Our team at
Scarlet House

It was actually my mother-in-law who introduced me to Care UK. I thought I’d find out more and apply for a role, and I’m pleased I did, as I feel I’ve truly found my career ‘niche’. I joined Care UK in 2016, since then I have worked for both Scarlet House and Sandfields.

I love hearing about residents’ lives and I feel honoured that they choose to share their memories with me. That makes my job worthwhile, and feeling that I’m contributing to each person’s care makes me immensely proud.

I think being positive around the team and ensuring you’re always communicating with them are extremely important to a good functioning home team. A smile and positive energy can have an amazing effect on everyone and their working day. There’s a strong family atmosphere here at Scarlet House. Everyone looks after each other, which is incredibly important, and fundamental to great teamwork.

Aside from spending time with my wife and two young sons, I enjoy the simple things in life, like a pint in my local put, and sitting back and watching the football.

My background is in hospitality and retail management – I’ve worked everywhere from hotels and restaurants to castles and events venues. In these sectors, the focus on the customer experience is all-important, and I’ve been delighted to discover that the same is true at Care UK. It’s all about delivering superb customer care and service.

What I like about the organisation is that it cares about its colleagues too. I’d heard great things about Care UK as a great place to work, including its training and development opportunities.

Without a doubt, the best part of my day is chatting to the residents. It’s fantastic to learn about what they’ve experienced, and what they still want to achieve. I’m also enjoying developing the strong links that the home already has with the local community. I’m looking forward to supporting the Scarlet House team on its journey from ‘good to great’.

I’ve been a part of the Care UK team since 2008. I worked within mental health services before I started at Scarlet House care home.

There are a lot of skills that come handy in this role, including good communication, listening and a good sense of humour! Most importantly, to have a passion for making a difference to peoples lives.

I love those times in my role, when I am delivering activity sessions and having one to one interactions and the residents are enjoying themselves or are engaging enthusiastically.

My biggest career highlight has been whilst working at Scarlet House. I was able to arrange for one of our residents, who was living with dementia, to return to High Grove House, the country residence of King Charles, as he worked there before retirement.

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my Selkirk Rex cat Mabel who is a bit of a character! I also enjoy reading, knitting and watching films and television (especially The Carry on films).

Before I joined the Scarlet House team, I spent 33 years working in award-winning restaurants and hotels, catering for events and weddings and generally cooking fresh food in busy environments.

I wanted to move into the care sector for a new challenge and the opportunity to cook and create dishes from scratch using fresh produce. I also wanted to be part of a team enhancing older people’s lives. This is my second time working for a care provider, I absolutely love it.

The favourite part of my day is getting feedback from the residents, it’s very fulfilling to be serving the residents and giving them the dishes, they enjoy and that do them good. My proudest achievement to date has been in the Michelin guide and been awarded two knives and forks.

I’m passionate about keeping residents and colleagues safe. In this role I train colleagues in IPC and I undertake regular audits to ensure we’re keeping to the stringent standards we set ourselves. I also help to run the dementia suite at Scarlet House, and I support on other suites whenever I’m needed. Alongside my IPC responsibilities I help with pre-admission assessments, medication management and completing and updating residents’ care plans.

I aim to be patient and understanding with every person I work with, or support. A smile goes a long way, and I enjoy building a strong rapport with residents and colleagues alike. The whole team here works hard and supports each other to deliver the best care to residents.

I love supporting residents to live their best life. As a nurse I feel it’s important to take a holistic approach to residents’ care – seeing them as a whole person. Good care is about taking into account a person’s physical, social, occupational and psychological needs.

I joined Care UK in 2015 because I wanted to make a difference to older people’s lives and help them to live each day to the full. I started as a hostess and moved across to the kitchen team to work as a catering assistant. I then became a receptionist and administrator, and now I’m a BA. I love how I’ve had every opportunity to try different roles and see what I enjoy the most. Care UK is great at supporting its colleagues to learn and develop.

As Business Administrator, I need to be efficient, organised and approachable. This role combines lots of different tasks and demands different skills. Given that I’ve worked in a number of different roles, I’ve had a steep learning curve to navigate a lot of the time. It’s important to be positive about learning, and to admit when you don’t understand something. The Scarlet House team is really supportive and helpful. There’s always someone who can advise and lend a hand.

I always enjoy seeing the residents, finding out how they are and making them smile and laugh. Any time I can spend with them is time well spent.  

I joined Care UK in 2022, as I wanted a career change from vehicle rentals. When I met the staff at Scarlet House it felt like home. I am the first-person families and visitors see when they walk through the doors, I am there to greet them with a big smile as I welcome them into the home. 

My favourite part is building relationships with residents and their families as well as the team here at Scarlet House. In my spare time I enjoy spending quality time with my family and friends.

My background has always been in maintenance as I love the challenge of the variety of jobs you can be doing day to day.

Whilst being at Care UK I have enjoyed lots of training including first aid, fire warden trained and more, which has helped support my course in plumbing to ensure that I can help with a range of maintenance issues. To do my role well I believe that you need to be friendly, calm, caring, talkative and adaptable to ensure that I’m doing my job to the best of my ability. 

The best part of my day is talking to lots of different people and listening to residents stories from the past, some of the residents have lived some extraordinary lives.

When I’m not working I enjoy football, playing pool with friends and gaming.