Tracy Norbury, Home Manager at Macclesfield’s Hollins Park care home, has received the prestigious The Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Award for Outstanding Service.
The accolade, more commonly known by the title of Queen’s Nurse, was bestowed to Tracy and other recipients during the Queen’s Nursing Institute ceremony on Friday 8th December.
Tracy has worked for Care UK since she was just 16 years old. Over the course of nearly two decades with the provider, she has held almost every role within her current home – having started as a domestic, before moving into the kitchen. When she became a qualified nurse in 2013, Tracy showcased her natural leadership skills and continued to progress, becoming the Home Manager in 2017 when she was just 29 years old. In 2019, Tracy led her team to gain four ‘Outstanding’ KLOEs from the CQC, making Hollins Park the first home to achieve this in the entirety of Cheshire.
Speaking on the importance of the Queen’s Nurse Award, Tracy said: “I feel very proud to have been recognised in this way, and to have been encouraged to put myself forward for the title of Queen’s Nurse. I’ve worked hard throughout my career, but I know I could not do my job without the support of my team. I hope this award will go on to inspire others – regardless of their job title – to put themselves forward for recognition whenever they get an opportunity to do so.”
Suzanne Mumford QN, Care UK’s Head of Nursing, Care and Dementia, said of Tracy’s achievement: “I am delighted that Tracy has been recognised by the Queen’s Nursing Institute for her continued passion and dedication to improving nursing practice at Hollins Park. Tracy continues to inspire her team, and role model best practice in nursing and dementia care. She is a worthy recipient of this prestigious award.”
Nursing became a clear path for Tracy when she was working at Hollins Park as a carer, helping to deliver end-of-life care to a particular resident. The experience shaped her and highlighted that positivity can be found during the most difficult of times for families. She credits the impact that positive elderly care can have, not just on residents but their loved ones, particularly highlighting the importance of end-of-life care.
This drive saw Tracy lead her colleagues in achieving platinum status, as awarded by the Gold Standards Framework for End-of-Life Care, in 2019. Luckily, her team are just as passionate about this crucial aspect of care. This has led to the creation of the Six Steps project, which encourages residents and their loved ones to talk about their preferences for end-of-life care before they reach this stage in their journey, and the Comfort Companions initiative, which ensures no resident is left alone when they do reach the end-of-life stage.
Hollins Park is home to up to 48 residents who are living with advanced dementia and other complex medical conditions. Tracy understands the “privilege” of the position she and her colleagues are in. She said: “One of the driving factors for me is changing the mindset towards caring for those who are living with dementia. It isn’t about what they may or may not remember - it’s about bringing moments of joy to their day. Just because you go into a care home doesn’t mean your life stops – I’m a firm believer that we should do everything we can to keep residents as independent for as long as we can.”
Encouraged by Tracy, colleagues at the home know that they can take positive risks to ensure that residents are able to continue to live fulfilling lives. A resident who suffered a brain injury after a collision on his motorbike was supported to return to the road safely. The team worked with a local charity to enable him to ride on a supported, dual-control, pedal bike. A fellow resident had worked in a stable and was supported to go back on a regular basis so that she could groom the horses and assist with mucking out.
Tracy knows that by investing in her team, Hollins Park can continue to innovate and use their knowledge to best support residents, and her Queen’s Nurse title will allow her to access learning and support from peers across the prestigious Queen’s Nursing Institute. Tracy praised her team’s support throughout her career, remarking: “The good thing about our team is that we’re all good at different things. As well as recognising individual strengths, I wanted to make sure we were supporting colleagues in areas they weren’t as confident in – whether that’s by providing training, assigning them specific projects, or getting them involved in learning opportunities with our local End-of-Life partnership.”
A number of initiatives have contributed to a drastic reduction in the number of resident falls in 2023. Residents were involved in helping to create and tend to the home’s new dementia-friendly garden and they are able to access Namaste care five times a week. The most important initiative for wellbeing has been one that Tracy pushed for and implemented: RITA. Standing for Reminiscence Interactive Therapy Activities, RITA encourages residents to engage with more than 200 computer-based games, grow their own virtual garden or keep their own virtual fish tank, and it can even personalise jigsaw puzzles with loved one’s photographs on it. In the first quarter of using this interactive technology, the fall rate in the home reduced by 50%, and has since reduced further, resulting in an 80% reduction in falls overall.
In amongst the innovations, Hollins Park has been well-decorated with accolades. The home won Home of the Year at Care UK’s internal awards in 2018 and was highly commended for ‘Best Nursing Care’ in the Care Home Awards in the same year. As well as being awarded the title of Queen’s Nurse, Tracy currently holds ‘Home Manager of the Year’ from the National Dementia Care Awards 2023, having been recognised as ‘Lead Dementia Nurse’ by the same awards in 2017. She was also the recipient of the Great British Care Awards 2017 North West ‘Good Nurse’ award.
Tracy knows that awards and the recognition are important for the team, but the question in her mind remains the same, and allows Hollins Park to improve year-on-year: “what’s next?”
If you’d like to work with inspirational colleagues like Tracy and her team, you can view our current vacancies at care.uk.com and select the ‘Careers’ tab at the top of the page.
