Careers

The best aspect of being Chief Executive at Four Seasons Health Care is that I have a great team around me who are driven to deliver the best quality care. I get to see this when I visit our homes and hospitals and meet our service users and employees.

I began my career working as a GP within the NHS and from there advanced to take on a variety of roles within the Primary Care Trust and wider NHS. I progressed from being a GP because I had a passion for improving the service that patients receive.

I made the move to work for Four Seasons Health Care in 2005 initially as Medical Director, then as Chief Operating Officer and I have been Chief Executive since April 2008.

Many people working in the public sector believe that they are the guardians of care and that the private sector does not have this ethos. Having worked in both the private and public sectors I can say that this same ethos of care is absolutely part of our principles at Four Seasons, together with a focus on innovation and safety.

Working in the private sector brings many benefits that are not available in the NHS; we have a greater degree of autonomy and ability to make decisions. Our managers and employees are empowered to run their businesses and this makes us agile and responsive in our service delivery.

I am ambitious for our business and myself I want to ensure that we continue to be recognised as the highest quality health care provider in the United Kingdom. We are also striving to be best place for people to work and grow and develop their careers through the opportunities available. We can only get to where we want to be through our people and I will be very happy when I have three or four people ready and able to step in my shoes.

Silver Springs care home is a great place to work. As the chef here I feel that I am working for a good cause. I help people in their last journey, to make it more pleasant, tastier and nutritionally balanced.

I get great job satisfaction, the job has become personal, my clients appreciate it and I can see that. It makes my day when I see a smile on their faces as they enjoy the food we have prepared for them. The role is never monotonous; each day brings a different challenge, as resident's needs change so often. Being part of the home allows me to able to talk to people I cater for, and through this communication skills build my knowledge of the clients needs and wants each day. This then challenges my culinary skills to find new and interesting ways of meeting these needs.

I also get a lot of personal benefits from the role. I have had the opportunity to showcase my talents at a number of internal and external events and was runner up in the national care chef of the year award. Another benefit of being a chef within a care home is the hours are very sociable compared to other catering environments.

I was commissioned in the rank of Captain and was promoted to the Rank of Major 3yrs ago. Whilst in the TA I have served in Iraq in 2004, and Afghanistan in 2008 as the Trauma Nurse co-ordinator. Each time Four Seasons Health Care, permitted me to go on tour of duty as it allowed another staff member to ‘Act up’ and gain experience in the role of Regional Manager.

My experience with the military and within Four Seasons Health Care has allowed me to gain a broad range of skills and experience which has improved my performance in both roles. Utilising the military is an excellent way to develop leadership abilities in those involved in a management role and I commend Four Seasons Health Care in recognising this opportunity. As a part-time serving officer I am in charge of a detachment within the Squadron and have learned much and gained additional experience and skills I would not otherwise have.

I have also been able to use my connection with the military to benefit my colleagues. Recently a team from Four Seasons Health Care Northern Ireland took part in ‘Exercise Medical Challenge’. During the exercise the team were presented with nine different challenges where they had to undertake various tasks outside their normal comfort zone, marks were given for their performance in each task. The tasks tested their powers of leadership, communication, teamwork, quick thinking and health and safety skills as well as their first aid skills. Despite having not worked together before the team pulled together and all performed very well. They enjoyed themselves so much that they are already enrolled on the next Medical Challenge.

I Qualified in April 2009 and came straight to work at East Riding Care Home. I had previously worked as a carer in a care home and loved it. I knew dementia and elderly care was where I wanted to specialise.

As soon as I walked through the door and started working for Four Seasons I was happy. I get so much job satisfaction – there is not a single thing I would rather do. We work to make peoples end of life more rewarding, giving them support and comfort, and it’s not just the residents but their families as well. It is a whole team effort; domestics up to managers all play a part in ensuring we provide quality care.

Working at Four Seasons has given me a great opportunity to develop my career and skills; I am now responsible for running a unit with another nurse. I’ve had fantastic training and my confidence has grown enormously. I have been able to put the theory I have learnt into practice. So far the training I have includes dementia awareness, challenging behaviour, venepuncture and tissue viability and I know there is more to come.

When I qualified I had no intention to do anything but nursing, but now I have started to think about my future. I have seen how much of a difference I can make working on the floor but I want to make even more of a difference by ensuring as a manager everyone gets the best quality care. I know I will get great support from the home manager and regional manager to help me achieve my ambitions.

The best thing about Four Seasons is that I’ve had the opportunity to broaden my skills and experience, I have more responsibility and exposure than I would have had working in the NHS. I have recommended Four Seasons to one of the nurses I qualified with and they are now working in one of our homes nearby.

I am originally from Scotland where I worked in critical care in the NHS. I moved Jersey 12 years ago and started as a Night Sister at La Haule Care Home, and progress to becoming the Home Manager 7 years ago.

The home was poorly performing when it was acquired by Four Seasons; I presented to the management team that significant focus and investment would be required to turn it around. Four Seasons backed my plans and supported me to make the changes, within a year the home was full and had built a good reputation in the community. So much so that we won second place in the Care Home of the Year category at the Care Awards.

Four years ago Four Seasons bought Silver Springs, a location that used to be a hotel; I moved across to manage the development of the new home. Silver Springs is now a 67 bedded home with an excellent reputation, it consistently provides top quality care and was the first dual registered home in Jersey.

In addition to this I also now manage Highlands a 27 bedded home for young disabled adults.

In have always enjoyed working for Four Seasons there is a real spirit of teamwork and a focus on our clients. Running a care home is about managing both the care of the residents and running a business. I believe Four Seasons has the balance just right, because I am empowered to provide excellent care and supported to run the business in the right way. It also helps that we have excellent back-up from a range of support functions. There is always someone there you can ask for help or advice.

I came to Northern Ireland form the Phillipines in 2000 as one of the first overseas nurses recruited to work in care homes. Moving across the world and adapting to a Care Home environment having worked in a surgical ward was a daunting prospect. However the support I have received from Four Seasons Health Care and the friendliness of my new colleagues quickly helped me to settle in. Within a year I had been promoted to unit manager and after a number of promotions I became a home manager in 2005. I was very proud of the achievement as I was the first Phillipino Home Manager in Northern Ireland.

Since joining Four Seasons I have always had support and been encouraged to progress and develop. I love the home manager’s role as I get to build and grow a team and ensure our residents are looked after. The home managers role is challenging but it is a great feeling at the end of a hard day to be able to go home knowing my team are providing the very best quality care to our residents.

I am very aware we all have a duty to consider the environment for the sake of future generations and I feel with my position of design manager I can reduce FSHC’s environmental impact.

I am passionate about the environment and Four Seasons have allowed me to help the homes to understand how they can contribute to help the environment and reduce needless waste. This goes from everything about how we design the homes through to how we use the materials in our jobs.

We work with our suppliers to help ensure we have the most sustainable approach to our business. We ensure our suppliers are organisations who are actively seeking to improve their eco-credentials.

It is great that I have been able to combine a personal passion and interest with my role and to be able to share ideas with others. Our staff regularly approach me with new ways to help the environment and at FSHC we are empowered to make these changes.

Amongst other things we now regularly recycle 1300 ft of plastic tubing per month and for every tree felled to produce a piece of furniture for FSHC another one is planted.

Four and a half years ago I had the world at my feet I worked as a transport manager for a big national company for 15 years and I ran a haulage business with my husband for 25 years. My husband was diagnosed with terminal cancer and after 16 weeks he passed away my life was turned upside down I took a few weeks out and planned were do I go from here. I wound up the haulage business and gave up my transport managers job, because that was my life and my husbands life and that had all changed. I trained as a carer in the community and had 2 positions working in nursing homes, I had to get a major operation which left me with back problems, so the caring side of my career was finished. I still wanted to work with the elderly and ended up working at Meadowvale as a Personal Activities Leader (PAL).

The residents and I were sitting doing arts and crafts one day and as I watched them I thought, my husband and I had wishes which we never fulfilled (he was going to take early retirement and go to America from one side to the other on a Harley Davidson) I asked at the next residents committee meeting if they had any wishes they would like fulfil. I was inundated with requests and that started my make a wish come true.

Make a Wish Come True allows our residents to share their wishes and dreams with us and we then take on the challenge of making these come true. These wishes can be to return to somewhere that means something to them and is special, like a place of work or somewhere they grew up, or to take part in a particular activity or interest. The picture shows three of our residents accompanied by our staff at the Bathgate Procession. The three residents who had all served in the armed forces led the parade with other war veterans. A number of our other residents also attended the event. Everyone joined into the spirit of the event and a great day way had by all.

My husband and I never got to fulfil our wishes but the concept of our dreams are now being realised through my residents.

I have worked for Four Seasons since 2002 following the acquisition of the Tamaris group. I had previously worked as a home manager and 12 months later I was promoted to the post of regional manager, a role which I never tire of and have been supported in through training and development.

Whilst working as a home manager for a single independent operator, and later a small family owned group, there were limited opportunities for career progression - unlike now - where I have lots of training and opportunities, to further progress my career. This is part of the many reasons why I love working for Four Seasons. I feel very fortunate to work with some of the best people in the industry.

In my current role as regional manager there are times when it can be demanding and challenging, however it is also immensely rewarding and there is a huge network of support within the company.

Four Seasons place quality and the customer at the very heart of the business. The whole team, irrespective of their job role whether this is in operations or within one of the many support functions are wholly committed to the quality agenda. This is why I would encourage anyone who wants to make a difference to come and work with us and share our aspirations, achievements and make a real difference to people’s lives. You will never look back!