Middleton Park Lodge nursing home in Leeds is offering every new member of nursing staff access to the company’s leadership development programme, where they can gain a diploma in leadership management.
The Orchard Care Homes initiative comes in response to the ongoing, and acute, care sector skills shortage. There are currently a staggering 170,000 vacancies in the sector – a figure that seems set to grow larger still.
Care roles are not known for their career progression, but Orchard hopes to change that. Its current CEO Hayden Knight started his career as a care assistant and progressed to senior management, and this new scheme aims to help today's Orchard employees make the journey to senior roles. Orchard is encouraging other providers to follow suit.
Middleton Park Lodge Home manager, Lindsey Leatham, said: “Solving the current skills shortage in the care sector is no easy task but we believe this can be addressed by ensuring all employees feel valued, respected, safe, and secure in their roles. Orchard is proud to be leading the way with career development opportunities on top of other incentives such as welcome packages up to £5000 for new nursing staff. Rewarding commitment to the sector, financially or through personal development, is an expectation that we are pleased to hold ourselves accountable to.”
