As a significant provider of care services to older and vulnerable people in our community we strive to ensure we meet all identified needs effectively and in a compassionate caring way.

At this time, we are very mindful of all that is being publicly debated about the treatment of our elderly population and care homes in particular. We continue to fully support the protection of individual human rights in all situations but particularly for people who have been entrusted to us for care and wellbeing reasons. Compassionate, effective, safe and relevant care remains our prime objective.

As a company we too are disappointed and saddened by many of the reports being shared at this time and we want to reassure you of our continued commitment to providing a care service of quality and excellence in which you can have confidence. In all our homes we are open and transparent, fully accepting and understanding that on occasions expectations may not be fully met or indeed expectations may sometimes be misunderstood. In cases where anyone has a concern we are happy to discuss in detail any aspect of the situation with residents, patients, service users, family members authorised to do so and or stakeholders with whom we partner. We also use the services of independent quality assurance inspectors who submit monthly reports in each of our homes and visitors to the home are encouraged to share their views and opinions during these visits.

As a provider of care services, we respect the regulatory and watchdog arrangements we are subject to. We seek to engage appropriately with all such partners to ensure that the care delivered meets expectations and indeed complies fully with legislation. Where good guidance examples exist, we endeavour to learn from those available across the care sector and then implement the same where appropriate and possible to do so. As an assurance to all our residents, potential residents and partners in care, we can confirm that we report all known incidents and referred concerns to bodies with oversight arrangements as per the systems agreed nationally and regionally. As a further assurance, we also only employ people who are currently ‘live’ on the NMC register for nurses or the NISCC register for social care workers and a comprehensive training program is in place for all our staff. Training is enshrined in our ethos and we believe by educating our staff we can develop high quality care which will ultimately exceed expectations. Our staff have been impacted and affected by the recent coverage too and we have already initiated a review of our training needs to ensure they are fully equipped to deal with all that is asked of them daily. They are a valued part of our service provision and we commit to further developing and enhancing their skills base. As a workforce they contribute positively to the lives of many older and vulnerable people each day. For this we remain grateful.

With regards any specific issues you may wish to discuss our managers are available and willing to meet following requests to do so at a time mutually convenient to all parties. We also receive compliments daily and at this time we are willing to receive your positive experiences of our service provision too. We will gladly share these openly with your permission via our various media platforms.

Thank you to those of you who offer encouragement to our staff team on a daily basis. This is not taken for granted and in fact it serves to motivate everyone further. Please continue to encourage and raise the spirits of those who do a good job serving the older and more vulnerable members of our community.