The first key appointment has been announced for a £6m dementia care and nursing home nearing completion in Partington
The first key appointment has been announced for a £6m dementia care and nursing home nearing completion in Partington, Greater Manchester. Ian Smallwood, 60, who lives in nearby Warrington, has begun work as home manager at Four Oaks, Kingsley Healthcare’s new flagship 62-bedroom facility, and his first task will be to oversee the appointment of nearly 100 staff. Jobs, equivalent to 60 full-time roles, will range from support workers, gardeners and domestics to clinical care and catering managers. Mr Smallwood, who has worked in healthcare all his life, starting out as a 17-year-old in the Royal Army Medical Corps, said: “Recruitment will be a big task.
I will have to be sure that everyone shares the same values, beliefs and aspirations as me. “I am really passionate about providing a good quality caring and supportive service to everyone who needs it, and that includes the staff. I want them to be as much a part of what we do as the residents.” He said dementia took a terrible toll, indiscriminately affecting people in all walks of life and at all levels - he had once cared for a former captain of the Queen Mary in the advanced stages of the condition. He said: “They are people who would have had their first day at school and their first kiss; many would have gone on to get married and have children; they would have worked or served society in some way.
“They have given to us and they deserve a little bit back in terms of respect and protecting their dignity.” Mr Smallwood, a registered general and mental health nurse who has previously worked in a range of senior roles, described Four Oaks as “one of the best facilities I have seen”. “With its grand two-floor foyer area and its cinema and library, one senior local health professional I showed round compared the environment to a Marriott hotel. She was extremely excited by it,” he said. Health professionals and the wider public will have the chance to view the home’s ensuite bedrooms when four show rooms open on Monday May 9. People will be able to visit during that week from 10am to 3pm, Monday to Friday; as well as inspecting the rooms there will be the chance to talk to Kingsley staff regarding job opportunities and the care on offer.
Four Oaks will become the centre for Kingsley’s training programmes and an apprenticeship scheme will be operated out of the home.
