Tamsin Forde on role as manager at Avalon Nursing Home

Tamsin Forde’s grandma Glenys was living with dementia and visual and hearing impairments.

Tamsin, who took up her role at Avalon Nursing Home in January, took Glenys to live at the home where she was clinical lead nurse in Ilminster and supervised her care for three years until she died.

"Properly caring for someone who is living with dementia demands compassion, patience and a willingness to understand them as an individual," said Tamsin.

“That’s what I’ve always tried to bring to my job and it’s what makes the difference to the happiness levels in a care home.”

Tamsin originally qualified as an adult general nurse at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, and worked briefly with the NHS before moving to the care sector.

She has a reputation for turning around care homes rated by CQC as 'requiring improvement' into 'good'.

She said: “Avalon is already rated as good though and that’s not surprising because there’s a terrific team in place here and a lovely ethos of supporting residents to live their best possible lives.

“Since I started working at Avalon, I’ve been so pleased by all the comments from external professionals visiting the home, who praise its atmosphere - saying it’s like a breath of fresh air and commenting on the caring interactions they witness between staff and residents.”

Tamsin said her favourite aspect of her job is the positive impact she and her team can make on residents’ lives.

She added: “I don’t do stress, or everyone else negatively feeds off it. I acknowledge that my team look to me for leadership, so I have to keep a calm and level head - anxiety is contagious.

“And I don’t have a big ego. I want people to come to me with their ideas for improvements or with constructive criticism. I’m always keen to hear from my team and I want their ideas, input and for them to feel ownership of the home.”