Flying high at Peregrine House

When Alison Bedford first helped out at Peregrine House in Whitby at the age of 14, she would never in her wildest dreams have guessed that one day she would be standing at a glittering award ceremony in London hotel receiving a national award for the highest possible achievement for her profession as Care Home Resident Manager of the Year.
Back in 1977, Alison’s mother worked at Peregrine House and Alison would join her to help hand out the evening drinks to the residents. She was fascinated by the tales they told and touched by the pleasure they gave as well as received. When she left school, Alison worked for 13 years as a machinist at Burberry’s before going to live abroad in Germany for five years with her husband in the armed forces.  Returning to Whitby with two small children in 1999, Alison found herself back at Peregrine House, working in the kitchen. A meteoric career progression saw her move into a care role and, with superlative training, rapidly become Deputy Manager and eventually Manager.

Owner of Peregrine House, Dr. Kevin O’ Sullivan, nurtured and mentored Alison whom he recognised as having a rare combination of both compassion and administrative skills that made her a perfect role model for the other staff.  It was clear to him that Alison had what it took to not only lead the team at Peregrine House, but also to become a shining beacon in a profession which has not always shown itself in a good light.

An independent residential home, Peregrine House excels in care with a string of accolades including Investors in People Gold award, top ratings from the Care Quality Commission and is a Dignity in Care Champion.  From over 18000 care homes in the UK, Alison excelled against eight other regional finalists to impress an interview panel of judges in March to clinch the award.  She was overwhelmed at the Great British Care Awards ceremony when she was declared the winner: to her, caring is just what she does.

And that is probably the secret of Peregrine House, whose mantra is ‘People at the heart of care’. Dr. O’ Sullivan explains:

”As Manager, Alison is utterly dedicated to guaranteeing that the residents of Peregrine House are happy and well cared for.  She instigated the home’s philosophy of care, which is to treat the residents in the same way that they would look after the most loved member of their own family. She ensures the whole team has the training and resources to achieve this objective consistently and to a particularly high standard.  We are absolutely delighted that she has won the award; she deserves it for her complete dedication, integrity and inspiring leadership.”

So, what’s next for Alison?  Her answer is simple:

“Just keeping on doing what I already do, I think.  I don’t want to do anything else, so it will be retirement eventually, I suppose, but I can’t imagine that either! I absolutely love my job, so most of the time it doesn’t really feel like work.  Of course there is the paperwork side, but what I love most, and am still able to do, is spend a lot of time sitting and chatting with the residents.  They are so fascinating and have led such interesting lives.  I think people sometimes forget that old people haven’t always been old people, and they have so much to offer if you take the time to talk to them.  I love taking them out on trips and having fun with them, and I always encourage new staff to discover that pleasure within the job; it’s not all about the practicalities of washing and dressing the residents, but about getting to know them as people that makes our work so rewarding.”