Nicola Hall’s track record is impressive. Back in 2007 Nicola started her journey in care, working as a PA to the Care Home Manager at Ben Care’s Birch Hill Care home in Northumberland. In fifteen years Nicola’s commitment to providing exceptional care has propelled her career, and she is now Care Home Manager at Ben Care’s flagship Care Centre, Lynwood Court in Ascot.
During her time at Birch Hill, Nicola quickly identified what great care looks like, and as she took on more responsibility, was able to put her ideas in to practice, developing this home to become one of the best in the area. Her passion for providing truly individualised care, along with implementing specialist dementia training for staff and residents resulted in Birch Hill being awarded ‘Outstanding’ by CQC in 2018.
Nicola is now Care Home Manager at Lynwood Court where she is applying the same principles and passion which helped her achieve the Outstanding rating at Birch Hill.
Life at Lynwood Court has been transformed for residents, thanks to Nicola, as she has championed the Ben Care Best Lives Model standard of care, incentivising, and motivating her colleagues. From this foundation of care excellence, Nicola is also improving team structures, and enhancing the environment which will provide residents with a dementia garden, walkway, and communal cafe. From the moment you arrive at Lynwood Court you can see how at-home the residents are.
Within her first six months of managing Lynwood Court, Nicola has already increased occupancy from 70% to over 90%. By restructuring the enquiries process Lynwood Court was able to assess and efficiently onboard more residents. For both care homes Nicola has had a strong impact on resident and relatives’ satisfaction, scoring 9.9/10 for Birch Hill on carehome.co.uk and contributing to the Lynwood Court current score of 9.6/10.
“Working for Ben Care is such a privilege,” explains Nicola. “Career progression is a real focus for us. I am testament to that, and we extend our development opportunities to all our colleagues.”
Nicola says that at Ben Care talent is recognised with resident care at the forefront of all decisions made.
“We use training programmes for colleagues, but more than that, we ensure that every team member is the best version of themselves. It is an absolute pleasure working alongside the team and ensuring that we do make that difference to residents every day.”
By developing the team through the training programmes at Ben Care and ensuring standards of care are the very best they can be, Nicola and her team have transformed the care home into a real home from home for residents.
Nicola has big plans at Lynwood Court, a vision created from the experience she has gained from her varied roles within Ben Care. From the early days in care administration through to successful management of a large care home, Nicola knows first-hand what matters to residents and the important role that the care teams have in delivering this level of excellence. Nicola and her team remain focused on recruiting, retaining, and developing the best people through recognition programmes and by fostering a vibrant environment for residents and staff.
“Lynwood Court really is going places,” says Nicola’s manager Lorraine Lynch, Head of Care Services.
“Thanks to Nicola’s fresh approach, we’ve been able to rapidly build on successes and it just feels like a friendly place to be. We’re proud to hear from relatives that they’re delighted with how their loved one is cared for. We’re enormously proud of Nicola, and now as a finalist at the Great British Care Awards (South East), Nicola is receiving the recognition she deserves for her hard work and dedication to residents and colleagues at Ben Care.”
