Nursing is in the blood for the woman charged with training the next generation of carers at a leading North Wales care organisation.
Celia Jones is the new Clinical Development Officer for the award-winning Pendine Park which looks after 450 residents at eight homes and employs over 800 staff.
She will be responsible for training and upskilling staff at the company’s care homes in Wrexham and at Bryn Seiont Newydd in Caernarfon where the 46-year-old mother of two is based.
Celia, from Llanfair PG on Anglesey, qualified as a nurse at Ysbyty Gwynedd in 2003, following in the footsteps of her mother, a midwife, her grandmother who was an auxiliary nurse and her aunt – the third generation of nurses in the family, Celia’s daughter, Rebecca, is currently in the second year of her nursing course with Pendine Park.
Pendine Park have 14 staff, all Clinical Care Practitioners (CCPs), on the nursing course with the Open University, with the latest cohort of eight, four each from Wrexham and Caernarfon, just starting.
Celia will also be responsible for the upskilling of staff to become CCPs, training them in medicines, wounds and dressings and in taking observations, including blood pressure, heart and respiratory rate, oxygen levels and temperature.
She worked as a nurse at Ysbyty Gwynedd, including on the surgical ward, before spells as a district nurse in the Bangor area, as a hospice at home nurse and a McMillan Clinical Nurse Specialist, both of which involved dealing with end of life care.
Celia said: “I had always wanted to be a nurse and did my NVQ in health and social care at Ysbyty Gwynedd before training and working there as a nurse and then spent a few years working gin the community.
“I wanted a real change and to work with a team rather than on my own and that was why I joined Pendine who have a real commitment to training their staff.
“My role is to upskill the qualified nurses here and find courses for them as well as to oversee the training of the CCPs to provide them with the skills they need to play a bigger part in the care of the residents and also to give them more opportunities to rise within their profession and earn more.
“Indeed, all members of staff including our wonderful care practitioners received a high level of training which is a constant process because we ensure our staff are up to date with all the latest technical announcements and best practice.
“As well as providing high quality training in relation to the clinical and practical aspects of the work, we also focus on enriching lives of our residents and staff alike.
“The arts in all forms provide a golden thread that runs through all of our care homes, lifting the spirits and enhancing the quality of life.
“Much of the teaching is around end of life care which is very rewarding and important as you are giving your patient a good end to their life, pain-free and comfortable and providing support for their families as well.”
Pendine Park proprietor Mario Kreft MBE places a high emphasis on staff training and he said: “This has always been a top priority because for us it’s about making sure that we meet all the challenges and changes which are happening in the care sector.
“As a nation we face a serious shortage of nurses and medical professionals and so our investment in staff development is essential to our continued success.
“Celia has the breadth of experience to be able to support our staff through their training right up to gaining their Open University nursing qualifications.
“It is an investment will reap rewards as they acquire new skills, develop their careers and help us lead the way through the social care sector dilemmas of the future.”
