The Belong village model was designed to bring together a range of housing and support options for older people and, from a nursing perspective, this has created the opportunity to approach nursing differently, closely linked to the organisation’s approach to enabling people to age in situ.
24-hour care is provided in six extended family-sized households of up to 12 people. These are arranged around a village hub with extensive amenities, including a bistro, hair salon, specialist gym and an entertainment venue with licensed bar.
The result is a nursing model that is more aligned to community nursing, whereby nursing care moves to the resident, rather than moving residents to specific ‘units’ in line with their needs. It empowers nurses by affording them the autonomy to operate as an independent practitioner, helping to provide our enhanced model of care that truly puts people at the centre of what we do.
Maximising this opportunity, Jemma has fostered a culture whereby nurses cascade knowledge and skills to the wider support team, delegating non-clinical tasks to provide seamless and effective care for individuals, under appropriate supervision and direction.
Spearheading initiatives designed to develop the next generation of nurses as well as promote better outcomes for residents, Jemma’s work has since attracted the attention of Professor Deborah Sturdy, leading to her being awarded the Chief Nurse Adult Social Care Gold Award.
Inspiring excellence
Closely linked to this culture of empowerment and skills development, Jemma is passionate about developing nurses of the future through compelling career development pathways. This includes creating well thought-out programmes for students, as well as working closely with the village practice development facilitator to identify opportunities to upskill our qualified nurses.
This is a subject particularly close to Jemma’s heart, as someone who has grown her own career within the organisation, taking advantage of our commitment to training and learning. She joined Belong in 2004 from an NHS background, originally as a support worker, before completing her nurse training externally in 2019 and then returning to us to begin her career in social care nursing.
Before being appointed Support Manager of Belong’s Atherton care village earlier this year, she worked through the ranks to become Village Nurse Manager (VNM) in 2022, heading up a team of seven nurses who care for up to 72 residents, approximately two-thirds of whom have nursing needs.
Multi-disciplinary approach
Externally, Jemma has forged close relationships with local colleges and universities, whereby we facilitate practical opportunities for nursing and social care students, and others in related disciplines, in addition to our learning agreement with the Royal College of Nursing. We are therefore now involved in a multi-disciplinary programme where we support students from various specialisms within the sector.
As an example of this, Jemma piloted the Trainee Nurse Associate (TNA) role in conjunction with the University of Salford and has been instrumental in building this into an operational function. Her learnings and guidance have influenced both the
roll-out of the TNA position at other villages, as well as the wider nursing strategy across the organisation. It is an area of work that is attracting attention across the sector, as a way of offering a route for interested support workers to transition to nursing roles.
Under Jemma’s management, we have also seen the first physiotherapy student placement at Belong. Collaboration with our nursing and specialist exercise teams means that resulting insights and knowledge of best practice can be shared across departments, thereby developing other colleagues’ skills for the benefit of our residents.
Beyond learning and development, Jemma has also worked closely with the primary care team to develop a relationship with local GP surgeries that reduces unnecessary burden on our services. After actively consulting all stakeholders, she created an action plan that crucially involves weekly GP visits to the village and clear lines of triage.
Overall, Jemma is a fantastic advocate for student nurses and the feedback she receives for mentorship demonstrates how passionate and invested she is in developing the workforce of the future.
Industry challenges
The retention, as well as recruitment, of student nurses is critical to address skills shortages in our sector. With this in mind, Jemma reviewed the journey students take within nursing care and the skills they need, using this information to create a student handbook.
This offers a clear overview of their professional development in terms of what they should have achieved at a given stage, ensuring a positive learning experience and inspiring them to take charge in managing their learning. The handbooks are now given to student nurses across the organisation as standard.
Taken together, all these initiatives are helping to transform the perception of social care nursing and the opportunities it offers for career development, while also giving nurses the time and space to develop closer relationships and continuity with the people they are supporting and their families.
Dying matters
A crucial part of this nursing picture is ensuring high-quality end of life care, and this is another area in which Jemma has driven standards through her proactive approach. Networking with GPs and external nurse practitioners, Jemma has co-ordinated bespoke training administered by Wigan and Leigh Hospice, ensuring all colleagues are engaged and motivated with this aspect of care.
Other initiatives include coaching care teams to feel confident in discussing end of life care with residents and understand the need for a ‘Best interest approach’. Jemma played a key role in Belong Atherton attaining Gold Standards Framework accreditation and her engagement with GP services ensures that best interest wishes are also recorded within NHS processes.
Spearheaded by Jemma and the experienced day team at Belong Atherton, Hospice UK’s Dying Matters Week was marked at the village with a successful advanced care planning coffee morning event. Residents and tenants were invited to have an open and frank conversation about their thoughts and fears for the future, with Jemma able to signpost support as needed.
On a more personal level, Jemma supported her mother to make the life-changing decision to move to Belong Atherton for end of life care, with the nursing team caring for her directly and Jemma overseeing their work.
Though this was exceptionally challenging for Jemma emotionally, it served her professional experience by providing her with a true insight into the experience of our residents and their families. This has served to enhance her existing passion and enthusiasm for her vocation to provide the very best standard of care.
Looking ahead
We must continuously strive to improve our nursing provision, and Jemma is often at the forefront of initiatives to support this.
She is currently leading the development of ground-breaking guidance around the administration of liquid medication for residents who require a modified diet, as well as looking to showcase our nursing model at conferences so that others might benefit from these approaches.
We look forward to watching her future career with the organisation, and I have no doubt that she will continue to be involved in innovations that improve the lives of people living at Belong villages.
Nominations are now open for the Markel 3rd Sector Care Awards 2025. For more information, click here.
Susan Goldsmith is Chief Operating Officer at Belong. X: @BelongVillages Email: [email protected]