Brambles Care Home Case Study

About Brambles Care Home

Brambles is a modern, family-run, care home offering comfortable, homely accommodation for a maximum of 28 older people. It is located in the beautiful Kent village of Wye and provides a safe and secure environment in which each resident is encouraged to lead an independent and active lifestyle, balanced with the appropriate level of physical and emotional support.

Care is provided around the clock by trained staff who offer personal support which is responsive to the varied and individual needs and preferences of their residents. Staff respect privacy and dignity and are sensitive to changing needs.

The Challenge

Brambles Care Home employs 25 members of staff who deliver a personal service of the highest quality and sensitivity. In order to achieve these standards, staff training is of paramount importance. They also have a mandatory training requirement to meet CQC inspection standards.

Caroline Sandford has been assistant manager at Brambles Care Home for the last 6 years and explained the challenges training used to create: Sourcing training courses at local colleges and other external providers was a logistical nightmare for them.

/n/n%3E As cover was always needed back at the home, we could only send a few colleagues at a time. The courses could be up to 20-30 miles away from Brambles so we would incur staff travel expenses and time off site, as well as the cost of the training course.

The Delivery

Coincidentally, Caroline was helping a friend out with some catering and found Virtual College in her search for online food hygiene training. She undertook the course and really enjoyed the delivery style.

Seeing the other courses that Virtual College offered which were relevant to Brambles Care Home, she approached her manager and after further investigation into pricing, training content and quality, they decided to go down the route of online learning with Virtual College. Flexibility, quality and consistency were important considerations.

Brambles has opted for Virtual College’s Total Training Package which gives them flexible access to a range of courses tailored to their specific needs - ranging from Dementia Awareness, Infection Prevention and Control, to Safeguarding Adults.

The Results

The Brambles Care Home were very pleased with the training and saw positive results in the team.

They feel that quality of the courses are really good and their staff are already putting their learning into practice.

Virtual College courses come with a certificate, demonstrating knowledge as learners are required to complete an assessment, whereas all we got from the face to face sessions was a certificate of attendance.

Online delivery means staff can access learning during free time at work or at home and can ‘dip in and out’ without losing progress.