A Potted History

ELLIOTS HILL RESIDENTIAL CARE HOME

Great Elliots Hill was originally part of the Picton Castle Estate which owns farms & smallholdings throughout the county. The tenants of Great Elliots Hill bought the farm from the Estate in the 1950's and in addition to the day-to-day farming activities they started a farmhouse bed & breakfast, which prospered and expanded. The 1902 traditional longhouse gained an extension or two and became a small hotel. This gradually took over from farming as the main business and most of the land was then sold off, retaining a site of around 3 acres. Over time, the hotel changed hands twice, adding a bar and restaurant, but eventually closed in April 1988. Keith Kelso bought the property in June 1988, and Great Elliots Hill was destined for another change of direction.

After extensive conversion work to meet care standards regulations, the new business, Elliots Hill Residential Care Home, was inspected and registered in November 1988, with a capacity for 15 adults under Category MP (Mental Disorder).

Steady progress followed. Keith's wife Jane joined the team in 1990 with all the energy and dedication that has become her trademark. Within 2 years the capacity had increased to 20 beds, and at the same time establishing an excellent reputation for work in this specialist client area. Now into its third decade, an enviable near-100% occupancy level continues and rare vacancies are usually filled very quickly.

Elliots Hill Care has worked closely with Social Services and the Health Authority to develop facilities for clients with autistic spectrum disorders and challenging behaviour, who would otherwise have been placed out of county. Ty Gwyn, the 5-bedded special unit, was built in 1998 and its highly motivated staff team provides innovative and effective care to meet the complex needs of this client group.

COMMUNITY BASED SERVICES

Elliots Hill Care is also registered by CSSIW as a Large Domiciliary Care Agency, providing a wide range of community based support services for adults and under-18 clients via initiatives such as ILF, Supporting People, etc. It has been awarded contracts to provide full-time care & support for clients with learning disabilities, severe physical impairment and challenging behaviour in community based domiciliary settings. Also to provide support to enable people with mental health problems to live independently, and these services now cover the whole county. This community element of the business has expanded, so that now, around 75% of Elliots Hill Care's work is in the community. As a 24/7 service, this means that every day of the year, somewhere in Pembrokeshire, no matter what time of day or night, some of Elliots Hill's 130+ staff members will be on duty.

STAFF TRAINING

Elliots Hill Care takes great pride in its staff selection and training policies. Across the country, there is a legal minimum requirement that registered providers have to meet, and this undoubtedly leads to quite a wide variation in service quality, depending on how close to that bare legal minimum that providers operate. Elliots Hill Care does not subscribe to an attitude of "just enough to meet minimum standards", and, in recognising that its staff is its greatest asset, has always been eager to invest in quality staff training. A new purpose built training school has been constructed on-site, to deliver training, not only to its own staff, but to other local care companies. NVQ 2 is the accepted base level qualification, but some staff members have gone on to NVQ Levels 3, 4 & 5, Btec, HNC and other relevant qualifications. Elliots Hill achieved the Investors in People award in 2003, and this was re-awarded in 2008 after a comprehensive inspection. In 2005, Elliots Hill Care was presented with the highly coveted Insurance Industry Firemark Award in recognition of the excellence of its home-developed risk assessment policies. This is believed to be the first time the Firemark has ever been awarded to a Welsh company, and equally importantly, believed to be the first time that Firemark award has ever been presented to any UK care company - a singular honour of which the company is justifiably proud. More recently, it was nominated by staff members for the 2007 Pembrokeshire Business Awards, and clearly the judging panel must have been impressed because Elliots Hill Care won the Pembrokeshire Employer of the Year category and this was followed in 2008 by the presentation of a national award from JobCentre Plus for work with employees with disabilities.