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My 30-year career working in social care

Liz Seymour, Registered Manager at Melrose Care talks to us about the achievements of her team during the pandemic, and her long career in care.

Tell us more about your career in social care

I qualified in 1982 as a nurse, working in a hospital context initially. Then when I had my family, I started to think that hospital work didn’t really lend itself to family life. So, I took an opportunity to start working in a nursing home, and that was actually at Melrose where I am now. It was perfect timing really and I was able to work at night as I had a young family at that point

All my nursing home experience has been at Melrose and I'm really happy about that; I'm really proud even of that. I know lots of people move around, but I've never felt the need to do that.

As my children got older, I was able to take a joint role with another deputy, and we worked without a manager at that time, and then just naturally, it was seen that I could become the registered manager.

I've been at Melrose for 30-plus years now, which is a huge achievement.

What were some of the biggest ways in which COVID-19 impacted your team?

It’s been absolutely huge, and I think a lot of my staff initially were really quite fearful and we needed to have a lot of time to process and talk about those worries. Of course, they had to start wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) in a way that they hadn't before, and even the process of just coming into work changed, for example, taking your temperature as you arrived. All of that was difficult for everybody.

The workload was so much greater because we’d had a number of bank staff before the pandemic, and we couldn't utilise those staff anymore. That meant that our workload increased hugely because we were all still having to fill those gaps.

We were fortunate to be able to facilitate holidays, but the sorts of holidays that people were having were not the refreshing, rejuvenating type of holidays we normally would have. They were sorting out the garage or doing a whole load of decorating and gardening, and I think that when they came back to work, actually they were still quite exhausted.

As manager during that time, how proud did you feel of your team?

I was absolutely proud, just in so many different ways. The fact that they covered extra shifts when they didn't need to, but they saw the need of the home and the residents and they stepped forward so often.

They supported each other so incredibly. When some of my team tested positive, particularly some of the staff who were living on their own, we contacted them to see if they needed shopping, they were offered meals and that sort of thing.

I also took on new staff during this time and I was very proud to see them adapt in their roles, including people who were new to working in social care.

I interviewed one person for a housekeeping role and the minute I interviewed her, I thought, ‘you're just going to be an absolute gift to us.’

Her background was in drama and theatre. She started as a housekeeper initially but really quickly I saw that she was going to be absolutely incredible at working with our residents, at this time particularly.

So, I spoke to her about being our wellbeing assistant, a new role I created for her and in light of the times. It was absolutely wonderful, and the activities that we were able to create for our residents were incredible.

We’re actually keeping this role in place as we move forward, so this is a new and positive thing that has happened as a result of the pandemic.

Our residents missed seeing their families, but we created a family feel for them which was wonderful to see. We came up with all sorts of ideas of what we what we could do based on the things our residents were missing and how we could bring that experience into the home.

One of the key things that resident were missing was was animals visiting and so we created a dog show and we had all of the families and the staff send a photograph of their dog along with a list of the top three to five things that they were really pleased that their dog could do, and then we had a voting system for all the residents.

We’re also very fortunate that we’ve got a divided room in the home, so we were able to have the top three dogs visit in the other side of the room. Everybody absolutely loved it and they loved seeing the dogs do their tricks. It was really special.

I've been so proud of our team that we've been able to keep the mantra that whatever's going on outside, our residents are the most important. That family feel, that's what Melrose has always had. It's like a home from home and that's what I've loved about being at Melrose all this time, I've always felt that it's actually just like a bigger extended family.

The staff said they felt that this was their family during the pandemic. These were the people they could rely on; these were the people now that they were socialising with. We actually had more opportunities to socialise with others than most other people who were just within that one household, and so, we felt really quite grateful for each other and that brought a real close bond between the team.

We had an attitude of we're in it together and we're better together. And I think that that was really significant. I think we have a mindset of going the extra mile.

Even during this difficult time we've managed to achieve a further Platinum Award for the re-accreditation in the Gold Standards Framework for sustaining the high quality of care provided for people in the final years of life.

What do you think helped you and your team through the pandemic?

We had that mindset of working together and supporting each other throughout.

We always praised and encouraged the team whilst acknowledging we had some difficult days.

We also looked at ways that we could reassign people's work. For example, housekeepers were trained on tasks such as giving residents their meals and that freed up the carers to do the things that they absolutely needed to do themselves.

I'm quite a positive person and having that ability to call out positive things that were happening is important when times are difficult. We need to really speak out and say, ‘you know, times have been difficult, but actually we've done this, we've achieved this’.

Early in the pandemic there was the Thursday clapping for carers, and I think that that was really positive for many. Following on from that, I felt there was something more we could do to make it more personal. So, I started a routine that every Thursday night, we would encourage one another with positive achievements.

I think that made people feel good when they were recognised for something well done, especially on a difficult day, I also approached some of the people from outside to share good news stories about what they've experienced at Melrose, and then I fed that back to the team. Those stories were really wonderful and made us feel good.

Is there a message that you'd like give your team?

I applaud every member of my team.

They're outstanding but even more so in this present season that has brought its challenges.

You've worked together and have had an ethos of we will always be better together. You bring a lightness to the room where it may have felt hard and difficult. You have always gone the extra mile on more fingers than I have to count. You have had a 'can-do' and a 'we can' approach to anything you've had to face. You continue to encourage and lift each other in difficult times in order for us always to give the absolute best to our residents.

Our residents have and will always be our focus and my team have managed to navigate the hard times that they've been through. With this they've brought a huge sense of family connection and following through on the values that we hold close to our heart. We've continued to stay focused on the people we support, treating people as individuals, as well as having loads of fun and enjoyment whilst still learning and growing. This is really quite unique in such a tough time to facilitate all of this.

I'm so privileged to lead the Melrose Team. I really don't believe there is another team like us. You are outstanding. You are all important to it, however big or small your part is. We'll always be the best we can be when we understand every person is vital to the bigger picture.

Huge praise and a massive well done to you all.

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