Our team at
Oak House

Care UK is the perfect place to work. The people here are very friendly, caring and passionate about the job they’re doing. Before I joined Care UK, I was working as a culinary chef in Morocco. I moved to the UK 12 years ago and started working at Care UK in 2013 as a Care Assistant, before working my way up to Lifestyle Coordinator and now Lifestyle Lead.

My favourite part of each day is spending time with the residents. I love exchanging stories with them, and making them smile is always rewarding. When I go home, I feel fulfilled knowing I made a difference in their life by making them happy.

The most important part of my role as Lifestyle Lead is to lead the team and share my ideas and experience. In my opinion, it's important to be patient, passionate, caring and respectful, treating people the way you would like them to treat you.

I’m proud when I can listen to and support my team and when I provide activities that make residents happy.

During my spare time outside of work, I like to practice my canvas painting and spend time with family and friends.

Before joining Care UK, I was working in construction in Poland, but I wanted to try working in a new environment. I’ve now had training in supervising and managing in catering kitchens in the UK, and my role as Head Chef is to serve the residents at Oak House. I take pride in ensuring that they are always happy with their food.

In this role, it’s important to always be professional and polite, helpful and patient with the residents. I enjoy seeing my colleagues every day, ensuring the kitchen runs smoothly, listening to the team and being understanding and empathetic. I love to make the residents’ days and see them smile.

Outside of work, spending time with my family is my priority. I love watching my son grow up.

I wanted to join Care UK and Oak House because the organisation has a great reputation for care and for supporting its colleagues to progress. 

Since joining the home I’ve got involved in colleague recruitment, which is something I really enjoy. It’s an opportunity to build a professional relationship with every new employee who joins the home. I see their application through from beginning to end. 

Ours is a big care home and there are lots of systems to learn – I’m proud of myself that I’ve learnt the ins and outs of two payroll systems! There’s always something new to learn, which I enjoy, whether it’s all about running staff rotas or doing fire training. I love the variety of each day and juggling multiple tasks. 

I have two young golden retrievers, so they keep me busy outside of work. I also enjoy cycling and walking in my spare time, as well as eating out.

After supporting parents and family members who were ill, I made a conscious decision to change my career and go into an industry that cared for older people. A vacancy appeared for a Domestic at Oak House, and I worked in that position for two years before taking on the role of Head Housekeeper. Prior to this, I worked for the Marriott Heathrow as a supervisor responsible for all 393 rooms.

The most important parts of my role are to ensure the home looks and smells clean and that everything is completed in a timely and satisfactory fashion, as well as ensuring the rota is completed for the team. It’s important to have patience and an understanding of what is required in this role. You also need to have good morale and be a team player – I'm always there for my team.

My favourite part of the day is speaking with residents and relatives, especially new admissions. I enjoy working with other teams in Oak House – I even supported the residents on a trip to the pantomime. It makes me proud when other teams give me good feedback.

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my grandchildren and going out for walks to improve my health and wellbeing.

I’ve been working at Oak House for many years – I joined after visiting during an open day recruitment event when Oak House was being built in October 2008. Before this, I was in IT as third-line support to the second-largest global travel provider.

It’s my priority to keep residents safe by checking rooms and equipment regularly. In this role, you need to be methodical and adapt quickly to change. It’s important to be able to think laterally and change focus when there’s an emergency, as well as being positive and flexible as a team player.

My favourite part of my working day is seeing the residents. I know them all by name and have a little knowledge about each person’s personality, likes and dislikes. I see them as an extended family.

Hearing from visitors that they can’t believe the building is over 15 years old makes me proud of what I do.

When I’m not working, I’m a mad keen angler. I mentor juniors and am involved with Tackling Minds, a charity that uses the positive benefits of angling to support people’s mental health. I even took a resident fishing, where he caught a personal best fish – a 14-pound carp!