The Huntercombe Group

Four Seasons makes Laing's Healthcare 20 Longlist - Vote Now!
Posted March 28th 2012

We are pleased to announce Four Seasons Health Care is one of 45 companies which have made the long listed for this year’s Laing’s Healthcare 20 and unlike last year where the final top 20 list was subjectively compiled the 2012 shortlist will be selected based on votes from individuals involved in the sector.

After a year in parliament - coming under more scrutiny than any other bill in living memory - the Health and Social Care Bill is finally set to become law which means that the UK will see a restructuring of healthcare that will require a greater than ever, the need to know exactly who is at the top of the independent healthcare game. It’s against this backdrop that the Laing’s Healthcare 20 list returns – with the promise that the 2012 edition will provide the definitive list of the best organisations operating within the independent health and social care sector today.

Laing’s Healthcare 20 was launched last year. In a marked evolution from the 2011 edition, the compilation of this year’s report has begun with the release of a ‘long list’ of 45 organisations cherry picked from the sector by Laing & Buisson. Criteria which organisations were judged against included financial muscle, performance over the past year and, perhaps most importantly of all, influence in shaping UK healthcare.

The names in this initial offering represent care providers, investors, consultants and advisors which have played a fundamental role in the sector in the past 12 months – as well as organisations which L&B believe will be the 'ones to watch' in the future. Laing & Buisson has now opened the voting so that readers of its specialist market reports, business newsletters Community Care Market news and Healthcare Market news and visitors to its website can influence which 20 organisations are the most deserving of a place on the 2012 list!

We are proud of what we have achieved over the past year despite the unique challenges faced. We are one of the highest rated quality providers in the sector and have been a key influence on shaping the independent UK health and care sector we see today. This success is down to our committment to quality care and the fact that this committment is shared by our people. We have an enormous amount to be proud of and hope that you also feel this way - so we ask that you show this by voting for us! You have from now until the end of May to cast your vote using the following link: Cast your vote here.

Trio of new Centre Managers for The Huntercombe Group in the North East
Posted March 26th 2012

Leading independent specialist healthcare provider The Huntercombe Group, has appointed three new managers in the North East.

John Horn has been appointed as manager at Elswick Hall Neurodisability Suite in Newcastle, Pat Griffiths at South Quay Neurodisability Suite in Blyth, and completing the appointments, Natasha Weisser, who takes the helm at Stanton Lodge Neurodisability Suite in Shiremoor.

John is a very experienced health care professional, with a varied background. He first qualified as SEN (MS) in August 1982, and completed further training in 1996. John has held positions within the NHS and private sector in child, adult and elderly care.

Pat is a very experienced health care professional, with a varied background taking in amongst other things, time as an Army nurse and midwife, as an Inspector for CSCI (the predecessor of CQC), and in Care Home management.

An RGN, Natasha, studied as a Nurse at Northumbria University, where she gained a 1^st Class Honours Degree. She spent 7 years at North Tyneside General Hospital in Theatres, A & E and Emergency Medical Admissions departments, and was a Senior Staff Nurse before leaving to join Stanton Lodge as Deputy Manager in 2010, where she has now been promoted to Manager.

Regional Manager for the North East, Colin Inglis, said, "The Huntercombe Group has built a reputation for the quality of treatment provided to people with brain injuries and neurodisabilities, and these new appointments will enhance the strength of our services in the North East, for the benefit of the region.”

Notes to Editors

The Huntercombe Group provides wide-ranging professional treatment in the areas of Mental Health, Acquired Brain Injury and Neurodisabilities, Eating Disorders, Addiction, Learning Disabilities and Children with Special Needs. The overall ethos of the group is to provide creative solutions for complex needs whilst delivering the highest quality of professional and personal care for rehabilitation, recovery and therapy. 

The Huntercombe Group ensures that individuals entrusted to its care are placed in services that are appropriate to their needs, will improve their quality of life and wherever possible, rehabilitate them back into the community.

For more information, visit www.huntercombe.com or contact Andy Leonard, Regional Development Manager on 07876 545846 or email at andy.leonard@fshc.co.uk

“Dedicated” brain-injury rehabilitation team celebrates Headway accolade
Posted March 21st 2012

The care and clinical team at a Kent neuro-rehabilitation unit run by The Huntercombe Group has celebrated gaining ‘Approved Provider’ accreditation by the UK’s leading brain-injury charity.

Hothfield Manor Acquired Brain Injury Centre’s 22-bed neuro-rehabilitation unit, near Ashford, is for patients who have suffered serious brain-injury caused by major trauma as a result of illness or accidents.

The prestigious Approved Provider status from the Headway charity means the service is acknowledged as a high-quality specialist rehabilitation and care provider for brain-injury patients with complex physical and cognitive impairment.

To mark the accolade, Government Minister and Ashford MP, Damian Green, visited the unit on the day its staff received the approved provider certificate from Headway.

Mr Green said: "I am delighted to see what a first-rate facility we have in this area for those with acquired brain-injury. The need for quick rehabilitation is key and at Hothfield it is available through some of the most modern treatment areas. We are lucky to have this in the Ashford area."

Headway’s Caroline Prosser praised the neuro-rehabilitation team for its person-centred approach.“The dedicated team at the unit evidently takes great pride in devising detailed care plans to meet the needs of each individual client,” she said.

“Their ‘can do’ attitude and enthusiasm is a major strength. We are pleased that Hothfield Manor has become the latest specialist brain injury unit to receive Headway Approved Provider status.”

The unit’s manager, Rob Bunting, said the Headway accreditation is recognition that the region’s brain-injury patients will receive the best rehabilitation available.

He said: “We provide the person-centred clinical and nursing rehabilitation expertise, therapies and activities to help them make a good recovery so they can manage their lives better and hopefully return home or to a community setting.

“Above all else, this Headway accreditation is all down to the excellent work of our therapy and nursing staff.”

The Huntercombe Group’s most recent other brain-injury service to gain Approved Provider status from Headway wasFrenchay Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre, in Bristol.

Only services complying with the standards and assessment criteria identified by Headway receive the accreditation, and are included in Headway’s ‘Directory of Approved Providers’ for use by families and professionals.

Headway accreditation lasts for two years and includes an unannounced inspection during this time.

More details on Hothfield Manor Acquired Brain Injury Centre, including the neuro-rehabilitation unit

http://www.huntercombe.com/centre/hothfield-manor-acquired-brain-injury-centre/

Headway:www.headway.org.uk

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Photo details

Left to right standing: Rikki Gandolf, Southeast Regional Co-ordinator of Headway; Damian Green, MP Ashford; Rob Bunting, Hothfield Centre Manager; Susan Baker, Hothfield Speech and Language Therapist; Tanya Hodnett, Senior Centre Manager Southeast, The Huntercombe Group.

Left to right seated: Kathryn Coade, previous Hothfield client; Margaret Bush, Hothfield Lead Nurse

Early intervention vital for eating disorders, writes Huntercombe consultant psychiatrist
Posted March 21st 2012

Consultant psychiatrist Dr Agnes Ayton has emphasised the importance of early diagnosis and intervention of eating disorders.

In an in-depth feature for Mental Health Today magazine, Dr Ayton, who works at Huntercombe Hospital Stafford’s Wedgewood Unit, argued that early detection of eating disorders was vital to prevent “devastating effects on young people’s quality of life and physical health.”

In her in-depth four-page feature, Dr Ayton wrote: “With increasing numbers of younger children receiving treatment for eating disorders, it is clear that recognising and treating eating disorders is key to preventing them developing into more serious and potentially life-threatening illnesses.”

Dr Ayton, one of the UK’s leading eating disorders clinicians, warned that “as healthy eating and dieting have become part of normal life, the risks of taking it to extreme are easily overlooked. However, in some vulnerable young people, dieting can get out of control and lead to anorexia nervosa.”

Dr Ayton’s feature, entitled ‘Dying To Be Thin’, summarised international research on eating disorders treatment. It had previously appeared in the November 2011 edition of School Health magazine.

Dr Ayton has more than 25 years of clinical experience. Her acclaimed book, Anorexia Nervosa: Hope for Recovery, was published last year, and was written for carers and patients to understand and recover from the illness.

In February, Dr Ayton was also interviewed by Heart FM West Midlands radio for a news item on Eating Disorders Awareness Week.

See also: Media coverage in the Worcester News on Huntercombe Hospital Cotswold Spa’s innovative intensive eight-week treatment programme for young people with eating disorders.http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/features/jamesconnell/9574125.It___s_our_mission_to_help_anorexics_battle_illness/

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* PDF of Dr Agnes Ayton’s Mental Health Today feature, ‘Dying to be thin’ - Download from: http://huntercombe.com/binary/dnGa.pdf

* Dr Agnes Ayton: Anorexia Nervosa: Hope for Recovery http://www.amazon.co.uk/Anorexia-Nervosa-Recovery-Nutritional-Understand/dp/1905140096/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1