A day to remember at 10 Downing Street

 

City & County’s CEO Gary Fee, and our fantastic care workers Tony Graham, Amanda Morgan and Neve Beamish were delighted to attend an event at 10 Downing Street on 17th August.

They represented our care workforce at a reception held in recognition of care staff. It was a great opportunity to network and share experiences with others from different care services and providers from across the country. Tony, Amanda and Neve were all Care Heroes Awards finalists this year, with Amanda winning Care Worker of the Year.

 

“I am proud to have been invited to attend alongside three of City & County’s Care Heroes”

(Gary Fee, CEO)

Gary said: “I was absolutely delighted and privileged to attend a reception for social care staff at No. 10 Downing Street yesterday. The event was held to thank and celebrate care staff across the country for all the amazing work they do every day.

The reception was a fantastic opportunity for us to meet with colleagues across a sector that employs over 1.6m people and delivers care to both the public and private sector. I am proud to have been invited to attend alongside three of City & County’s Care Heroes, Amanda Morgan, Neve Beamish and Tony Graham, who are the most wonderful ambassadors of the sector and our company. You make such a positive difference to people’s lives every day – thank you!

Thanks also to Jane Townson, CEO of the Homecare Association, who works tirelessly to improve the visibility and funding for the care sector.”

The Minister for Care, Helen Whately MP, was in attendance and talked to everyone about their roles; she gave a speech in which she thanked care sector staff for their invaluable contributions to health and social care.

Amanda Morgan, Care Worker of the Year, said: “It was a wonderful experience. We met up with Helen Whatley and she came and spoke to us as a group about our roles. We all felt honoured and privileged. We also felt so special on the day as it was all about us. I never thought I would ever have an invitation to 10 Downing Street; it’s an experience we will never forget. We also can’t thank Gary enough for the day that he gave us. He made us all feel so special, and he looked after us all day.”

The Downing Street event was a fantastic opportunity for our City & County care workers to be recognised for the extraordinary work they do every day, and to share their experiences of the care sector with MP Helen Whately. Gary’s presence at the event will have helped to raise the profile and awareness of City & County Healthcare Group and the vital services we provide.

Our Care Heroes Awards 2023

There were big smiles, tears and much deserved cheers as we announced our Care Heroes 2023 winners at the awards ceremony in Birmingham on 4th July.

Gary Fee, our new group CEO gave an introductory speech welcoming everyone to the awards ceremony. Gary commended the finalists, stating:

“Today is about celebrating you, this is your day, it’s all about you – our care workers. We wouldn’t be able to do our jobs without you. I am honestly astounded and humbled by everything you do each and every day. You work tirelessly from morning to night delivering care to tens of thousands of people. I am amazed by what you do. Thank you.”

Here’s our list of winners for 2023:

 

Care Coordinator of the Year:

• John Abreu – Guardian Homecare, Preston

Care Team of the Year:

• Angela Diggins and Karen Barnes – Guardian Homecare, Basildon

Changing Lives Award:

• Ola Oshin – Guardian Homecare, Basildon

Specialist Care or Support Worker of the Year:

• Carmen Clemas – Human Support Group, Carmarthen/Pembroke

Field Care Supervisor of the Year Award:

• Jackie Milligan – Constance Care, Blantyre

Above and Beyond Award:

• Antonina Miszczak – Complete Care Amegreen, Telford (Jody Tierney, Antonina’s manager picked up the award on her behalf)

Service of the Year

• Willow House – London Care (Prabhjot Atwal, Branch Manager collected the award)

Lifetime Achievement Award:

• Christine McGee – Careline, Middlesbrough

Care or Support Worker of the Year:

• Amanda Morgan – Abacare, Ebbw Vale

 

Congratulations to all the winners  (above) and also to the finalists who are also just as deserving. The judging panel found it extremely difficult to decide on the winners from such an excellent and high quality pool of nominations.

 

Check out our recruitment website for more information about jobs and careers with us.

Thanking our volunteers

 

1-7 June is national Volunteers Week and we wanted to thank the volunteers who come and make a difference to our clients’ lives, in any way they can.

Here at City & County Healthcare Group we have many volunteers who come and help out at our branches and sites across the country. Volunteers often help out at our centres, assisting with activities and events.

Our teams are well connected with local communities and volunteers have helped out with visits from local musicians, the emergency services, running bingo competitions, summer fetes and much more.

We also wanted to highlight the great volunteering work of one of our branch managers – Amanda Lowe.

Not only does Amanda hold a busy job as Branch Manager at our company Comfort Call, managing six extra care schemes in Manchester, but she also finds the time to volunteer for Age UK as a ‘Friend of Age UK’.

When asked about her volunteering efforts, Amanda said, “I have been volunteering and phoning a lady once a week, for half an hour. The lady has no family, she never had children and her husband passed away. We chat each week about her hobbies, knitting, and crocheting.

She enjoys our chats. The first week she was a little shy and conversation was hard but once we started talking about her hobbies she was fine and conversation flowed and she found it easy to talk to me. She doesn’t have anybody apart from me.”

Thank you to Amanda for sharing her volunteering experience.

Have you visited our new careers website?

 

We recently announced the launch of our new careers and recruitment portal, cch.careers, after many months of hard work and development.

Bringing together vacancies from across the CCH group of businesses, the brand new site offers a user-friendly portal for searching and applying to vacancies across the organisation, from the latest care assistant roles to back office and management positions.

Along with that, the website features a host of helpful, informative content on what it means to be a care assistant, working within the sector, guides, life at City & County and more, with a blog coming in a few months’ time that will showcase care assistant stories, insights, resources and a better view into the world of domiciliary care at CCH.

Take a look, explore the site, and check out the range of job opportunities available!

 

“Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus” – Happy St David’s Day

 

Today is St David’s Day – a very important date in the Welsh calendar – so we’d like to wish all our Welsh colleagues a “Very Happy St David’s Day”.

A special message from Sally Haskayne – Regional Director:

Sally Haskayne is our Regional Director for Wales and the South:

“Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus – Happy St David’s Day. I would like to say a massive thankyou to all our Welsh branch teams and care workers. Our branches in Wales are doing a fantastic job looking after the most vulnerable in our communities and have worked extremely hard throughout the winter. We appreciate everything you are doing delivering much-needed care services across Wales. Thank you again for everything you are doing to make a difference to people’s lives.”

A role model in Wales:

Did you know?

Our current Care Worker of the Year (from City & County’s Care Heroes Awards 2022) – Leanne Gardiner – is based in Wales.

Leanne is a fantastic role model and example of the great work being done by our care worker staff across Wales.

What is St David’s Day?

St David is the patron Saint of Wales, and he is celebrated annually on the 1st of March.

On St David’s Day Welsh people around the world wear one or both of Wales’s national emblems – a daffodil and a leek. Daffodils are the national flower of Wales and it is believed that St David was a vegetarian and lived mainly on a diet of leeks.

Special concerts and traditional parades are held all around Wales in St David’s honour, including the National St David’s Day Parade in the centre of Cardiff.