Our team at
Mildenhall Lodge

I first came into the care sector after taking a break from my previous career as a professional dancer. I worked as a Care Assistant as others had recommended I would enjoy the role. Once I started, I never left and have progressed from Care Assistant to Team Leader to Residential Lead, and now Deputy Manager.

It’s my role to ensure our colleagues are delivering the highest standard of care possible. Good characteristics to have as a Deputy Manager include being supportive, inspiring, adaptable, caring determined and organised.

I love walking around the home and seeing residents smiling, comfortable and happy. Witnessing colleagues’ progression and development also makes me proud in my role. The biggest highlight of my career was achieving 'Outstanding' in all five areas in Davers Court, the previous home I worked in.

Outside of work, I still enjoy dance and performing. I often take and teach dance classes or perform in different genres and venues. I also enjoy spending time with my loved ones.

I joined the team at Care UK after working for 15 years in the banking sector. Moving into the care sector was a complete change – and a steep learning curve – but I’ve never looked back. I was keen to make a difference to people’s lives and I love the fact that my role enables me to do that.

Moving to a care home can be an extremely difficult and emotional time for families, so I’m proud to be able to make that journey a little easier. My role involves meeting and guiding potential residents and their families through the process of choosing a care home.

Care UK gave me the opportunity to develop my career as a nurse. Now, in my role as Clinical Lead, I’m responsible for ensuring our colleagues are delivering the highest standard of care possible.

In this role, it’s important to be supportive, inspiring and adaptable, as well as caring, determined and organised. The best part of the day for me is simply walking around the home and seeing residents smiling, comfortable and happy.

I’m proud when I witness colleagues’ career progression and development, and also when I see that residents are happy and comfortable at Mildenhall Lodge.

Outside of work, I love to spend time with my family and young son, who keeps me fit and young at heart. I also enjoy entertaining people and absolutely love to sing karaoke!

I am an experienced Head Chef, and have been working for Care UK for over ten years now. I’m passionate about great food and about the importance of food and dining in residents’ experience in the home. 
The kitchen is the heart of a care home, like it is in any home, so my team and I take huge pride in ensuring that every resident at Mildenhall Lodge is happy with the service and the food that we’re offering them. 

Quality is important when it comes to food, and so is variety. We ensure that our menus are tailored to the dietary needs and tastes of each resident. In that way we’re able to make a clear and positive difference to the residents through a great food and dining experience.

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my wife and family, and socialising with friends and loved ones. Looking ahead, I’m looking forward to continuing to make a difference to residents’ lives and to improving the standards of the home in food and dining.

I’m passionate about organising fun events (I used to be entertainment secretary for Mildenhall Social Club, booking acts and entertainment and a busy bingo night). I think in this role you need to enjoy life and be larger than life: it’s up to me to provide a happy environment for residents, after all. I’m often making a fool of myself, being the first one to sing or dance, but if it makes residents smile, and means they’ve had fun, that’s what matters.

Music makes our residents come out of themselves, so I love it when we have musical entertainers. Residents smile, sing, dance and sometimes cry as they’re reliving old times with loved ones. Above all, the music lasts all day in some form – I’ll walk past a lounge and someone will be singing a song – which is lovely.

My background is in administration and recruitment. I decided to join Care UK because I was looking for a career change while working as a recruitment consultant.

I love to interact with people, so talking to residents and relatives is my favourite part of the working day. In this role, it’s important to have good administration, organisational and communication skills, and to be able to connect with people, making their day a little bit better. I’m proud to be part of a small team that makes a difference.

When I’m not at work, I love spending time with my daughter and husband, reading, watching Netflix and crocheting.

I worked my way up from a Domestic at Mildenhall Lodge to Head Housekeeper after receiving lots of training and learning about all the aspects of the role, from ordering products to allocating jobs to the team.

The most important part of my role is to make sure all the residents are happy with the service we provide for them. I believe it’s important to be approachable, friendly and polite. You also need to be able to prioritise the workload effectively, respect people’s privacy and dignity and pay attention to detail.

My favourite part of my day is when I do my walk round and get to speak to the residents. I feel proud when I have good feedback from families and residents and when people visiting the home comment on the cleanliness.

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my children, taking my little dog Bertie for walks and meeting up with friends.