Last week our social care teams across Cardiff, Bristol and Swansea were hit with what some would consider to be a major problem \u2013 snow, and lots of it. #StormEmma hit our regions with gusto, but there was snow way we were going to be beaten in providing a social care service to our community.<\/p>\n
At midday on Thursday 2nd March 2018 our management team made the decision to close our office spaces to ensure the safety of everyone within our business. Many of us with young families and other relatives to care for plodded home\u2026armed with laptops, mobile phones and lots more wonderful gadgets our IT had made provision for to allow the show to go on\u2026and on it did go.<\/p>\n
Sarah Blackmore, Director of New Directions Social Care reflects on the week that was\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat snow? In comparison to this week, last week\u2019s adverse weather conditions appear like a distant memory! But we cannot forget the outstanding commitment and efforts of our teams.
\nAs a nation that is rarely prepared for snow, WOW! Whilst most were out panic buying, our teams remained calm and carried on as usual. I am overwhelmed by all branches and their candidates across South Wales and the South West of England. Those who continued to work, made alterative arrangements for childcare and travel, who committed and helped ourselves and most importantly, our clients and service users. <\/p>\n
We spend all year promoting our values and selling our brand with confidence and we are extremely grateful and appreciate everyone\u2019s hard work at this time, to deliver our ongoing service at a standard to be proud of\u201d.<\/p>\n
The teams (pictured) worked around the clock from their homes in Gloucestershire, Aberdare and West Wales (and all in between) to keep supporting a sector that would require the most help in the most treacherous of conditions. Applauding their efforts, a Team Leader from leading POBL Group said of the team \u201cJust to say that your staff performed amazingly over snowgate. We were able to get cover for the most part and Rebecca kept us in the loop so thank you.\u201d <\/p>\n
Of course, New Directions Social Care operates a 24 hour a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year service and that didn\u2019t stop during the UK freeze. The team explained:<\/p>\n
\u201dOn behalf of the Social Care Support Team working from home due to the snow, I can honestly say how proud I am of our workers who agreed to work at short notice and ventured out in the bad conditions to go and help those who needed an extra pair of hands. Our workers are the best and we cannot thank them enough\u201d.<\/p>\n
Kirsty Knowles our lead from Bristol added:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Bristol branch would personally like to thank all of our staff that trekked through the snow this weekend to ensure our clients were not left short staffed and that service users were taken care of and receiving the quality of care that they are used to. All our staff communicated with the office if they were struggling to get into work, offered to swap shifts closer to home and most of them walked to their shift.<\/p>\n
Their absolute dedication to their role was displayed in a fantastic fashion and we honestly cant thank you enough. All of our clients commented on the commitment you showed and the efforts you made so again THANK YOU x\u201d.<\/p>\n