting agent enables CareTech to
take on the lease, who then sublet to Annabelle. There was
a shortfall in rent which Mum agreed to pay. Agreements
were made for this to be paid into Annabelle’s Care
Management Service account.
After 18+ months, Annabelle eventually moved into her flat.
Since living there, support hours have decreased. She now
goes out on her own, has joined numerous clubs and groups,
has represented the organisation at many venues. In essence,
her confidence and skills have grown.
Her self realisiation of where support is required is a credit
to her. When not being supported she knows who to contact
and for what purpose. She is now more self directing and
directs others.
A true success. We are
very proud of Annabelle’s
achievements.
11
Developments
NEW
Bescot Road
Bescot Road was a large CareTech owned
property in Walsall.
We worked with Walsall Council and
agreed a model to convert Bescot Road
into a Supported Living service for people
with complex and challenging needs.
A model was put forward which included
four en-suite bedrooms on the ground
floor with large communal kitchen, dining
room and lounge and three flats on the
first floor with a communal lounge.
After a major redevelopment project the
service re-opened this year. Due to the
complex needs of the tenants a phased
approach has been adopted.
The majority of the tenants have
transferred from residential services.
Over the past few months with the
support and diligence of the staff team
the service users have developed
independent living skills and enjoy the
local community.
With the support and
diligence of the staff team
the service users have
developed independent
living skills and enjoy the
local community.
Nine Elms Lane
Nine Elms Lane located in
Wolverhampton was a seven bed
nursing residential service.
and a shared communal lounge area.
They also wanted it to be a specialist
Autism service.
We invited the Commissioners at
Wolverhampton County Council who
were the host authority to visit the
service and entered into a dialogue
about how the service could be
reconfigured and what they needed as
a local authority.
After a major redevelopment project
the service re-opened this year.
Wolverhampton County Council
decided they would like a Supported
Living Service consisting of four
individual flats, staff sleep in facilities
Two of the tenants had been living
within a family setting but due to aging
parents needed to start the journey of
independent living. The other tenant
was a young person who had been
inappropriately placed in a residential
setting. All the tenants love their flats
and their families are delighted.
All the tenants love their flats
and their families are delighted.
12
01204_CT_Pathways PAGES 2014_AW.indd 12
PAGE 12
03/12/2014 15:10
Cwlach Road
We are excited to have a new Registered service recently opened
in Prestwood, North Wales. Cwlach Road is a residential home
situated in Llandudno Town overlooking the most spectacular
views of Llandudno and the beach.
It is a three storey Victorian House, which has been converted into
five separate flats and a communal room. The home is registered
for up to five service users who can be male or female and the
ages between 18–64 yrs. The category of service users that the
house is registered for is Mental Health Problems and associated
Learning Difficulties.
Coppice Lodge
After the success achieved in winning the Dudley
short breaks tender it is wonderful to announce
that Coppice Lodge is finally complete.
Coppice Lodge is a large six bedded bungalow
offering all the amenities required to offer short
breaks to young people with physical, learning
and health needs.
The service is fully accessible and equipped to
ensure that the young people are able to further
develop their skills while having fun with their
peers and staff team.
The home has a large lounge, sensory room and
toy room, providing the children with the opportunity
to explore an array of toys and the latest sensory
equipment, whilst also gaining new skills through
participating with in-house activities and accessing
the community.
This home will provide a much needed resource
for the local authority, residents of the borough
and will also support families within the surrounding
authorities.
Since the completion of the building it has been
visited by a number of people, including children
and their families, commissioners, social workers,
councillors and local residents.
EHSL has provided the following new
accommodation for CareTech clients in 2014.
Walton Road, Woking - 4 person service with
24/7 staffing - opened in June - full.
Hermitage Woods Crescent, Woking - 6 person
service with 24/7 staffing - opened in July - full
It has been wonderful to see them and hear their
praise as we tour the new home.
Evergreen Way, Ashford - 4 person service
with 24/7 staffing, brand new house - opened
in November, likely to be full in early 2015.
Wanstead Park Road, Ilford - 3 person service
with 24/7 staffing opened in September, two
clients and one vacancy.
Tynley, Guildford - 5 person scheme which is
likely to be opened in December.
We have also taken management of Nine Elms
Lane, the new CareTech owned scheme.
13
01204_CT_Pathways PAGES 2014_AW.indd 13
PAGE 13
03/12/2014 15:10
OUR PEOPLE
Send us your questions to:
[email protected]
A BIG THANK YOU
TO STEWART
Stewart Wallace, Executive Director, retired from the Company on 27 September 2014,
on reaching the age of 65. However, we are delighted that Stewart will continue to provide
input to CareTech on an advisory basis.
Farouq Sheikh, Executive Chairman, said: “We are immensely grateful to Stewart for his key
role in the development of CareTech’s services over the past 14 years. His background in
social work and his commitment to the highest standards of care have been instrumental in
creating our care pathways and in building the foundations for CareTech’s future growth.
We wish Stewart well for his retirement and I am very pleased that he will remain available
to the Company.”
GEORGE BIRD
A NEW HORIZON
George is very close to his family, so he shared with
us the great excitement of his elder sister’s engagement
to her partner.
George is close to his sister Ellie and her
partner Wayne. When he received his
invitation, he was very excited that there was
not only going to be party, but it was going
to be in Cyprus, a hot place by the seaside.
It is easy to see when George approves or
disapproves of a choice that he is offered.
When he receives information positively he
smiles, repeats key words and phrases and
engages in conversation about the topic.
When he is not interested in what is being
offered he disengages and will usually just
offer up a simple ‘no’. George’s family were
very clear they wanted him to be at the
party. In their opinion it could not be a family
event if he was not there as he is so integral
to the family unit.
However, they were equally aware that
George’s attendance would present its own
set of challenges. One of the reasons that
George had moved to Morven House was
that some of his behaviours had become
increasingly difficult to manage at home.
However, once he’d made the transition
to his own flat, he’d quickly established
a very good relationship with Jon Davis,
the Home Manager at Morven. The family
saw George’s negative behaviours
diminish and he began achieving more
and more positive outcomes.
14
Paula, George’s mother was so impressed
and reassured by this relationship, sharing
the sense of security and confidence that
she now felt, she approached Jon to see if
he would consider supporting George to his
sister’s wedding. Jon immediately realised
the importance of this family event and was
keen to ensure that George was supported
by the service to meet not only his needs
but his dreams and wishes too. Plans were
put in place to start preparing George for
the trip to his sister’s wedding.
At every appropriate opportunity George
was engaged in discussions about ‘Ellie and
Wayne’s Wedding’, a holiday at the seaside,
where it would be hot. Photographs and
symbols were produced and included as
part of George’s visual communication
system, and he was encouraged to talk
about the future trip. Staff have given
George the opportunity to integrate visits
to the airport into his Community Presence,
which he has.
dation
The Ian Moore Foun
Jenny Moore
My husband Ian’s death was not only
sudden, but the biggest shock of my life.
Even though we were fully aware of his
condition, Emery-Dreifuss Muscular
Dystrophy, and just how rare it is, I thought
we would have a lifetime together.
Through the darkness I found myself
asking why we do not know more about
extremely rare, genetic heart conditions,
when this condition effects young, healthy
men, be it not that many.
If you Google EDMD, you will find very
little information, which we have found is
incorrect. Research is limited, unless you
have an endless pot of money. So, with
the help of the amazing cardiologists at
St. Bart’s Hospital in London, where Ian
was cared for, we are working together to
try and find more answers, more support
for newly diagnosed patients, and support
for their families, through the different
stages of the condition. The fact is,
there is no cure, and many sufferers live
happy, healthy lives, but they can be cut
short, as I well know. But if we can help
just one person, sufferer or loved one
through the dark times or with just
someone to talk to, then we have done
what we are setting out to achieve.
We are still in the very early days of a
very long journey, but we will get there,
for Ian and hopefully The Ian Moore
Foundation. I wanted to take this
opportunity to thank everyone who
donated, and to Surekha for doing
something that is totally outside of her
comfort zone, she is simply inspirational.
The support I have received from my
One Step and CareTech friends has
been amazing, if only I could name
you all individually; I will always be
truly grateful.
ASPIRE
TO BE
MORE
How our new family member EQL Solutions is helping both
our staff and our service users improve their work skills.
It has been just over a year since EQL
Solutions were welcomed into the
CareTech family – and it has been
a busy and eventful year since then.
As you may already know, EQL provide
work-based learning, creating clear
pathways into work and helping young
people and adults live independently in
their communities; Our specialist team
work closely together to build the skills
of unemployed people and support
employers’ recruitment needs.
The services we provide complement the
support CareTech offers to young people
transitioning to adult life, to individuals
returning to an ordinary life after mental
illness and to disabled people who wish
to live independently. Much of the training
we offer is delivered via apprenticeships
to 16-24 year olds, giving them the training
and support they need at the outset of
their working lives.
These apprenticeships we offer also
improve the skills and abilities of CareTech
employees, giving you a better chance
of progressing in your careers. The
apprenticeships we now provide to both
staff and services users will enhance and
support many aspects of CareTech’s work
and ultimately help to raise standards of
service across the whole social care sector.
Our Aspire programme provides workbased, specially tailored programmes
that award qualifications recognised by
employers nationwide. An apprenticeship
is one of the best ways for employees, like
you, to develop a rewarding, long-term
career in one of the UK’s fastest growing
sectors. And all of you are eligible to apply.
What might you achieve from one of
our programmes:
• Development of existing skills and
building on that knowledge
• Opportunities for career progression
• Gaining robust, nationally recognised
qualifications
Housing / Business Manager
JUST WALKING
On a sunny, crisp but dry day in October
I embarked on what was to be my first
10km walk in memory of a dear friend
Ian Moore, who had recently passed
away. I was inspired one day whilst
having a coffee with friends to do
something that would make a difference
to the lives of young people and adults
who are born with congenital heart
disease. It was at that point I thought
of The Somerville Foundation who are
pioneers in leading the way in research
into congenital heart disease. Every year
they have a Royal Parks 10km Marathon,
luckily for me they had run out of
spaces when I applied, however,
that did not stop me replicating this
wonderful way of fundraising around
the parks of Potters Bar, by walking!
So, at 10am on Sunday morning,
my team and I were ready to start
our 10km.
I realised a lot about Sunday mornings
in Potters Bar – there is so much
going on. We came across Rugby
tournaments, Football matches and
most of all for all you dog lovers, dog
walking classes followed by
competitions for the best dog!
The spirit of life is all around us and we
should certainly live life to the full doing
whatever makes us happy!
I would like to say a very, big thank you
to all my family, friends, and colleagues
at CareTech who made it possible for
me to raise over £1,200 by just doing
something I love – walking. All funds
raised will be used to continue their work
in supporting young people and adults
who are born with a heart condition.
Surekha Garg
HR Manager
www.justgiving.com/surekhag
• Building an excellent working
knowledge of all areas that fall under
the regulatory requirements of the CQC
• Strengthening of skills in maths
and English
• Gaining greater confidence in current
roles and in any future roles
If you are interested in finding out which
path is right for you, ask your manager so
that they can help you make the first step
on a very exciting journey.
Gary Rimmer
EQL Solutions
15
SHOULD WE BE
SCARED
OF SAFEGUARDING?
Service managers are often
scared of safeguarding but
should they be?
Safeguarding referrals have rocketed over
the past 3-4 years with social workers being
closely monitored alongside staff in the
homes. Since Winterbourne there have
been numerous investigations into care
services, raising the public profile massively
and not always on a positive note. Whilst
we all know that safeguarding of those
using our services is an essential part of
our role this doesn’t distract from the stress
and worry that this obsession with making
referrals has caused.
Services within my locality have had varying
experiences of safeguarding – largely though
these have turned out to be positive and
have helped the service in the long term.
I managed a service that was subject to a
string of safeguarding referrals made by
external professionals including experts by
experience who visited alongside CQC,
who were overly cautious and logged
concerns that were unfounded and unfair.
This caused significant levels of stress
amongst both myself and my staff team
at the time who became very cautious
of such individuals visiting the service.
We handled this however by being open,
transparent and co-operative with all
investigations and this has since proved
to be beneficial for the reputation of the
service. Experiences such as this have
proved to enhance the marketing ability
of the service creating an increased
number of referrals into the home and
increased confidence from professionals
in our abilities.
A service manager within my locality when
asked told me, ‘At my first safeguarding
experience I vividly recall feeling very
anxious, not knowing if I was completing
the forms correctly and what professionals
would think. Would they think I had no
control or insight into my residents
behaviours or triggers to behaviour etc?
However, through building reciprocal
positive relationships with professionals
they approach matters with common
sense as to what constitutes a referral
and what is merely an incident.
As a manager, I now find safeguarding
a necessary and positive process that
protects residents, staff and managers alike.
As a result social workers now tell us that
they prefer to place residents with us as
we try very hard to safeguard individuals
and are transparent in our support and
communication’.
We shouldn’t be scared of safeguarding,
we should use it as a tool to show that we
care and that we offer support in a safe and
consistent way. Safeguarding can be a way
to enhance your relationships with external
professionals and to ensure ongoing
success of your service.
Christina Yewdell
Locality Manager
A DAY IN
WHY I
CARE
THE LIFE OF
MICHELLE BOXALL
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
I have been working for CareTech for six
years. The most interesting part of my
job is every day is different and every
difference is valued.
My most important role is to support
people who want a service from
CareTech Community Services,
communicate to us their goals and
aspirations and how, where and
when they want to be supported
to achieve them.
Many things stand in the way of
achieving the skills and opportunities we
crave and at one time or another we all
need a little help.
Listening, not just with our ears but our
eyes and hearts, looking for the things
that are unsaid but communicated
through touch, gesture, flicker of an eye,
a smile or even a tear can help us identify
the things in life which make a difference.
16
Whether a service user needs a television
remote control with big buttons so they
can use it independently, or a first trip
abroad to a family wedding, my job is to
ensure that we pay attention to the little
things our people need.
Having a background in health and
social care with 31 years’ experience
helps me to recognise risks quickly and
find ways to overcome or minimise issues
that arise. This allows us to provide the
service that enables change and
development rather than dependency
and reliance.
My role is to simply support the individuals
who require services and then support
the Operational teams to provide the
support, making sure they have the
right resources such as accommodation,
experiences, training, and the funding
they need.
My job involves me telling everybody
what a good job we do, how we do it
and how we can do it for them.
I promote the fantastic work we do at
CareTech to individuals who require
services, family members or carers, local
authorities, health authorities, schools,
colleges, professionals in local teams,
voluntary organisations, carers
associations and the list goes on.
I do this through the use of marketing
material, making phone calls, attending
meetings, training, conferences and
exhibitions. Before I can do this, I listen
to make sure what we are providing are
what people want.
I care because seeing a service user
join CareTech and becoming more
independent makes my job worthwhile
for me.
How to make an inspection go well.
The key to remember is that most
inspectors want to know how good
the service is.
Graham Lewis
Director of Compliance
and Regulatory Management
LET THE INSPECTOR KNOW
OF THE SUCCESSES
THEY WILL CONSIDER
Particularly where there has been a
positive outcome, through activities,
personal achievement, health
improvement or satisfactory outcome
to resolving a concern or complaint.
Interact well between yourselves and
the people using the service
• Is it safe
• Show respect
• Case track an admission
• Does it put people at the centre
• Show dignity
• Do the staff know why they are
doing what they are doing
• Show kindness
• Case track others (potentially any
notifications/safeguards made to
see action taken has occurred
and support to individuals and
staff team implemented, support
plans and risk assessments
updated for example)
• Have fun
• What control do people have in
their own care and support
BE READY TO SHOW HOW YOU
QUALITY ASSURE YOUR SERVICE
• Is it flexible and have resources
to meet the needs of those
living in the service
How do you seek people’s views,
listen to them, particularly where
verbal communication may not be
the persons communication method.
WAYS YOU CAN HELP THIS
SELL YOUR SERVICE
The inspector is a visitor in their home
and where possible explain why the
inspector is there to the people living
or using the service.
Be honest but make sure you tell the
inspector of the good work your
team has done to improve the lives
of the people using the service.
DO NOT AVOID THE INSPECTOR
DON’T LOCK DOCUMENTS AWAY
It is important that you talk with the
inspector and they see you interact
with people living in the service.
Remember evidence can be provided
in different ways, written evidence
is not the only way of proving
compliance and good practices –
inspectors will observe interaction,
talk with people using and working
in the service, also relatives and
professionals.
Which might be needed at an
inspection, you trust the senior on
duty with the lives of the people
you support you should trust them
with paperwork
compliance.regulation
@caretech-uk.com
ENSURE THERE IS A SYSTEM
IN PLACE TO ENABLE ACCESS
TO RECORDS REQUESTED BY
AN INSPECTOR AND STAFF ARE
AWARE OF THIS.
The site visit is part of a review –
other information can be submitted
or shared immediately or soon after
to inclusion in the review – get
agreement before the inspector
leaves the service of what will be
forwarded on.
WHAT AN INSPECTOR
IS LIKELY TO DO AT
AN INSPECTION
• Arrive unannounced
• Talk and observe staff and people
in the home to check out their
involvement and understanding.
• Tour of premises
• Track staff records and training –
this can often link to staff they
have spoken with that day or
linked to case file they track (i.e.
keyworker, involved in incident
resulting in notification/safeguard)
• Spot check records
• SOFI (Adults England and other
regulators) – Short Observational
Framework Inspection – observe
positive and negative staff
interaction with people using the
service – do your staff
understand what this is?
• Take contact details of relatives
and professionals to make contact
with them regarding the service
AND FINALLY…
• Keep communication with the
inspector going after the site visit.
• Take notes, ask for feedback and
forward any additional
information you think could
strengthen a positive outcome,
even if the inspector does not
specifically request it.
www.caretech-uk.com/
compliance.regulation
17
CareTech
Fostering
Division
Safeguarding
Children
& Young
People
There are four Fostering Agencies that make up CareTech Fostering Division.
The division supports 240 carers who look after over 250 children on behalf
of our customers, the local authorities.
Caroline Ellis
Operations Director for Children and Young People Services
Our responsibility is to ensure that every child and
young person Looked After is kept safe at all times.
There are a variety of reasons that can lead to children
coming into our care. Just like there is no such thing as a
typical foster carer there is also no such thing as a typical
foster child.
Children may come into care because there is too much
of a risk for them to stay at home. Factors such as abuse;
physical, emotional, mental or sexual can play a part as
can drug or alcohol abuse by parents and physical or
emotional neglect.
Persistent offending can also result in
children being taken in to care, usually
due to a lack of support at home.
For whatever reason children who come into care, it is
never solely a result of their own actions. Poor parenting
almost always plays a large part. As a foster carer you need
to realise that many parents of children in care are a product
of poor parenting themselves. Fostering is not about blame,
stigma or sympathy it is simply about making a positive
difference to the lives of the children in care.
The role of foster carers is a unique and challenging
one. They look after some of our most vulnerable children,
24 hours a day, and it is essential that they are properly
supported and monitored. Our foster carers are supervised
by qualified supervising social workers, who provide the
support and guidance to carers and monitor the children
they have in placement ensuring that they are safeguarded
at all times.
Foster care brings risks for all involved and so safeguarding
children is fundamental for any local authority and
independent fostering provider like CareTech and their foster
carers. Organisational policies and procedures need to be
clear and up-to-date. Individual and family policies and
18
procedures need to be practical and relevant for every
placement. Our foster carers attend training on a regular
basis and some of the courses covered are; safeguarding,
safe caring, health and safety, first aid and managing
children with challenging behaviour. Training is linked
to the Seven Training and Development Standards for foster
carers originally set by Children’s Workforce Development
Council and now governed by the Department of Education,
which oversees all services to do with children.
The fostering sector is regulated by a number of acts
and fostering regulations, as well as statutory guidance.
They provide the legal and statutory framework for our
organisation and its activities. CareTech Fostering Division
ensures that all legislation, statutory guidance as well as best
practice guidelines are adhered to, taking care to implement
these into all aspects of our policies, procedures and
practices. To ensure all our children are safeguarded.
The main fostering regulations you
will come across in the United Kingdom
can be found at:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2011/581/made
Our English agencies – Outlook Fostering, FSG and Park
Foster Care are inspected by Ofsted and TLC Wales by Care
and Social Services Inspectorate Wales.
Fostering is a very challenging but rewarding career for
foster carers especially when they see the difference they
make to a child’s life.
Angela Gordon
Angela who has been fostering for
FSG has decided to retire after 21
years of service. We went to visit
Angela to discover what her next
steps are going to be.
Retired after
21
years of service
Before joining FSG, Angela was a foster carer for the Borough of
Lambeth where she remained for 6 years until moving abroad.
On her return, Angela considered fostering again and found out
about FSG through a friend. Angela also saw one of our adverts
in the local newspaper and decided to apply.
Angela explained to us that fostering has changed over
the years. Within the organisation she has seen a variety of
changes including staff, company name, laws and regulations.
Angela said that at the start of her fostering career, fostering
was more light-hearted and there was more time to interact
with the child. As the years have moved on, fostering has
changed to become more of a profession, with more
paperwork. She managed to find her own strategy to cope
with this. Angela said some children present more
challenging behaviour and at times carers may feel tired,
frustrated and degraded. Despite this she was able to cope
with it and follow procedure.
Angela says she could not fault FSG for the support she has
received over the years. She recognised that an agency
cannot reach out to all the carers fully at any given time,
Angela said she was always aware that they were there
for support.
The agency training was efficient and vital to help carers to
do their job. Angela gave credit to FSG for doing a good job
with the training. Angela preferred the training sessions at
the agency to the home studies.
The Support Group Meetings (SGM) have been a good place
to meet with other carers and are light hearted. At the SGM’s
there is a chance for carers to share your views and support
each other as well as the children in your care. The SGM’s
are more formal now as Angela recalls them being held in
each of the foster carers homes, with the carers cooking
and sharing food.
We wish Angela all the best with her retirement.
Angela’s highlights of 21 years of fostering
•The events were really nice. People enjoyed dressing up and looking forward to attend- especially the London carers. On occasion we stayed in a hotel. It was a family atmosphere.
•Throughout her years as a foster carer, the main highlight was seeing the young people’s achievements
Some of them went onto university. It is really nice as the young people do keep in touch – some have even
come back to say sorry for things, a really moving experience for Angela.
ANGELA’S PLAN FOR
THE FUTURE
Angela is venturing into a new family
business letting holiday cottages in sunny
Jamaica. She is off to Jamaica to scout
around for the family business.
ANGELA’S TOP TIPS!
• Be a good listener
• Have empathy
• Demonstrate unconditional love
• Demonstrate patience
• Demonstrate forgiveness
19
OUR
SERVICES
Julian Spurling
Adult services – One team, one approach
SET
FOR GROWTH
Over the last few months our new Adult services structure has taken shape, with two objectives:
1. T
o bring greater consistency to how we support front line staff in providing excellent support and
care to every individual and;
2. To enable us to explore the many growth opportunities that exist in our markets.
We now have four operating regions across the country:
Our regions are suppported by:
North – A new Operations Director is being recruited to take
responsibility for the two localities in the North West/North
Wales and Yorkshire working with Deana Whittle and Dave
Johnson respectively.
Regional Business Development teams – In the North
& Midlands regions, Natalie Kennedy is Relationships
& Partnerships Manager and works closely with Regional
Referrals & Assessment Managers – Joanne Boulton in
Yorkshire and Carina Williams in North Wales and the
North West. In the South, Kevin Rusbridge is Relationships
& Partnerships Manager working with Michelle Boxall and
Gail Huggins, the two Referrals & Assessment Managers.
Midlands – Desley Beaman takes on the new role of Operations
Director for this newly formed region consisting of our services
in Stoke, Stafford, the East Midlands, the Greater Birmingham
area and Gloucestershire. Desley is supported by three Locality/
Area Managers in Christina Yewdell, Chelsi Mahlangu and Nick
Secker.
South, Residential – Keith Yarnley is Operations Director, with
responsibility for the seven residential localities we have across
the South of England encompassing what were the Central and
South regions.
South, Community Living – Sean King, who joined us in September,
heads up a newly formed business unit with responsibility for
all our supported living and day care services in the South of
England. Sean’s immediate focus is to bring greater clarity and
consistency to our offering in this important growth area.
Financial Control – Dominic Van Der Veen is Financial
Controller for the South. Steve Carpenter is Financial Controller
for the North and Marc Harding is for the Midlands. All three
work with Andy Lee, who is Commercial Director
HR and Recruitment – In the North & Midlands, Lorraine
Greaves and her team support operational teams on HR
matters and Sam Aslam on recruitment. In the South, Stephen
Connor and Surekha Garg provide support across residential
and community living services.
Quality team – Led by Victoria O’Meara. Three regionally based
Service Improvement Managers Julie Quigley, Nicky Williams,
and Theresa Ricketts work closely with the operational teams
to drive continuous improvement. Specialist Psychology support
is provided by Genevieve Singabrayen and the newest addition
to the team is Jon Davis, an Autism Behavioural specialist.
These are exciting times for community
mental health services, and CareTech services
are in a strong position to take advantage
of the changes that are currently occurring.
We are finally beginning to see some results
from the change to Clinical Commissioning
Group commissioning last year.
MICK DAVIES
National Operations
Manager, Mental Health
and Complex Care
20
Whilst some of this brings new pressures to
bear, such as increased pressure on fee levels,
and higher expectation around outcomes, our
capacity to provide step down pathways is a
major competitive advantage. In the coming
year, we have ambitious plans to increase both
our capacity and range of services across
England and Wales. Linking higher acuity
residential services with community based
supported living options, to deliver unique
regional recovery networks is our ultimate goal.
It has to be said that these recovery pathways
are not abstract ambitions. For our service
users, the potential to flourish with an
appropriate level of support, whilst living
in safe, homely facilities, well embedded
in local communities is very real.
To deliver on this promise, we of course rely
on staff to show a level of professionalism
and commitment which is the envy of other
providers in the sector. I have every confidence
that over the coming year we will be able to
build on this solid foundation to provide more
people with Mental Health problems to benefit
from the support we can offer.
Jon Davis
Behavioural Specialist
You know those times when your staff team just don’t
seem like they want to learn? When the people using
your services just won’t ‘play ball’? When the strategies
you have in place aren’t working? If only everyone
would just behave the way they’re supposed to… We’ve
all been there. So, where to next?
My name is Jon Davis and I have recently been appointed as
the Behaviour Specialist for CareTech. I am part of the Quality
& Assurance team and I work with Victoria O’Meara.
As you know, we are proud to promote that we’re all about person
centred, quality services, that meet the needs of the people who
use our services. High ideals that we have to attain – but ones that I
believe with a passion we can do, and do well.
My remit is to make sure that we are providing appropriate, good
quality support for people who use CareTech services. For that to
happen, sometimes services need a bit of help and/or direction,
and that’s where I step in!
I have been working in the field of Social Care for the last 24 years,
providing support to People with Learning Disabilities and Autism
within Residential/Supported Living and in an Education context.
I have more than 5 years experience in educating children with
special needs and assessing their individual needs using different
methods - Applied Behavioural Chart and TEACCH, Small Steps as
well as day to day interaction, observation of behaviour, fine and
gross motor skills and liaison with specialists such as Speech and
Language Therapists. I was a key member of the team at a School
for Autistic children that devised each pupil’s Individual Plan, a vital
part of their ongoing assessment. I was the manager at Morven
House for 2 years.
Morven is a Supported Living Transition Service for people with
an Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC) diagnosis. I was keen to
apply for the position of manager there as it would enable me to
combine my experience from both the Education and Social Care
sectors, merging the two together, providing an essential early
phase of a lifelong development plan, providing service users
with the opportunity to develop their life skills, enabling them to
become as independent as possible, in order that they can move
on to other CareTech Supported Living Establishments, and
integrate successfully.
I have managed large services and know what it feels like to be
stressed and have challenges come flying from all corners. I would
like people to feel that they can come and talk to me and get the
support they feel they need. I really believe in the use of positive
reinforcement with colleagues, staff and service users alike!
Part of my role as a Behaviour Specialist is to go into services and
provide support where I can. This can include identifying and
interpreting behaviours, supporting staff with methods of working
as well as the more mundane but essential tasks such as guiding
them to write meaningful, effective support plans and behaviour
management guidelines, that become essential tools in great work
of supporting vulnerable children and adults, that we have the
priviledge of undertaking.
Nigel Taylor
Learning & Development
Making a commitment to quality
Hundreds of employers have already signed up to the Social Care Commitment
designed to help improve the quality of care and support in our communities.
Employers and their workers sign
up to seven statements created in
consultation with the sector, helping
them to think about the values
underpinning their services, backed
by a range of easy to use online
resources to help embed the
commitment into organisations
CareTech deliver 250 services across
England and they were one of the first
employers to sign up.
We have been very supportive of sector
initiatives and we felt it was important
to get on board. If we are looking at
defining quality that can be subjective,
but our view is the commitment gives
all employers some statements we
could all sign up to and commit to.
We secured the support of the CareTech
board of directors before taking the first
steps to embedding the statements in a
national organisation with many sites.
great the sector has signed up to it and the
numbers are looking good. It is very simple
in how it is presented, a logical sequence
and easy to understand language.
We took the whole of our support team,
people involved in recruitment, our HR and
training divisions out for two days to look at
what was in place already, did it work and
what we needed to do to make them fit the
Social Care Commitment.
CareTech believe in quality services so
we have systems in place to do that and
check it so the commitment galvanises
out systems to meet a clear set of
statements. People who are joining us
can instantly recognise what sort of
organisation we are.
One of the strengths of the commitment is
it has been developed with busy employers
in mind so the implementation process is
designed to be easy.
There is some crossover in the statements,
but there are key values embedded through
like dignity and safeguarding, I think it’s
It’s in everyone’s interest that adult
social care continues to become more
professionalised so we can reduce
our waste by recruiting the right people
that will help create a consistency in the
workforce and continuity of care.
21
OUT & ABOUT
ROYAL
VISIT
David Slater recently went on a trip
to Buckingham Palace and had special
permission to also visit the Horse Guards
stables. David Slater was very impressed
to meet the soldiers and see the horses.
David Slater wrote to the Queen
to thank her for this special treat and
was very pleased to receive a reply
from Buckingham Palace!
Macmillan
Fundraiser at
Hawthorns House
We held a Macmillan Fundraiser at the West
Bromwich office, where we had drinks, a
buffet, lots of cake, and nail painting. The
team here at Hawthorns House really pulled
together to get the training room decorated
with green balloons for Macmillan and
bunting and we were all aware the whole day
of why we were doing this, raising funds for a
much needed cause. The day was brilliant and
everybody involved had such a lovely time.
Visitors came from CareTech services, both
staff and service users, staff from the office
here and staff from other companies within
Hawthorns House. The training room became
filled with the tempting smells of delicious
cakes and it was found to be very difficult to
22
resist by those currently on diets. The
service users loved getting involved and
were more than happy to help draw tickets
for the raffle, they were even more thrilled
when their tickets were coming out and
they got to pick their prizes. The raffle
prizes were all donated from various
members of CareTech staff and even
family members were getting involved.
The sweepstake, guess the number of
coffee beans in the jar, was revealed the
next day and the winner was Nichola Wem
from our HR Dept. We raised £510 in total,
£140 of this was via Just Giving by those
that couldn’t be here on the day.
OUT & ABOUT
EVENTS AT
MARTELLO
At the Martello we are always keen in supporting
and joining in events in our community. We currently
work with a local school Highview, offering their
students work experience at the centre working in
the kitchen and at our weekly Disco, which is very
successful and we have a waiting list of students
wishing to join in
To promote communication we organised a “learn to
finger spell day”, where we used makaton, which is a
form of sign language, alongside verbally communicating
to increase peoples skills with communicating.
This month we are working with local schools
Foxwood and Highview in a craft fair, held at the
Martello. We have stalls to sell hand made crafts that
were made in our sessions as well as the students
from the schools contribution of hand made
Christmas crafts.
We have also participated as a centre in “Wallace &
Gromits” Big Bake where we had fun making cakes in a
“generation game” style, where participants sponsored
to sell the cakes that are made. This was in aid of
children in hospitals and hospices.
CLIMBING towards health at
GREENFIELDS
WORKING
LAUGHING
GROWING
LEARNING TOGETHER
Greenfields School delivers education to students aged 11–18
who are in care in private houses in England and Wales. Most
of these students are considered vulnerable and ‘at risk’ young
people with severe emotional and behavioural difficulties.
As the majority of our students have had disrupted education
history, with most having been previously permanently
excluded, and present with a wide range of complex additional
learning needs, we work on building their confidence, social
skills, communication and listening skills, and helping them to
get accredited with various qualifications.
As an example of our effectiveness, one of our students, Bob*
has autism and attachment difficulties, along with learning,
behaviour and emotional difficulties.
Bob enjoys an active, energetic and physical approach to learning,
such as taking part in indoor climbing sessions every week.
Bob has since been having the time of his life, as he now says
feels good and fit, and has developed a very good relationship
with the instructors. He feels very comfortable with them and
enjoys their company because he sees they are helpful to him
and the rest of the group, and are very supportive of his needs.
He confessed that he was not sure whether he would like the
challenge in the beginning because of the environment, and the
fact that it was an external agency taking them for the sessions –
he was not sure how to communicate with them and build a
relationship with them at first.
Bob is happy with the discipline and the expectations during the
climbing sessions and is grateful for the opportunity to increase
his skills. He is looking forward to continuing with the rest of the
challenges during the outdoor activity sessions.
*Names have been changed to protect the identity of the service user.
23
and finally...
LOOK OUT FOR UPCOMING
Awards 2015
AWARDS 2015
Please get your nominations
and applications in for the
key awards for 2015 - and lets
get recognition for all of our
CareTech stars.
Here are some of the details
- and watch out for nomination
dates in the next issue.
And don’t forget our very own
CareTech Awards - see page
2 for details.
The Independent Specialist Care Awards
celebrates outstanding innovators and
performers in the UK specialist care sector.
It’s an excellent opportunity to shine a light
on the good work and innovative thinking
that has driven the independent sector to
its position today; the dominant provider of
specialist care in the UK.
LaingBuisson, who organise these awards
is a well respected provider of information
and market intelligence on the
independent health, community care and
childcare sectors. They also organise the
Independent Healthcare awards and
together they form the most highly
regarded accolades available in the UK
health and care sectors.
http://www.laingbuisson.co.uk/Events/
IndependentSpecialistCareAwards/
Winners.aspx -
National Learning Disabilities Awards
Championed by BILD and for the
Learning Disabilities sector
http://www.nationalldawards.co.uk/
The Great British Care Awards
This has a strong regional focus,
feeding into National Awards ceremony.
Covers mostly Older People Care but
also Specialist Care, as proven by
Lyndhurst’s success.
www.care-awards.co.uk/
The CareTech Awards
Our very own awards for the outstanding
stars in our CareTech family.
The Wales Care Awards
Nominations to be in by end
March 2015 and the ceremony
will be early November 2015
The Rumble Awards
Foster Carer Awards
s
Benefiotu
for y
Staff Benefits Scheme
CareTech offer a comprehensive online benefits programme for you to access offers
and discounts throughout the year, featuring categories including travel and attractions,
health & wellbeing, fashion & gifts, utilities & motoring and home & entertainment. With a wide range of discounts, online vouchers, high street savings and cashback
offers, there’s something for everyone.
caretech.myadv.co.uk
Employee Assistance Programme
CareTech also offer an Employee Assistance Programme. Available to
contact as many times as necessary the service can provide information,
resources and counselling on a range of issues including:
–Emotional/personal – Stress, anxiety, depression, bereavement
–Financial – Debt management and budgetary advice
–Legal – Legal information on such issues as writing wills, buying property, landlord/tenant disputes
–Marital/Family – Divorce, child and adult care support, separation
and family conflicts
–Tax – All aspects of UK tax
–Work and Management – Work relationships, work stress, career issues, harassment, work-life balance
–Health – Symptom checker and health information
24
Manager Assist
Manager Assist provides managers
with access to support and
resources specifically designed to
help them cope with the stresses
and challenges unique to their role.
Service User Competition £50 Prize
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HAPPINESS
JOY
Have you enjoyed reading this edition of
Pathways?
We’d love to hear your comments:
We need your input
Pathways is your magazine. We love to
hear all of your news and successes,
so please keep sending in your stories,
articles and top tips to:
[email protected]
Can you find the WORDS
FAMILY
FESTIVE
Tell us what you think
JUBILATION
PARTY
PRESENTS
SHARING
STARS
TOGETHER
Thank You!
Bake off
We are excited to be launching our very own Bake-Off
week in the Spring.
We would love you all to take part and
contribute to your community - both with
cakes and with charity.
We will be asking everyone around
CareTech to bake their very best cakes and
organise your tea parties, coffee mornings
and cake sales, to bring everyone together
in true CareTech style.
And please nominate your own local
charity - so we are giving back to our
communities twice over.
And CareTech will match the contribution
of the highest amount raised.
We will want to see lots of pictures of your
sweet treats and details of what you have
raised - there will be prizes!
…and don’t forget to send us in your top
recipes
Full details will be sent out in the New Year
- so keep your eyes out and start planning
your cupcake favourites now.
Keep Baking!
25
Celebrating
21 years
in care
A Winning Year
Celebrate
The Hall
of Fame
REGIONAL
FINALIST
2014
Celebrating Excellence Across The Social Care Sector
LET'S
OUR STARS
A big thank you to all our longstanding employees
10
YEARS
PLUS
Margaret Goodwin • Margaret Hawtin • Maria Fogarty • Maria Nemeth
Marian Browne • Marie Grogan • Marinet Villavarasingam • Mark Appleton
Martin Sumerton • Mary Tromans • Mathew Sisley
Matthew Penfold • Maudlyn Chambers
Meena
Sanghani
•
Megreen
Mawere
•
Melanie
Sehdev
•
Melissa
Lignum
Mercy Tweneboa - Kodua • Michelle Bennett • Michelle Hill • Miguel Harvey • Miriam Collins
Monica Nelson-alleyne • Monica Thompsett • Naila Akbar • Natalie Googe
Neil Parker • Nesta Jones • Nicola Williams
Olwen Calland • Parvin Aryanpour • Patricia Young • Paul Speakman
Pauline Broadfield • Penelope King • Peter Sweeney • Rachel Bentley
Raymond James • Ritchie Skinner • Robert Freer
Robert Roberts • Rose Quawson • Rosemarie Flaherty
Sally
Samer
Nicholls
Abdu
•
Sara
•
Quaife
Salma
•
Sarah
Dirieh
Edwards
•
•
Sarah
Samantha
Hall
•
Sharon
Gould
Beardsmore
Sharron Roscoe • Shelia Masters • Shelley Nash • Shirleen Bishop
Simon Alcock • Simon Clarke • Siobhann Kelly • Sophia Johnson
Stephen Wadham • Stuart Vesty • Susan Bradbourne • Susan Evans
Susan Hawkins • Susan Sandbrook • Susan Sutton
Susan Wilkins • Tammy Woollaston • Terence Wright
Teresa Tregurtha • Trish Boulden • Vera Kessie • Vicky Larham
Warlito Naval • Yavuz Hakan • Yvonne Green • Zoe Lincoln
CareTech Community Services
Metropolitan House
3 Darkes Lane
Potters Bar, Hertfordshire
EN6 1AG
01707 601 800
Pathways
Extraordinary days every day
Celebrating
21 years
in care