Icelandic nurses visit Barchester homes before International Nurses' Day

A group of 35 nurses from Iceland visited two Barchester homes while on a fact-finding trip about the public and independent health and social care services on offer in the UK.

The care staff at Queens Court, in Wimbledon and Lynde House, in Twickenham, all welcomed a group of nurses and took them on a tour of their homes to  learn more about nursing and dementia care delivery in a social care setting.

A representative of the Icelandic Nurses said: "We are very impressed with the care given to people with highly complex needs while managing to maintain such a homely feel within a lovely environment."

The two groups met up afterwards at Lynde House for a Q&A session about nursing care in the UK. Quality and assurance were top of the list of questions and Barchester’s Regional Care Specialists and General Managers were on hand to answer their questions.

Pauline Houchin, Lead Care Specialist at Barchester, said: "We have more than 2500 nurses working for us out of a workforce that is 17000 strong.  Through our in-house business school we can provide a variety of tailored learning and development opportunities to our staff that ensure we meet the needs of those people living in Barchester homes. Our induction and training courses meet and exceed government standards and we offer great leadership development opportunities for nurses.

"Our expert team of care specialists support the high standards of care given and our first rate regulation team have a wealth of knowledge as many have previously worked as inspectors. Both teams work closely with the national regulators, staff and residents to maintain a high level of clinical governance and to continue to drive excellence across the company."

The Icelandic nurses have also visited acute services including emergency (A&E), ward areas, outpatients and other specialist services. They also attended the Florence Nightingale Memorial Service at Westminster Abbey on Wednesday 7 May where a group of Barchester nurses were also among those fortunate to be part of the historic service.