Showing posts tagged with: Blackpool

Healthcare Assistants wanted in Blackpool to care for a gentleman and lady with spinal injuries

Routes Healthcare are looking for qualified Healthcare Assistants to work in the Blackpool area supporting a male and female with spinal injuries. If you feel you fit the role and are looking for an exciting new challenge, then please see our Healthcare Assistant Jobs in Blackpool. Alternatively, view all of our Healthcare Assistant Jobs.

Routes Healthcare at the Great British Care Awards, Blackpool

On Friday night, Routes Healthcare attended the Great British Care Awards in Blackpool at The Tower.

Rick Egnor, a Routes carer from Blackpool made the finals of ‘Carer of the Year’. 

So, the team from Blackpool and the Director of Routes attended to support Rick and his wife.  We took the gentleman (Nick) who Rick supports on a weekly basis along with Nick's wife.  So 11 of us in total cheering on Rick - unfortunately he missed out on winning but just to be nominated and runner up was a real achievement.

Rick said after the "Well not the biggy but recieved runners up award, so I'd like to take the opportunity to thank all the office staff at Routes Healthcare for their support and making it a very special evening.

All the ladies looked amazing Bev Baxter, Julie Sinclair and Gail Riding.

Obviously the pick of the bunch my georgous wife Michelle Egnor Heppenstall.

Thanks also to Matt Barlow and Chris for complaining about everything and a huge thanks to the MD Andrew Healing for his support!!"

Carers of young and old 'are struggling to cope'

The pressure of looking after children while caring for elderly relatives is taking its toll on all aspects of family life, a Carers UK survey suggests.

It found that a third of "sandwich carers" had to give up work, while two-thirds said their marriages had been damaged.

The charity is calling for care services and employers to support the 2.4 million families in this situation.

Three-quarters of those surveyed said they had suffered a loss of earnings, and 95% said the pressure of caring had affected their ability to work.

When asked about family finances, 52% said the cost of caring for elderly relatives was having an impact while 50% reported they were struggling with childcare costs.

The responsibilities of caring for young and old can be detrimental to family life too, the survey suggests, with two-thirds of sandwich carers reporting damage to their marriages or personal relationships.

View the original article here.

The consequences of a busy day

Cast your mind back to 27 February. It was a Monday morning. The weather was pretty mild for the end of winter.

The day before Liverpool had won the Carling Cup football final, while the Sun on Sunday had just been launched.

For the NHS, it was to be the busiest day of the year.

The bed occupancy rate nationally was 92% - seven percentage points above the recognised safe level - according to an analysis by monitoring body Dr Foster.

Nearly half of the 145 trusts in England reported a bed occupancy rate of 95% or above.

There is nothing to suggest anything specific went wrong that day.

But what is certain is that staff working on the wards of hospitals up and down the country would have been struggling to keep up.

Quality of care

When bed occupancy tips the 85% mark the system goes into overdrive - and things start to give.

They may have to wait that little bit longer before their call bell is answered. There may not be enough staff to help the frail at meal times.

Discharge planning can go awry as hospitals become desperate to free up beds. That can mean they turf people out before they are ready or before the support in the community from district nursing teams and social care is in place.

Because of the shortage of beds, patients can find themselves moved around from ward to ward, inevitably finding themselves in unsuitable surroundings.

On their own, these things seem relatively minor, but added together they create the sort of care that leaves people feeling aggrieved and which, at its worse, is unsafe.

For the full article click here.

Routes Healthcare supports local apprenticeship scheme

Routes Healthcare recently appeared in the Blackpool Gazette in support of the National Apprenticeship Scheme.  We have a proven track record in training, developing and recruiting employees subsidised by the apprenticeship grant. 

Sam  Banfield, 21, started as an apprentice last year working for Routes Healthcare on Preston New Road, Marton.

She said: “I had always said I would never work in an office, but it is the best thing I have ever done.

“I originally came here on work experience but I started the apprenticeship and it is really great.

“The beauty is you learn as you work unlike going to college, and of course you get paid.

“One of my colleagues, Chris Thornley, started here as an apprentice and he won apprentice of the year.

“I would like to follow along that path.”