Clare Hodges talks about how people are at the centre of her priorities

My podcast guest today is Clare Hodges who works at Blenheim House, part of Berkley Care Group, where she is manager of the 85 bed home.

She has been with Berkley for almost seven years, and talks about how she had a break from Blenheim to oversee another care home within the group, Leicester House in Warwick. As much as she enjoyed seeing another Berkley home, she is glad to be back in Blenheim House.

Blenheim is the biggest home in the Berkley group, and the team look after people with very different needs. The home includes nursing, a dementia unit and a residential environment – to support all the different needs. They’re a regulated home, which means there are always lessons to be learned, and feedback given to the care team. Clare’s biggest passion is about supporting her team, and ensuring an atmosphere of transparency and openness in all they do.

Most of her work is about leading and supporting the team who care for the 85 residents. Clare prefers the word  leader to manager – finding the latter an old-fashioned word and in some ways suggests micromanaging, rather than being able to empower her team to be the best they can.

She talks about the importance of speaking with the family members of residents to ensure that each person receives the best care possible for their loved one. Many of the residents have dementia and no one person behaves in the same way, so they all require their own personal care. She and her team work hard for this to be put in place.

People are at the centre of Clare’s priorities, whether it’s her team, the residents, their families, or the CQC inspector – and she works to address those differing priorities on a daily basis.

To contact Clare:

Website: https://www.berkleycaregroup.co.uk/the-berkley-collection/wiltshire/blenheim-house/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/berkeleyhealthcaregroup/