‘Thank you, nurses, for all that you do for us.”
That was the heartfelt message as residents, families and team members at all 21 Colten Care homes celebrated International Nurses Day.
The annual occasion is timed to coincide with the anniversary of the birth in 1820 of Florence Nightingale, the famous ‘Lady with the Lamp’, who nursed wounded soldiers fighting in the Crimean War.
This year’s theme, ‘Our nurses. Our future. The economic power of care.’, is designed to highlight the contribution of nursing as a global profession.
The Royal College of Nursing says nurses deliver essential, highly skilled care for people’s safety and health and they deserve credit for the economic well-being that generates, especially at this time of mounting geopolitical uncertainty.
All Colten Care’s 21 homes in the south provide professional nursing care and all take part in the annual celebration by presenting flower posies, pamper baskets, poems and cards to the 200-plus in-house nursing team and fellow nurses at local hospitals, GP surgeries and other healthcare facilities.
Among those visiting a Colten Care home for a Nurses Day celebration this year was recently retired nurse Sarah Mott.
She returned to chat with staff and residents at Woodpeckers in Brockenhurst, New Forest, 26 years after she completed a student nurse placement there while studying at Bournemouth University, a long-standing training partner for Colten Care.
Sarah, who went on to work in various roles in the NHS and at a private hospital provider, said: “I learned the most important parts of care when I was at Woodpeckers, that comfort, respect and kindness are as big a part of it as clinical skills. The home has such a supportive and warm environment and colleagues there gave me massive confidence to progress my career. I was crippled with shyness but I desperately wanted to be a nurse and Colten Care gave me that opportunity, starting that journey with me. I have had a great career. I’ve enjoyed every second. I can’t speak highly enough of Colten Care. It’s in a different league.”
Residents and staff at fellow New Forest home Linden House, Colten Care’s dedicated dementia care home in Lymington, were among those making community visits.
They presented chocolates, cakes, hand creams and homemade lavender bags to the team at the Bassett ward in Southampton’s Princess Anne Hospital. The ward is an enhanced dementia care facility for people with the most advanced and challenging dementia conditions.
Linden House residents Tony Hicks and Pam Bradley told the nurses how grateful they were for everything they do. Pam explained that she had helped to make the lavender bags and hoped they would bring “a small sense of calm to a busy life as a nurse”.
Also on the trip were Companion Team members Sian Harris and Phil Wilkinson, Home Manager Priya Joseph, Clinical Lead Mitch Tan and Customer Support Advisor Lee Mussell.
Colten Care currently employs 205 contracted nurses. They are a mix of RGNs (registered general nurses), RNAs (registered nursing associates) and, at dementia-specific homes, RMNs (registered mental nurses).
Together, they provide dedicated, round-the-clock clinical support to help with all conditions associated with the care of older people.
Between them, Colten Care nurses have 3,368 years of clinical practice experience. Thirty team members are currently following the RNA route with nine already qualified.
Among the residents living at Colten Care’s 21 care homes, 56 are former nurses.
Elaine Farrer, Colten Care’s Chief Operating Officer and a registered nurse herself with more than 40 years’ experience, said: “The fact that seven of our homes, including Woodpeckers, are rated Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission is testament to our strengths and long-standing commitment to nursing care. We have clear career progression, with many nurses going on to become Clinical Leads and Home Managers. We operate a successful preceptorship programme which gives new nurses the best start in their careers. We are very proud that we have nearly 60 residents who were nurses in their active professional lives and who now entrust us to care for them in their later years. Our message to residents and their families is that by investing in nursing care, our residents can stay in their familiar and comfortable surroundings when needs change.”
Debbie Winterbottom, whose mother Jeanie Hilton, an ex-nurse, lives at Woodpeckers, said: “The availability of professional nursing care gives me reassurance. It makes a big difference. It’s not nice to have to go to hospital and so it is reassuring to know residents can stay in the home as long as possible if they need medical care.”
