Broome Park Nursing Home - Self Sufficient In Training

Broome Park Nursing Home recently celebrated its 10th anniversary.

Housed in an 18th Century listed building in Betchworth, the home has 38 residents and specialises in caring for the elderly mentally ill. Another building in the grounds, Stable Cottage, currently has a further 16 beds.

The home employs a total staff of 65 of which 40 are nursing staff.

Getting Started

Owners Mike and Muriel Choy had been in the care business many years before setting up Broome Park. They started Broome Park with clients taken in from a local psychiatric hospital which was closing down. They also took on the hospital’s staff, which was an ideal way of guaranteeing continuity of care and support for the clients.

Broome Park achieved Investor in People recognition in 2002. Mike and Muriel both admit that before starting their IIP journey they had been struggling. Working towards IIP status helped them formalise systems and now the IIP philosophy is firmly embedded as part of the home’s culture and this has helped the home meet the new Care Standards. In a recent inspection report, the home exceeds the minimum standard regarding staff development and training with a level 4, ie standard exceeded.

Moving On

Having seen the benefits that working towards the Investor’s Standard had brought, Mike and Muriel were keen to go one step further. In a stroke of good fortune, Mike happened to know that local qualified nurse tutor, Vijay Boodhoo, was looking for a fresh challenge. As Broome Park did not need a full time nurse tutor, Mike got together with several local homes in the East Surrey Care Association (of which Mike is Chair) and now they all share Vijay as a training resource. As well as assessing the training needs of staff, Vijay organises all Broome Park’s training and delivers statutory training on site. Vijay is an internal verifier for NVQs and Muriel Choy is an assessor, so Broome Park is able to keep the management of NVQs entirely in-house.
“Sharing Vijay with other homes is a good use of a valuable resource,” says Mike.

Broome Park has another ace up its sleeve when it comes to recruiting nursing staff. The home is now an approved centre for adaptation training for qualified nurses from overseas, offering supervised practice to help them meet UK standards. “We are linked with Thames Valley University for accreditation and we also organise work placements in other homes,” says Muriel, who acts as a mentor for the adaptation students. “This means we are never short of qualified nurses, and we’re proud to say we have never had to use an agency nurse.”

Results

Broome Park’s low staff turnover throughout the organisation bears witness to the success of the training culture that Mike and Muriel have established . Even housekeepers have NVQ training level 1 and 2 and one employee achieved an NVQ at the age of 70. Staff are also motivated by the Broome Park Employee of the Year Award.

To ensure best practise is operating throughout the home, Mike and Muriel have strengthened the management team with the appointment of daughter Rebecca Choy, who is a qualified nurse, as Head of Care, as well as having in place a nurse manager Susan Alchin and acting deputy nurse manager Rhada Ramjeawon.

Surrey’s Care Sector Development Project has bought other training opportunities to home’s attention and enabled them to make full use of funding available. The management team take part in Topss meetings and conferences and Mike is now a panel member of Investors in People. Staff and residents are kept up to date through the Broome Park newsletter.

Advice

Given the home’s culture of continuing professional and personal development, the Choys have no time for those business owners who are loathe to invest in staff training through fear of trained staff leaving for a better paid job elsewhere.

“ Once people are trained they are less likely to leave, says Mike. “Our staff have seen the benefits and the increase in job satisfaction that training can bring, and now they are even more keen to keep on learning. In fact, staff are encouraged to come forward with suggestions for training, our staff are asked what training they want as well as need, and they are queuing up to do NVQs here!”

Mike and Muriel’s hard work has now been recognised at a national level, with Broome Park awarded ‘Highly Commended’ in the 2004 Topss Accolades. Says Mike, “We were really so proud to win this award. After all, ours is such a small organisation compared to the giants that participated, to be recognised in this way is, in itself, a real achievement.”