As a leading health and social care provider in Leeds one of our priorities is upholding the highest levels of quality across patient care, safety and welfare. We have been investing significantly in the training and development of our staff at Pennington Court, with a pilot programme delivered in partnership with Clinical Educator Sallyanne Corry.

Clinical educators are respected nurses with strong organisational and leadership skills. Over the past few months, Sallyanne, an experienced nurse of 32 years, has become part of the team at Pennington Court.

Sallyanne has worked in paediatrics, A&E, and oncology. Over the last 20 years she has worked her way up in community practice nursing specialising in COPD, diabetes and other chronic illnesses.

Sallyanne notes: "My role at Pennington Court Care Home has been to assess current levels of care, identify ways in which they can be enhanced and develop staff through group training sessions and 'on the floor' education to improve knowledge and skills and support staff to excel in their care roles.

"For the first month I walked the floor assessing how care was delivered across the home – the strengths and the weaknesses. I worked shifts with day and night staff, and this gave me a good insight into how I might approach the training.

"One of my key pieces of advice to all staff was about how important this time of life is for residents. It’s absolutely vital we get every part of their care right. I am there as a role model using my experience to offer practical, comprehensive, evidence-based and resident-centred education and staff development and I can see how the clinical education that has been embedded has changed the way that staff approach care enabling them to excel in this area.”