Care Oscars

A manager who successfully battled to turn around the fortunes of a
struggling Pembrokeshire nursing home has been shortlisted for a major
award.

Two years after taking over CareInn Ltd’s Rickeston Mill home in
Haverfordwest Sue Lanceley found herself facing the problem of a high
level of bed vacancies but made it her sole mission to save the home.

It is now full with a waiting list and Sue’s “loving and
understanding” management style has won her widespread praise from
residents’ relatives.

It is this dedicated approach to her role that has landed 55-year-old
Sue a place in the final of major national competition, the 2017 Wales
Care Awards.

This is the 15th anniversary of the awards and the glittering
presentation ceremony will be held at City Hall in Cardiff on Friday
November 17 and will be hosted by tenor and radio presenter Wynne
Evans, better known as Gio Compario from the Go Compare TV ads.

The awards are in association with Care  Forum Wales, a
not-for-profit organisation set up in 1993 to give independent care
providers a single professional voice with which to speak on one of
the most important issues of our time – how to provide better
quality care for those who need it most.

Sue, who lives in Haverfordwest, is shortlisted in the Leadership in
Residential Care Services category of the awards.

Originally from Warrington in Cheshire, she qualified as a State
Enrolled Nurse in 1982 after completing her nursing training at the
town’s General Hospital and went on to work in various different
settings as a staff nurse.

After marrying and moving to Wales, Sue spent three years as deputy
manager of St Theresa’s nursing home in Fishguard from 2008.

In 2011 the single mother of two children and grandmother of seven
she was appointed manager of Rickeston Mill.

In her nomination for the Wales Care Awards, the home’s operations
manager Ramesh Patel says: “In 2013 Rickeston Mill was struggling
with a high level of bed vacancies and was proving unviable.

“I know what Sue went through and how she made it her sole mission
to save the home. She worked tirelessly to make it viable.

“She managed the process of change, including changing registration
category to include services for people with dementia. She rose above
it all and made Rickeston Mill into the home of residents. Today it is
full with a waiting list.”

Sue’s awards nomination is supported by a host of glowing tributes
from residents’ families, including one which says of her: “She is
kind, warm hearted, utterly reliable and cares deeply about all her
residents and staff.”

Another says: “Sue is one of the most caring, loving and
understanding people you could wish for and I soon learned to trust
her entirely.”

Sue said: “I look back on 2013 as a very challenging period. We
were then just a general nursing home but there were nine empty beds.
As a company we had to think about what we were going to do and to
change tack.

“We put a plan in place to do the training and change the
environment to register as a dementia care home. Since then we have
become solely registered for dementia care but can still do general
nursing care if necessary.

“I suppose I am quite a hands-on manager but I have a good rapport
with our residents and have a brilliant staff of over 30.”

She added: “I was surprised to be nominated for the award because
I’m not the sort of person who likes the limelight but if this helps
towards the reputation of the home I’m happy.

“I’m looking forward to attending the presentation evening in
Cardiff when I’ll be accompanied by my partner Mandy who is also my
clinical lead at Rickeston Mill. I think quite a few of the team are
planning to be there too.”

Mario Kreft MBE, the Chair of Care Forum Wales, said the Wales Care
Awards had gone from strength to strength.

He said: “The event is now firmly established as one of the
highlights in the Welsh social care calendar.

“The aim is to recognise the unstinting and often remarkable
dedication of our unsung heroes and heroines across Wales.

“The care sector is full of wonderful people because it’s not
just a job it’s a vocation – these are the people who really do
have the X Factor.

“If you don’t recognise the people who do the caring you will
never provide the standards that people need and never recognise the
value of the people who need the care in society.

“We need to do all we can to raise the profile of the care sector
workforce – they deserve to be lauded and applauded.

“It is a pleasure to honour the contribution of all the
finalists. Each and every one of them should be very proud of their
achievement.”