Win a £50 voucher in our quiz on page 19
Your colleague magazine – August 2022 Serving up success Congratulations to our 2022 Chef of the Year and finalists – page 19
Take #OneSmallStep Prepare for lift off for this year’s colleague survey – pages 10-11
Handing over the baton A symbolic start for our new Chief Executive – page 5
This autumn, all Care Services colleagues are eligible for a free flu and COVID-19 booster vaccine. So give your immunity a boost and help protect yourselves, your colleagues, families and our residents. If you work in a care home or homecare location, book your flu jab now at www.boots.com/flu-prebook or through the QR code (right). And look out for more details on how to book a flu or COVID-19 booster on Workplace or speak to your manager. Everyone aged 50 or over will be eligible for a COVID-19 booster this autumn, and may also be offered a flu vaccination once those most vulnerable have been vaccinated. Look out for further details from the NHS. Give yourself a boost! HAVE YOU HEARD?
Our late nears co
Construction of our new 66-bed care home in West Yorkshire is nearing completion – with residents expected to move in during the autumn. Wharfeside in Otley is a replacement for our Teal Beck House care home nearby, and will see a detailed operation swing into action to move residents and colleagues
Our residents love to meet new people and our volunteering opportunities are an ideal way for this to happen. Individual volunteers are welcome in all our locations, and we also have group volunteering opportunities in our housing locations. We’re hoping Achieve by volun
Billie Owen, Team Leader at Herries Lodge in Sheffield had the COVID-19 booster offered to care workers in spring.
Welcome to the summer edition of arch from our guest editors
Way back, when, I was Deputy Manager and Sean was Home Manager at Bilton Court, I always joked that when Sean popped over to Nelson Lodge, I changed the locks and filed for divorce! Fast forward, and I’m the Home Manager, while Sean’s my Regional Support Manager. We work so well as a team and have become quite a double act. We’re both really proud, like the colleagues on page 8, of taking opportunities to progress our careers here. Which opportunities will you take? Looking ahead, we’re excited about the introduction of electronic care planning (page 4). It’ll simplify reporting and give colleagues more time to focus on our residents, who are at the heart of everything we do. As core members of the colleague Rainbow Network we were delighted to attend our first face-to-face Rainbow Network meeting recently. We’re
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est care home ompletion into their new home with minimal disruption.
The three-storey building has been built to meet the needs of today’s residents, and residents of the future. It builds on the good work by the local team, as Rob Martin, Managing Director – Care Services, explains: “It’s the first time in recent years we’ve replaced an older care home with a new building. Securing a long-term future in Otley recognises the strong performance of the team at Teal Beck and the close links they’ve built up with the community.”
e more together nteering groups can return to our care homes soon.
practical project, such as revamping a garden, you can do something as an individual or run a project with your own team or colleagues from other directorates. Take a look at the volunteering guidance on The Bridge and email InternalCommunications@Anchor. org.uk if you’re interested in a group opportunity, or contact a location directly to volunteer as an individual.
As part of #ListeningAndActing on feedback to encourage greater teamwork and understanding of the services we deliver, Central Support colleagues can take one day a year away from their usual work to volunteer at our locations. Whether you support or help organise an event for residents or take on a
looking forward to seeing Sarah Jones – a great sponsor of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) - push forward the EDI agenda as our new Chief Executive - see page 5. And we couldn’t finish without thanking Jane Ashcroft. Not just for being so supportive to us as managers and the Rainbow Network, but for the grounded approach, passion and commitment Jane’s shown to colleagues and residents alike. Carley Calder (Young) Home Manager at Bilton Court, Wellingborough and Sean McCloskey, Regional Support Manager – South
If you’d like to be a guest editor, please email us at: Arch@Anchor.org.uk
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ONE PLAN Our ONE Plan journey so far… Six months since the launch of our ONE Plan, a roadmap for delivering our Business Plan, let’s take a quick tour of our progress so far:
Our housing Our draft Service Offer for rented housing was shared with housing colleagues for feedback through workshops and a questionnaire, before seeking input from rented residents in each of our housing areas. Once we’ve gathered and listened to the feedback, we’ll explore the systems, processes and staffing Electronic Care Planning (ECP) will significantly impact on how we work, replacing paper-based processes with more efficient ways of working, so colleagues can spend more time with our residents. Trials of ECP and electronic medicine administration in four of our care homes were successful, so we’re now looking to extend both systems to all our care locations. structures needed to deliver it. Our care locations
Our technology Connected Properties aims to provide internet connectivity in all our properties to help provide many of our future services. Having completed the initial design and feasibility, we’re now in the roll-out and delivery phase, investigating the high-level delivery costs and solutions available and undergoing a tender process for a partner to deliver this. Our finance Finance transformation will make our financial processes simpler and easier to use, by reviewing all the financial touchpoints which impact residents, colleagues, suppliers and the banks we work with. We’ve documented 330 finance processes and 120 reports across eight themes, to get a clear ‘As Is’ picture of the Finance function to help identify potential improvements. Delivering significant efficiency savings through streamlining processes and ways of working in the next phase, should also make life easier for colleagues and positively impact on resident satisfaction. Look out for further updates on ONE Plan projects in arch or search #TeamAnchor on Workplace.
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MORE OPPORTUNITIES
Editors’ note Having enjoyed Jane’s
help with #SummerOfSport last year, we’d love to offer chocolate scones to Sarah when she visits, as our chief executives both have a passion for food.
When incoming Chief Executive Sarah Jones said she was taking the baton from predecessor Jane Ashcroft, she didn’t realise she would be doing it literally! Sarah takes the baton r i
But while visiting Kerria Court in Birmingham, departing Chief Executive Jane Ashcroft did indeed hand Sarah a special Anchor relay baton. Sarah, previously our Chief Financial Officer, said: “The organisation’s been around for almost six decades, it does feel like I’m part of a relay team of leaders through the years. It was very appropriate that our ARCH values of being Accountable, Respectful, Courageous and Honest were printed on the baton, as those certainly won’t be changing just
because we have a new Chief Exec.” Having first joined Anchor in 2014 as Finance Director, Sarah played a key role in developing our Business Plan. “Many organisations and individuals are facing challenging times at the moment which makes delivering on our Business Plan all the more important. We’re keeping our focus on the ‘four mores’ – providing more and better homes, more opportunities for colleagues, being more influential and more efficient.”
“Jane is hugely respected in the organisation and the wider sector, and I know many people, myself included, will miss her enormously.” Jane said: “I wish Sarah the very best in her new role. It’s been a real honour to lead Anchor and to meet so many colleagues across the entire organisation who really care about the older people they serve and are committed to supporting individuals to live their life in the way they choose. Anchor colleagues really do care. That was true before I joined the organisation and will, I’m sure, always be true.”
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MORE OPPORTUNITIES The people sup our people A year into the role of People Director, Lisa Pearl explains how, alongside developing
our new People Plan, the team have been focussing on how they can help improve their capability to support teams across the organisation.
“We’ve been busy carrying out end-to-end process reviews and upskilling teams within our department so we can work together more effectively and offer a solid service as people experts within the business. A really important part of our work is the on-going development and progression of all our people-driven activity and its effectiveness. For example, we assess organisational effectiveness in areas such as team performance, employee development, operational efficiency, organisation structure, and managing change.” The Organisation Effectiveness team (formerly known as
Organisational Development) led by Michelle Stansfield, our new Head of Organisation Effectiveness, is a key part of this work, as Michelle explains: “I’m really pleased to have joined Anchor and have previously undertaken ‘Head of’ roles in the areas of transformation, organisational capability and strategic resourcing, for the NHS and other large employers. I’m excited to be joining a sector with so many opportunities to make good use of people’s talents and provide fulfilling careers. “My team is best known for its learning programmes, with them working hard to continually develop and deliver high-quality training that reaches every corner of the business. In addition to this, they focus on activities to support colleagues’ careers, including induction programmes, apprenticeship and leadership programmes, and plenty more besides. As we get ready to deliver the new Anchor People Strategy and our commitment to providing ‘more opportunities for colleagues’, there are a range of projects which colleagues can get involved in, with three of those highlighted on the next page.”
From the Organisation Effectiveness team; Kate Franks-Hawkshaw, Paula Borland and Michelle Stansfield
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pporting
Defining our current and desired culture
Until early September, we’re inviting colleagues to share their experiences of working here through a combination of focus groups and an online collaboration platform. We’re interested to know how colleagues describe our culture and if there are any aspects they would like to change so that we can deliver the best experience for both colleagues and residents. Whether you take part face-to-face or by uploading pictures, videos, or ideas to the platform, all colleagues are welcome to contribute. Look out for an invite email from Anchor Culture Crowd
to join the platform. If you don’t have an Anchor email address, request your invitation by emailing crowds@100open.com. For care colleagues, your location’s Engagement Champion can help you join in.
Highlighting our main career pathways Lots of colleagues have enjoyed a long and
successful career here. Many of them have been supported to grow through investment by the business in training and other types of development. We’d like to extend this to more colleagues and make sure they are aware of the main career paths and opportunities available to them. We plan to create an interactive tool that will help colleagues see options for their next career step and encourage them to take action and grow their career with us.
Better managing people-related changes These days, organisations are constantly changing and very often these changes involve people. Some organisations make changes successfully, while others struggle more to achieve desired outcomes.
#ListeningAndActing on colleague feedback about how we manage change, at the beginning of July we started piloting new training to support colleagues in managing the people side of change projects more effectively. This will continue to be rolled out throughout 2022 and aims to support the rollout of many change projects for years to come.
These projects support the three areas in our action plan, identified from the results of the 2021 #ListeningAndActing Survey - see page 11
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MORE OPPORTUNITIES Achieving more years together
From our Bradford office to our care homes and housing locations, you’ll often find colleagues who’ve been with us for years. We’ve been speaking to a few long-servers about why they’ve made their career at Anchor.
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Home Manager Carrie Lewis has an impressive 26-years’ service. “I joined straight from school as a bank care assistant and, taking opportunities to progress, I’m now home manager. Having done most care home roles myself, I’m well placed to support my team. “I use lots of our colleague benefits and encourage my team to do the same – I got my bike through Cycle to Work and have a Love2Shop top-up card from My Shopping Discounts.” Lindsay Strydom, Customer Services Team Manager says: “Over the last 14 years, I’ve moved around the Customer Centre and seen how the teams link together. The varied roles, training and opportunities make it a great place to progress. “I’ve built quite a ‘work family’ across the organisation. The flexibility and support for colleagues’ wellbeing is reassuring and helpful, especially after my maternity leave.”
After 10 years’ service, Nicola Douthwaite has a role in the new Extra Care function’s structure (see page 12) . “I’m an area manager, having joined originally as a scheme manager. The opportunities, recognition and encouragement from managers, and job satisfaction I get, has all helped boost my confidence. The recent structure changes will help me and my team make a real difference and is a good example of #ListeningAndActing on colleagues wanting more support.”
Help start someone’s Anchor career using our Refer a Friend Scheme and receive up to £250. See www.AnchorBeingWell. co.uk/refer-a-friend or scan the QR code with your smartphone.
We help mark milestones in colleagues’ service – ranging from £25 in vouchers and a pin badge, to four weeks’ holiday or pay. Find out more at www.AnchorBeingWell. co.uk/LongService
Editors’ note We all have that best friend
we can’t live without. Just imagine if you got to work with them and get £250 - have your cake and eat it!
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BEING WELL
Inflation-beating benefits
With the cost of many things going up, we’re #ListeningAndActing on colleagues wanting to know more about our colleague benefits. Here’s a reminder of some that can help reduce the price tag. My Shopping Discounts, and the Smart Spending App, provide great discounts and cashback offers with popular retailers and supermarkets, such as Argos, Asda, Currys, Dunelm, Morrisons, Specsavers and Tesco. There are lots of percentage or lump sum cashback offers and discounts typically ranging from four to 10 per cent – as Carley Smith, People Business Partner for Care Services discovered. “Before our camping trip to Newquay, I ordered an Easy Saver reloadable card through My Shopping Discounts, which saves me seven per cent at over 40 high street stores. I used that to pay online at Go Outdoors, using a My Shopping Discounts five per cent cashback offer too, saving almost £30 in total on my order.
“Now I’ve got my Easy Saver card it’s easy to top it up and I’m saving seven per cent every time I do. I just check the retailer accepts it before topping up to buy what I want.” It’s really easy to register for My Shopping Discounts and start saving on everyday food shopping, treats or big purchases. Just have your employee ID number and bank details to hand and use the registration link at www.AnchorBeingWell.co.uk/ ShoppingDiscounts My Shopping Discounts also has offers with insurance comparison sites, like Go Compare and Compare the Market, paying cashback from £20 if you start your purchase through My Shopping Discounts or the Smart Spending App.
Visit www.AnchorBeingWell. co.uk/Money for these and more ways to save while you’re spending.
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#LISTENINGANDACTING astronaut, or defy gravity (almost) with a space hopper race - with prizes for our shining stars. #OneSmallSt ...to making a difference to how we work - fill in the Listening and Acting Colleague Survey 8 – 27 September #OneSmallStep is all it takes to help shape the future of Anchor! As our biggest colleague listening exercise lifts off next month, we’re asking every colleague to take a few moments to tell us what they think Anchor does which is out of this world – and what we need to do to reach for the stars. And if you haven’t guessed by now, we’ve gone for a space theme to promote it. So join us as we jet off to all parts of the Anchor galaxy - to encourage everyone to complete the survey by 27 September and share their space-themed activities on Workplace using the hashtag #OneSmallStep. You could post a video of your team’s moonwalk, dress as an
Editors’ note Not every company listens to
its employees, but Anchor certainly listens... and acts on feedback. So please speak up. Moving on from dangling carrots, now we’re dangling Mars bars #OneSmallStep
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tep
How we’ve listened ...and acted! Last year, we tasked every team with creating an action plan from their 2021 survey results (if you’re new to Anchor, ask your manager for a copy). At the organisation-wide level, we did the same too and our top three areas were: • Provide more information and support for colleagues to stay with Anchor to develop their careers • Improve how we manage change across our organisation • Promote our ARCH values of Accountable, Respectful, Courageous and Honest, to guide how we work every day We’ve done a lot on these themes and more besides – strap in as we shuttle between just a few of them: • Developed 'ONE Plan' to help us manage our approach to continual improvement which prioritises the projects which will deliver the biggest benefits to us • Launched a mentoring programme, with support for mentors now available on myLearning • Introduced a new development programme focused on effectively managing the people side of change, improving promotion of colleagues’ career pathways options and reviewing how we develop our coaching capability - see pages 6-7 • New Community Resilience Team to support local housing managers with complex anti-social behaviour issues • New Care Services Bridge page with links to the key things care teams need to find quickly and easily
• Resolve 100 - asked colleagues in Housing and Care Services to highlight property issues which are outside of the normal repairs process and causing residents difficulties • Promoting our ARCH values through ‘Values and Behaviours’ sessions across the organisation • Work is underway to define our current and desired culture, so we can achieve more together. See how you can get involved on pages 6-7 • Displaying colleagues’ personal pronouns on our Ask Portals (where they’ve added them to myHR), consistently displaying them across our systems • Improved the housing induction by extending probation periods to six months and launched myFirst Year to support new managers • Gone plastic-free in the wrap we use for arch and Life magazines – so we’re cutting our impact on the environment
How to complete the survey from 8 September • Unique link – Everyone with an email address in myHR will get an email with their own unique link to use to complete the survey. This will come from Admin@PeopleInsight.co.uk . To check or add your email address in myHR, go to your profile and check your contact information • Open link – Housing areas, care homes, villages and independent living locations will have an open link which multiple colleagues, who haven’t got a unique link, can use • Paper – Printed questionnaires for colleagues without email or easy access to an open link. As colleagues have told us they want to be using less paper at work and do more things electronically, we’ve only printed a small number
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#LISTENINGANDACTING Colleagues and
residents are
Estate Manager Danielle Makin, Area Manager Jean Wood and Scheme Manager Claire Ellison (pictured below with Suki Jandu Executive Director - Housing Services) who are seconded to the Be Me project, to work through all the feedback. They’ll pick out key themes we can use to finalise the Service Offer before we move on to the next stage. shaping
The next step on our Be Me transformation journey is all about #ListeningAndActing on colleague and resident feedback, as we use it to shape our draft Service Offer for rented housing. Launched in June, the draft offer sets out the consistent, high-quality service we want to provide in a way which is financially sustainable, so we can meet the changing needs of the residents of today and tomorrow. Throughout July, housing colleagues had the chance to read the offer, chat to their manager and share their thoughts, either in an online questionnaire or at a workshop. And as we’re delivering this issue of arch , colleagues across the country are talking to residents about their thoughts on the offer. It’s the job of three colleagues,
Once we’re clear on what we want to provide, we can then explore the systems, processes and staffing structures needed to deliver it.
Providing the right support
From 1 August, our Extra Care locations are being managed separately from rented housing. Paul Yates, Director of Rented Housing – South explains: “Given the ever-increasing complexity of managing extra care, it’s right that there’s a dedicated team supporting colleagues, led by Janine Moorcroft, Head of Extra Care Housing. “At the same time, we’ve made
some changes to the rented housing structure, adding an additional regional head of housing and three further operations managers.” Paul adds: “The reason for introducing additional roles is to give greater stability, offer more opportunities for support, and enable enough flexibility for the operations managers to support transformation.”
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CELEBRATING SUCCESS
Anchor Apprenticeship Awards 2022
We’ve a great track record of providing training and opportunities for existing colleagues, and those joining Anchor through our apprenticeship scheme. Earlier this year, we asked
for our apprenticeship awards. We received some great nominations, with the judges shortlisting 11 worthy finalists for the virtual award ceremony in July. Apprentice of the Year Higher/Degree
And here are the talented apprentices who impressed the judges to be crowned winners in our Anchor Apprenticeship Awards 2022: Apprentice of the Year Intermediate/advanced
colleagues to help recognise the passion, commitment and achievements of their apprentices, by nominating them Rising Star Award
Winner: Daliah Ifeanyi, Care Assistant at Kerria Court, Birmingham Highly Commended: John Brookes, Chef Manager at Harden Hall, Walsall
Lucie Cerna, Home Manager at Beech Hall, Leeds
year we’ve held the awards, is we know they’re motivating and make our apprentices more determined to develop and succeed after #ListeningAndActing on their feedback.” This year’s winners are also being considered for nomination to the National Apprenticeship Awards 2022 being held in November. Winner: Bradley Hodgson, IT Service Desk Analyst Highly Commended: Shane Milne, Catering Assistant at Firth House, Selby
Dorothy Alexander, Apprenticeship Specialist, was delighted to see so many apprentices being recognised. “When we opened up the nomination window the response was amazing - our judges really had their work cut out with so many inspirational examples, and I’m really proud to see our apprentices’ hard work being recognised. “One of the reasons it’s the third
Editors’ note A huge
congratulations to all nominees - winner winner, chicken dinner! And a shout out for our own apprentice Callum Newman, who always goes above and beyond.
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Taking Pride in everyone We have had so much to celebrate over the summer – Pride, Disability Pride and South Asian Heritage Month. DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Sobia Butt (Business Analyst and co-chair for the embRACE Network) said: “South Asian Heritage Month encompasses a vast number of languages, cuisines, ethnic groups and religions originating in countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Around one in every 20 people in the UK are from a South Asian heritage, so this was a great opportunity to recognise and celebrate that contribution to UK culture.” A lunch and learn session, organised by the embRACE Network, shared personal stories of heritage, experiences and journeys their families made from South Asia to the UK. As part of #DisabilityPride month, our enABLE Network explained some common phrases or words used when talking about disabilities. Tayyaba Ajrullah, Senior Change and Configuration Analyst explained: “Not everyone with an impairment or long-term health condition self-identifies as disabled but this is starting to change. Many people living with life-long conditions are now proud to stand up, make their voices heard and are proudly
reclaiming the word ‘disabled’.” Lauren Gill (Internal Communication Assistant and chair of the Rainbow Network) said: “During Pride month, colleagues and residents came together to celebrate 50 years of Pride in the UK. The Rainbow network shared lots of information around key LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and others) events on Workplace. “All of these activities helped to
show how important Pride still is and how far we’ve yet to go.” To help promote everyday inclusion, Rainbow Network members also hosted a Pride drop-in session which discussed how to be a better ally, which covered lots of topics, including using correct pronouns, LGBTQ+ language and challenging queerphobia. The session is available to watch in MyLearning by searching ‘Pride’.
A fitting dessert at The Ridings, Banbury
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Editors’ note What have you done
today to make you feel proud? Inclusion’s not just about one specific month - it’s about making a difference every day.
Wetherby Manor, Wetherby
Learning from each other Having organised more reverse mentoring with members of the Executive Committee and Senior Leadership Team, we now have 15 new mentees, showing great commitment from our leaders - as Leadership Specialist Nicola Moran explains: “Reverse Mentoring is a programme where colleagues from underrepresented groups mentor senior leaders to share what it’s like for them to work at Anchor. By approaching this at an individual level, leaders experience much deeper and more open conversations, often leading to a far greater appreciation of diversity and creation of a truly inclusive workplace.” Looking forward, National Inclusion Week starts on 26 September and is an opportunity to reflect on all the great things we do to promote inclusion and get involved in championing EDI. We’ll also be hosting our first Colleague Networks Conference on 28 September. Look out for more information on Workplace and in our communication bulletins. Menopause support We recently signed the Menopause Friendly Pledge, which helps organisations to be recognised as ‘Committed to being a Menopause Friendly Employer’. As
The ‘chatty bench’ at Nelson Lodge, St Neots after its Pride makeover
well as our Menopause in the Workplace guidance, we also have a new Workplace group: ‘Let’s Talk Menopause’, offering peer support, resources and more.
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Editors’ note As two winners of Colleague Awards, we know it’s good to be recognised. It really makes you feel appreciated and valued, so make someone’s day and nominate them. Our values making a difference CELEBRATING SUCCESS Two of our ARCH values - Accountable and Respectful (Courageous and Honest being the others) are regularly at the heart of Colleague Award nomination stories. And those values certainly stand out in the Colleague Award winners’ nominations included here. Tina Glenn, Estate Manager at Egham Court in Bolton, was nominated by Area Manager Carol Hall. “Tina rang a tenant at another location and
recognised they weren’t themselves, even before hearing their family had visited and noticed their face drooping to one side but hadn’t taken any action. Concerned it might be a stroke, Tina acted quickly, going to see the resident to carry out some basic checks before sharing concerns with the family which led to them seeking medical treatment and the resident now recovering in a stroke unit.”
Team Leader Emma Shepherd and Dawn Hopkins, Deputy Manager at Mill View in Bradford were nominated by their Home manager, Tee Tatum. “Mill View resident Peter’s only wish was to see his grandson get married. Unfortunately, there were no family members to support Peter to attend either the main wedding or a closer ceremony in York. Emma and Dawn stepped in and took Peter surprise shopping for a suit and then to York to attend the ceremony on their day off, which Peter said was one of the most special days of his life.”
Martin Sutcliffe, Systems Analyst in IT was nominated by Lauren Gill, Internal Communication Assistant. “Martin has been a great support in the move from the T/Q drive to SharePoint. A fountain of knowledge, Martin has been running SharePoint drop-in sessions which have had great feedback. Throughout the sessions, Martin made a note of any questions which couldn’t be answered and addressed them later, going above and beyond to help.”
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EVENTS A right royal celebration The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee was bound to be a popular and colleagues and residents across our care homes and retirement communities certainly made it an occasion to remember. Here’s a selection of photos of the celebrations that took place. One lucky colleague who partied in front of the palace is Jo Twigg, Head of Merger and Acquisition Delivery. Jo was successful in the draw for tickets to the official Platinum Jubilee party outside Buckingham Palace. “It was really uplifting to be involved in some - thing so positive – especially with an older person at the heart of the celebrations.”
Dawson Lodge, Southampton
Thomas Henshaw Court, Southport
Widnes Hall, Widnes
Rose Court, London
Fiske Court, Yateley
Central Support, Bradford office
Sandyhurst, Leicester
Mill View, Bradford Care conference returns Buzzing conversations and in one place,” said Rob Martin, Managing Director – Care Services.
and ensuring effective processes are in place to identify and manage any risks.” The conference also included a question-and-answer panel discussion with members of Anchor’s Executive Committee.
inspiring workshops meant the return of our largest colleague face-to-face event of the year. The Care Conference had to go digital over the past two years due to the pandemic, with managers sharing updates and ideas online. But last month, we were back – with managers from care homes taking over a large conference venue in Derby as they discussed performance, priorities and progress. “There’s no equivalent substitute for bringing colleagues together
“It was great to see almost 200 colleagues energised by the action-packed day and contributing their views and experience to ensuring we’re always providing places where people love living in later life. “While we acknowledged the achievements and continuing challenges of caring during COVID-19, this conference was very much focused on the future as we discussed colleague retention, being the best by acting on feedback from our residents,
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RESIDENT WELLBEING
Our care home Inspire programme is designed to drive continual improvements in our services – with our residents at the heart of everything. There are four themes of Care Practice, Food and Nutrition, Environment and Wellness.
Diving into the Wellness theme, our homes have a jam-packed calendar of activities including some big initiatives that we encourage everyone to join in with. This year we’ve already seen big hits with #JuiceintoJanuary and #AnchorGames, and as we went to print, festivals of all types were taking place across the country. There are also those little moments of joy throughout the day - a chat, a dance, a joke or a walk around the garden, to give just some examples.
This autumn, our homes will be celebrating the #PowerOfMusic so expect lots of musical fun, choirs, performances and song writing. And everyone can get involved. So if you’re a colleague in Central Support, how about you find out what your nearest care homes are doing and go along to help out. Or if you work in our Housing Service, would your residents like to start a choir too? Find out more on The Bridge and Workplace.
Some of the colleagues and residents getting behind the #AnchorGames, at Maple Dene, Birmingham and Dawson Lodge, Southampton
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for The Manor House at Barnard Castle, and fourth was Josh Heaton, Chef Manager from Gills Top at Grassington. You can find out more on Workplace and we’ll be back with another competition next year. Chef of the Year 2022
Showcasing the theme of Food and Nutrition, July saw a welcome return to our live Chef of the Year Competition, hosted at Leeds City College. Noel Finnegan, National Catering and Hospitality Manager said: “The competition is designed to promote the quality of the home-cooked food using fresh ingredients, as well as celebrating the skills of our catering teams. It was fantastic to be back live this year. All the menus showed imagination, creativity and a real focus on what their residents want to eat.” All four finalists did a great job on the day, and it was a difficult decision for the judges to
choose a winner. First place went to Sam Mellish, Deputy Chef Manager from Moore Place, Esher, with his menu of chicken stuffed with mozzarella, cheddar and old English sausage wrapped in bacon and coated in home- made sticky barbecue sauce, followed by a fruity summer pudding with clotted cream. As pictured on the cover of arch , Sam was presented with the trophy by last year’s winner, Verity Sims from Dawson Lodge, Southampton. Second place went to Donna Stevenson, Deputy Chef Manager at The Manor House, Harrogate, third was Sandra Barkas, Deputy Chef Manager
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From left to right: Donna Stevenson, Sandra Barkas, Sam Mellish and Josh Heaton
Be a winner! Select the correct answer to the question below for a chance to win £50 in Love2Shop vouchers in our arch competition. How many times does #ListeningAndActing appear in this issue? a) 11 b) 15 c) 22 To enter, complete and return this form to arch competition, Anchor, 2 Godwin Street, Bradford BD1 2ST, or email
Name: Job title and location:
Phone number: Answer: Closing date: 31 October 2022 Congratulations!
To Ruth Gibson, Customer Services Advisor, who correctly answered ‘One Plan’ as the name of our plan for improvements across People, Process and Technology for the next financial year, in our previous competition.
Arch@Anchor.org.uk , or enter arch online by scanning the QR code with your smartphone.
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MORE HOMES
Keeping on top of regulation To serve the residents who live with us effectively and provide safe places where they can love living in later life, we need to be meeting all of our regulatory requirements. Regulation touches on every part of our organisation, so here are a few examples of what we’re doing to meet the latest, and future, requirements.
Wayne McKay, Customer Insight Manager, is helping to make it easier for residents and their families to share their views on our services. “This summer, we’re making changes to our customer satisfaction (Csat) surveys, which include increasing the frequency of our housing resident overall Csat surveys and running dedicated surveys for extra care and new developments. We’re also surveying more residents by phone and creating online surveys. “These changes reflect the requirements for the recently updated Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code and expected Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) launching next year. They also support our Resident Voice Strategy, which seeks to improve how much
In Care Services, the Health and Social Care Act and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is making it mandatory for Adult Social Care (ASC) providers, like ourselves, to submit specific data via an online ‘Capacity Tracker’. It’s important we meet these monthly deadlines as, from November, fines will start being imposed for late submissions.
resident voices across Anchor inform and influence our approach. It will provide more effective resident involvement and more opportunities for feedback.”
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