Impressing the inspectors at Jackson Gardens
Richard Wheatley, Regional Manager – North West, has asked us to share a special ‘well done’ to Michele Johnson and her team at Jackson Gardens for their amazing achievement on receiving their overall good rating with their first CQC Inspection.
Richard told us, “It was a pleasure to read such amazing comments about the care that is delivered by the onsite team and how the scheme is managed. Michele is newly in post at Jackson Garden and has made such a difference is a short space of time”.
Some comments from the report included “Kind and Caring”, “Marvellous” and “Out of this World”.
Richard added that “it has been a pleasure to get this feedback from service users and care staff. And it is amazing to see such a warm culture at Jackson Gardens. Well done Michele and team, your hard work and dedication does not go unnoticed.”
Becci’s going the extra length for breast cancer
Hazel Richardson, one of our Complex Community Nurses has shared a story highlighting her colleague Becci’s charity swim to raise money following her sister’s cancer diagnosis in December 2021. 
Becci’s sister, Toni a young Mum with two children, was diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer late last year. TNBC is a type of Breast cancer whose cells don’t have hormone or Her2 receptors, and accounts for 15-20% of Breast Cancer diagnoses, and is more common in women under 40. Toni is part way through her treatment plan, including 11 chemo cycles and an operation. She has rung the bell on Chemo and is awaiting Radiotherapy next month. Becci told us “She has fought it like champ and as a family we are so very proud of her for not only fighting this disease but for also doing it as a single mother and not letting her treatments affect the children”.
Toni’s determination and strength has inspired Becci to take on her own challenge to complete a 10 mile swim to raise money to support all other warriors, but mainly for her sister. To complete this challenge Becci needs to swim 895 lengths of her local 18 metre pool, and has under 200 lengths to go with three swims planned for the remainder of this week and is on target to complete it! Becci said “I’ve swam at every opportunity I can, around shifts and my children”.
Hazel commented “Becci works full time on one of my ICCM packages in Cheshire and is a great asset to her team – to see her completing this outside of work and with her own family to care for is amazing and warrants sharing. Hopefully our colleagues will donate to this worthy cause and congratulate one of our hard-working team members for completing such challenge.”
You can find out more about Becci’s challenge and make a donation on her Facebook Fundraisers page.
The Advantage Healthcare team excels in Cardiff
Congratulations to Theresa Giles, our Advantage Healthcare Branch Manager in Cardiff on her successful CIW Registration! Theresa joined Advantage Healthcare in August 2020 as a Client Manager, and progressed to Branch Manager in September 2021 when Leanne Henderson, the previous Branch Manager, took a new role in the Governance Team for the Complex Care division.
Rachel Davy, Head of Operations who shared the news, said “Congratulations Theresa, this wasn’t an easy journey but your passion, commitment and hard work paid off. Well done and keep believing in your ability to be the best!”
This comes on the back of another significant achievement for the branch regarding a young man with a family who had suffered a spinal stroke in 2020. The Cardiff team were first approached in November 2020 to support this client and after a very challenging and carefully phased discharge he was finally fully discharged last week! This package required a very large team of 10+ staff presenting several recruitment challenges in an already tough market and was significantly disrupted by the ongoing and changing COVID 19 restrictions and continuing lockdowns.
The team worked closely with the multi-disciplinary team meeting – a regular meeting that takes place between health care professionals to discuss the client’s case – including consultants and ward staff. Theresa, Nurse Andrew Pettey and Care Service Manger Vera recommended trialling a phased discharge strategy, enabling us to build the right team around the package and prioritising safety. It worked! That strategy has exceeded all expectations and is a model which has impressed the lead consultants who are considering rolling it out on a large scale for their future complex care patients.
Today Theresa’s client is home with his three children and partner Sam, after three long years in hospital.
Vera Robinson the lead Care Service Manager leading on the mobilisation wrote “This couldn’t have been achieved without the hard work of the previous manager Leanne Henderson and Theresa, who transitioned into her new role as Branch Manager whilst maintaining the ever changing rota and the challenges this care package brought. Thank you Theresa and Andrew for those long hours spent on recruiting and keeping engaged the current staff who are all now part of a large and successful team that have brought this client home to his family. The challenges have been from every side, and you have done a fantastic job!”
