At Oakwood house, we strive to give the very best care to each and every one of our residents. The levels of service and care that we provide have been recognised in our most recent CQC report where we were rated as ‘Good’, but the best form of recognition comes from our residents and their families. We know that we have achieved this when we see how we have transformed lives.

The level of care that we provide has also been recognised elsewhere. With the Norfolk Care Awards 2022 just around the corner, we’re delighted to have been shortlisted for the highly commended four awards below. With nine categories in total, we think that our nominations are something to shout about and share. The categories where we’ve been nominated are:

  • Rising star – Emily Goodchild
  • Delivering excellence through learning and development
  • Collaboration in care
  • Nursing in social care

We’d love to take the time to share with you what our amazing team has achieved and how it has found itself nominated for so many awards.

 

Rising star – Emily Goodchild

At Oakwood House, we are all about our people. It’s our staff who make this home what it is and it’s their care and dedication that brings so much to the lives of our residents. That’s why we’re so proud to have one member of our team being recognised at the upcoming awards.

Emily joined us in the latter part of 2021. With Covid still presenting issues, this was hardly the ideal time to start a new career in care. However, Emily had long felt that she belonged in such an environment as she liked nothing more than helping and caring for others.

Emily’s dedication has seen her being approached to be a care mentor and all of us at Oakwood House, couldn’t be any prouder of her.

 

Delivering excellence through learning and development

Another nomination goes to demonstrate that we’re really passionate about our people. We’re proud that the systems we have in place to promote learning and development have been recognised. Our team has worked hard to identify the level of skill and knowledge that each individual member has so that they can focus on what they need to become the very best that they can be.

While we understand the importance of theoretical training, at Oakwood House we wanted to go beyond this. That has led to staff being supported so that they can understand exactly how theory can be applied to practical situations. While all learning starts with self refection, our team members are never left to go it alone. They’re backed up with supervision, appraisals and staff meetings that all help to embed new learnings.

 

Collaboration in care

This nomination goes to demonstrate just how we approach the care that we provide to our residents. We understand that for care to be effective there needs to be a joined-up approach. We believe that the collaboration of staff, residents and relatives is vital for us to provide the level of care that we do.

Our approach to ways of working led to us being successful in our application for the teaching and learning in care homes project. Our success here meant that we were then committed to attending training sessions and delivering a programme during a time when the care sector was under levels of pressure that it’d never experienced before. The programme led to us being proactive in terms of identifying key stakeholders and then establishing effective working relationships with them.

 

Nursing in social care

A further acknowledgement of our commitment to our residents is our nomination in the end-of-life care category. This goes to highlight how all of us at Oakwood House take a supportive and compassionate approach when it comes to discussing preferences at end of life. Our commitment to this has led to our clinical team developing a new document that is used to take note of preferences and ultimately acts as a care plan to direct care during the last days of life.

At Oakwood House, all of our team undergo further training when it comes to palliative care and bereavement care. This means that they have the necessary skills to tackle what can otherwise be a daunting conversation.

 

What do these nominations mean?

When it comes to your care at Oakwood House, these nominations change nothing. You’ll still receive the very best in care and you’ll still be surrounded by a team of staff that is 100% dedicated to you. However, you and your relatives may find it reassuring to know that we stand by all that we say.

It’s easy or any care home to use words to create leaflets, websites and brochures that tell people just how good they are. These nominations go to show that, at Oakwood House, there is more to us than just words. We’re proud to say that we’ve been recognised as a care home that delivers.