Team Spotlight: Sue – Nominated Individual

As we launch our care service this week and with growing interest in our ambition to transform the experience of people receiving support across Colne Valley, I think it’s time to explain a bit about what brings me here.

I am proud of the energy and commitment of all who have got us to this point and I am reminded of a quote from Mother Teresa.

I alone cannot change the world but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples

Mother Teresa

I have always been ambitious for adult social care and in particular for people using home support.  Having been responsible for social care in the local authority, I was particularly keen to help people stay in their own homes but also very much aware that this often comes at a cost – loneliness and isolation. 

The ability to connect with other people is fundamental to most peoples wellbeing and with constant reductions in the budget for local authorities over the years we are often only able to meet basic needs.   Local authorities do much to try and promote independence but often struggle for funding to connect people with their local communities.  The pandemic has made this more difficult but as we emerge from lockdown, our ambition is to help people live the lives they want and not just have their basic care needs met. 

We have made an investment in putting this into practice by appointing a community manager who will work with us and our members to build a whole package of support around people and their families.  We are pleased to be registered with CQC and have a new registered manager. 

We want to move away from the 4 calls a day culture to provide high quality, flexible and tailored support that meets peoples needs for personal and home support but also helps people to look outwards, keep in touch with friends and participate in the community.

I know the above quote sounds like I want to change the world, I do want to play a part in changing the world of home support.  Small ripples at first but I know through our sharing care project we are generating interest nationally in doing things differently.  The time is right to work in partnership with local authorities and communities to make a difference.

I am proud of our commitment to co-operative and ethical values, great terms and conditions for staff and really including people in the home care support they receive and the way our Co-operative Care Colne Valley develops.  We don’t want to grow into a big company – we aim to stay local to keep that personal connection to our community.

As the nominated individual and a board member of CCCV, I am excited to be launching our new service with our first staff and user members.  We are grateful for the investment and support of our friends in the community.  Without this, we wouldn’t have got this off the ground. 

I really can’t wait to see what the next few months bring and would love to have more people join us as members, staff members and user members.

Please get in touch if this is you.