Five Lamps are thrilled to announce that they have won a competitive tendering process and have been awarded primary and secondary provider status on Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council’s Care at Home Framework.
The expansion of care services has started this month, with Five Lamps doubling their care hours to 2,000 hours per week. The new contract also means that Five Lamps have taken over the running of Parkside Court Extra Care Scheme as well as extra care hours across the Borough.
Parkside Court is a fantastic facility based in Cumbernauld Road, Thornaby and compromises a mix of 48 two-bed purpose built flats and bungalows and has a communal lounge and garden areas. The dedicated and experienced team from Parkside Court have also transferred their employment to Five Lamps, which means the company now employs 74 Care Assistants, most of which live locally.
The opportunity is extremely exciting and Five Lamps have ambitious plans for Parkside Court, including developing a menu of activities for the residents once lockdown restrictions have been fully lifted, which will include intergenerational activities involving the young people who attend Five Lamps Youth Club.
Five Lamps started out as a domically home care provider in 2016 under a pilot with Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council to bring a social enterprise home care provider into the borough. Over the last four years, Five Lamps have continuously identified ways to improve their services and go the extra mile for their service users and staff. This has included investing in an innovative app, where Care Assistants can update service user records in real time, allowing families to be kept up to date.
The Home Care Team also arrange for every service user to receive a gift at Christmas and an Easter egg at Easter using donations from the local community and businesses. These little tokens help to improve social isolation and the well-being of service users. Five Lamps have also delivered over 200 food and activity parcels to Home Care service users since March 2020, many of whom have been shielding due to Covid-19.
Five Lamps also try to go the extra mile for their Care Assistants and have recently secured funding to provide two electric bikes for Care Assistants to utilise, along with travel mugs, water bottles and backpacks for all Care Assistants to support them to fulfil their roles and also recognise the brilliant job they do.
Nicola Garrett, Director of Corporate Services said: “We are incredibly proud to secure a place on Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council’s Care at Home Framework. We have worked tirelessly since entering the domically home care market in 2016 to grow our service offer and we are thrilled to now include an Extra-Care Scheme within this. As a Charity, we try to add value and are continuously looking for ways in which we can go the extra mile when delivering care across Stockton. Our Home Care Team and Care Assistants do an amazing frontline job and provide a lifeline to many people in the community; this has most recently been shown during the Covid-19 pandemic and I am incredibly proud of them.”
Anchor Hanover run the day to day operations of Parkside Court, to find out more, please click here.
Care Assistants provide a vital frontline service and help many people every day in the community. If you are inspired by the role of providing care in the community and you strive to make a difference to people’s lives, Five Lamps have vacancies for Care Assistants. To find out more, please visit www.fivelamps.org.uk/vacancies (flexible roles available).
Photo shows (left to right): Cheron Moore, Five Lamps Registered Manager, Mary Hinds, Scheme Manager and Nicola Garrett, Director of Corporate Services.