Health Service Hero: Ella Bond, Deputy Manager: Chocolate Works Care Home

Deputy Manager Ella Bond has worked at the Chocolate Works Care Home in York for five years. During that time, she’s progressed from a care assistant to the position she holds today. Ella is responsible for the day-to-day management of the home, providing support to residents, their relatives and team members. When full, the home has 90 residents in care, comprised of residential, people living with mild to advanced dementia and nursing residents.

Manager of the home, Judy Wray, says Ella’s dedication, ambition, and compassionate leadership have a massive impact on individuals and the care community. 

“She continuously drives improvements and maintains the highest standards of care. Her commitment, humility and genuine passion for enhancing the lives of residents make her truly deserving of recognition,” says Judy.

Ella spends every day checking in with residents as she walks around the corridors and goes into their bedrooms to chat to see how they are doing. She has a brilliant understanding of all residents and has built up good relationships by taking the time to get to know them. This starts when she completes assessments for new residents, visiting them in their homes or hospitals. While she gets details about residents’ health, life and family history, her favourite questions are asking them what has shaped their life, what is important to them, and what makes them unique. By recognising people as individuals, Ella understands that she and her colleagues can give the best care possible.

She has one particular gentleman she helps with personal care, being the only person he trusts as a safe person to do this. When his relatives were struggling to get him to hospital appointments for surgery, she helped get him there, turning up to appointments to ensure he got the right treatment.

Supporting relatives is equally important to Ella as caring for residents. She attends the monthly residents and relatives meetings, listening to queries or concerns they may have. If she doesn’t know the answer, she’ll direct them to the right people or suggest potential solutions. She operates an open-door policy, and everyone is welcome to ensure the relatives' loved ones get the best possible care. 

She’s been assisting one relative obtain full funding for her husband so he’s able to live permanently in the home. After helping with the application process, she continued to regularly check in to find out if they had been successful. When the relative received the positive outcome, Ella was one of the first people she told, excited to share the news with her.

Colleagues benefit from her approachable leadership style, supportive nature, and willingness to share her own story of progression as a source of motivation and inspiration. Many team members ask for advice on how her career has developed, so they too can further their careers. When undertaking supervision assessments, she suggests different training options, such as apprenticeships, that would help individuals. She is keen to promote colleagues when she can and support them to be the best they can be. Ella is often praised by her colleagues for going the extra mile and making their lives a lot easier. 

One colleague who has dyslexia struggles with e-learning training courses. After finding that there was no additional support from the training team, Ella developed a plan. Now the person comes to her if they need extra guidance, and it has helped them complete the courses.

Ella has a profound positive impact on everyone she interacts with. 

Judy Wray adds: “Her natural leadership qualities, exceptional clinical understanding, and unwavering commitment to resident-centred care make a remarkable difference to everyone who comes into the home or works at it.”