Meet our Manager
Our story & values
Hello, I am Debbie Spokes, the Registered Manager here at Country Lodge since 2004. I have been a nurse for 35+ years, working in the NHS, before moving to the private sector.
Delivering exemplary care and creating a ‘home from home’ environment has always remained my highest priority.
I am proud of our wonderful team, built over many years and have never stopped enjoying making a difference to peoples’ lives.
I do hope you will come and see what we have to offer here. You will receive a warm welcome!
Care
Care is ‘what we do’ and it’s why people come to us for help. The care we deliver helps the individual person to live a dignified life and improves their overall health. This is our work and our calling. People receiving our care trust us to get it right for them.
Compassion
Compassion is how care is given through relationships based on empathy, respect and dignity. It can be described as Intelligent Kindness and is central to how people perceive their care.
Competence
Competence means all those in caring roles must be able to understand an individual’s health and social needs, and have the expertise, clinical and technical knowledge to deliver effective care and treatments based on research and evidence. This is why we place a high emphasis on the continual training of our staff.
Communication
Communication is central to successful caring relationships and to effective team working. Listening is as important as what we say and do. It is essential for “no decision about me without me”. Communication is key, with benefits for those in our care and staff alike.
Courage
Courage enables us to do the right thing for the people we care for, to speak up when we have concerns. It means we have the personal strength and vision to innovate and embrace new ways of working.
Commitment
Commitment to our residents is the cornerstone of what we do. We need to build on our commitment to improve the care and experience of our residents and to meet the health and social challenges which may be ahead.
Home-from-home
Our vision is to create a “home-from-home” environment – welcoming, warm, friendly and engaging. We have recruited a highly trained, Head Chef who creates delicious, Resident influenced, Seasonable menus, cooked from scratch, using locally sourced fresh ingredients, as well as producing special dishes for High days and Holidays! Home made cake and tea are served everyday at 3pm to all Residents – it’s a wonderful part of the day!
Home made cake and tea are served everyday
– it’s a wonderful part of the day!
Meet the proprietors, Will and Deborah
We have always wanted to make people feel ‘at home’, comfortable and safe so entering care in 2019 seemed a natural move for us. Debs’ parents had run wonderful care homes in the past showing that it is possible to make a care home a lovely place to be. Will was an NHS doctor before leaving to advise healthcare companies in the USA for 8 years.
We believe the creation of peaceful, resident-centred havens of care like Country Lodge has huge value to residents and their families.
Often a complicated chapter in residents lives, it is still a chapter to be lived as fully as possible. Struck by the homely feel at Country Lodge on our first visit, together with the attention paid to the food and the weekly activities, we knew it would be a place we would love to work in and recommend to family and friends.
Debs is at Country Lodge several times a week overseeing the leadership team. Will is involved in the oversight, but continues to work advising the NHS and other healthcare organisations.
TEAM
Our coffee connoisseurs.