Home Care Hero of the Year 2024 – 2nd place, Sally Denton from Choices Homecare

Sally Denton, Operations Support Manager from Choices Homecare based in Sheffield, was was nominated by Regional Director Tracy Walshaw. The nomination was fabulous and Sally was well deserving of her place in the final shortlist of nominations. This is what Tracy said about Sally:

“Sally is a standout support to the Yorkshire region operations teams, playing a vital role in introducing and optimising new systems, including CareLineLive, across the business. Her patience and encouragement make her an invaluable guide for team members with little experience, helping them grow into confident users. As we progress in our technology journey, Sally’s leadership and support empower our teams to embrace new tools, which are transforming how we collect and report data. Her dedication and positive impact are enhancing operations across the board, making SD a true asset and a deserving nominee for Home Care Hero of the Year.”

Tracy can you tell us why you nominated Sally for CareLineLive’s Home Care Hero of the Year Award?

Sally is my right hand man, my wingman. Choices Homecare is part of the Optimo Group and operates throughout Yorkshire, myself and Sally work closely together, she’s the Operations Support Manager.

Sally helps and supports everyone in the organisation. I’m not techy and Sally is such a support, she engages with everyone throughout the organisation and that’s not just with the registered managers it’s everyone. We’ve also engaged with MOA Benchmarking and Sally has had to learn that system as well as CareLineLive. Sally is patient and has embraced the challenge of learning all of the new ways of working with technology whilst  promoting it throughout the group, making sure that everyone understands how to use the new systems.

Sally has been with the organisation longer that most people on the Senior Leadership Team. Sally is at the centre of everything and if we need to know anything it’s Sally that we go to. In fact she’s the go to for the whole company. She’s just amazing!

Sally, what was your reaction to your nomination and award success?

Well, I was a bit surprised because I wasn’t told why we were joining the meeting with CareLineLive and I had been promoting the meeting with all of our managers throughout the organisation. I’d been saying to our managers to make sure that they took the opportunity to nominate people for the award. Never thinking that I’d been nominated. So when my name was called out I was shocked! I’m usually the one who nominates, It’s nice to be recognised and that my hard work has paid off!

What made you consider working in health and social care and in particular your role in operations?

I’ve always wanted to work in health and social care since I was young. I did my work experience from school in a residential nursing home, I started my apprenticeship there and achieved my level 2 and level 3 in health and social care qualifications. Then when I passed my driving test I applied for a role in home care as a part time care worker.

I’ve worked in all of the roles including care-coordinator, deputy manager, registered manager, business compliance manager and now operations. This experience gives me insight into the challenges in various roles for example, if a carer comes to me with a problem I really do know where they’re coming from.

What does the role of operations support manager entail?

No day is the same! I work operationally including the implementation of contracts with the council. I work with the regional directors developing policies, and with all of the CQC changes its’ busy. Additionally I am part of the Senior Leadership Team across the twelve domiciliary care branches and four specialist support services. Digitise has meant that some of the staff have needed a lot of nurturing and support and it’s been a long journey which has been very successful. Some of the older members of staff were reluctant to use technology but they have achieved this and are now leading on it.

It’s not just supporting the office staff to use technology but also the care staff. Being able to support service users to see their information is brilliant. I also manage the electronic monitoring team so I’m analysing what’s happening across the services.

It’s a lot of responsibility, but it’s great that I can access information at anytime and don’t have to visit branches get information. I’ve put a step-by-step handbook together for our staff and the guides that CareLineLive have are really helpful. We’re really excited about GP Connect and the benefits it’s going to bring to the service. All of the blood sweat and tears of the mobilisation to digitise has so been worth it, all the repetition of information exchanges with staff has really paid off.

What aspects of your role do you enjoy?

I enjoy all of my role and like to step back and help staff like helping a coordinator if they need support. I like the variety and problem solving, thinking about how we can implement processes and do things better to support the services. I really like being supportive for other people in the organisation.

What are the challenges you face in your job?

It varies, obviously getting back to normal after Covid and we had a really tough time with recruitment because home care is not seen as good career option. The changes to policy and legislation can be challenging.  Sometimes I don’t realise that I’m juggling a lot on a daily business. I always say that it takes a special type of person to work in domiciliary care.

When you’re not working hard in your day job, how do you like to spend your down time?

I’ve got a very big family and I’m very family orientated so we have lots of days out. We also have horses and my and my step-daughter rides so a lot of my time is taken up with that.

My passion is music and going to see live concerts. I have a varied taste in music and have got tickets for Sam Fender in St James Park in June which is really exciting. I managed to get Oasis tickets as well! We have a music festival in Sheffield every year, Pulp is on the line up this year. Yes, that’s my big thing, I love being at gigs!