First nurse to win award for work in pandemic speaks out as fifth lockdown anniversary approaches
The CEO of a leading Herts-based home-care provider has voiced her concerns about the challenges facing the care industry as the fifth anniversary of the first Clap for Carers on March 26 approaches.
Camille Leavold is CEO of Abbots Care, which is Hertfordshire County Council's preferred provider for home care services.
Camille was the first recipient in 2021 of the Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care award for her work in the pandemic. Camille was awarded the gold award, which recognised outstanding achievements and performance demonstrated by a nurse or social care worker in their sphere of practice. Camille also sits on the board of the Homecare Association.
As the fifth anniversary of lockdown approaches, Camille reflects on how things in the care industry are getting worse.
She says: "We are facing a huge crisis in this industry, which affects everyone, as most people will need to call on the services carers provide either for them or for a loved one at some time in their lives.
"I find it astonishing that we are now five years on from the first Clap for Carers in the country, and the current Government's policies are making the sector's job even more impossible than previous administrations. We need to safeguard the future of adult care services."
Abbots Care is a family-run business launched nearly 30 years ago in 1995 by Camille, who was a carer from a young age, her sister Naomi and her mum Stephanie, who was passionate about care, having worked firstly with people with learning disabilities at a local NHS hospital before qualifying as a nurse manager and working with children's respite service.
Camille and her sister also worked in the care sector in different roles and all of them felt frustrated with the way the agencies that they worked for were run. No training was offered, and no-one knew who could do what, with a drive for money over quality.
With no funding but a whole lot of heart and drive, the three women launched Abbots Care. Initially, they were their own care workers and unpaid managers, while they set the business up. They soon won their first client – the NHS via continuing care – which gave them the chance to recruit and train a team of people.
Fast forward nearly 30 years and Abbots Care is responsible for supporting 1300 customers and some 500 care workers across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Dorset.