Ayr Clinic in Scotland arranged a visit from exotic Alpacas as part of its popular pet therapy practice.
Victoria McInulty, Director of Clinical Services said: “We use lots of innovative techniques at the hospital to benefit patients and encourage positive relationships. Animal therapy has huge success and is very well researched and documented as being positive for both mental and physical health, so we have dog and cat ‘therapets’ that visit regularly.
“It was a really lovely day, the smiles on the patients faces and the excitement was very humbling and reinforces the positive relationships between patients and colleagues.”
Patients also had their photos taken to use to make homemade Christmas cards to send to their families. The hospital is looking forward to having the alpacas back in spring when they will have 3 babies.
Priory are passionate about creating an inclusive culture that allows all colleagues to thrive. This week the Priory People Team in Leicester are raising awareness of diversity and inclusion in the workplace as part of National Inclusion week.
Throughout the week the team are taking part in activities, a quiz, a bake off and a world food themed buffet. Earlier this month colleagues in the office wore the colours of the rainbow to support LGBT+ people across Priory.
Priory Group can offer an ever-growing range of career opportunities and a distinct career development plan through Priory Career Pathways.
Through Priory Career Pathways you can begin a rewarding career in a range of different fields including Healthcare, Education, Adult Care, Therapy, Social Work, Psychology and more.
With over 450 hospitals, education facilities, supported living and care homes, we offer an ever growing range of career opportunities, whatever your area of interest. We also offer flexible part time and bank roles that enable our colleagues to fit work around their day-to-day lives.
The Priory Career Pathways will give you the opportunities to:
To learn more about Priory and the opportunities available, you can explore our Career Pathways website.
Our Healthcare services are recognised for their clinical excellence.
We are the UK’s leading provider of specialist secure mental health services working in partnership with the NHS to provide short, medium and long-term secure care and treatment tailored to the needs of our patients.
We provide Healthcare services through:
Our UK wide network provides assessment, treatment and care for people with mental health-related disorders, complex neurological disorders, learning difficulties and people needing complex care plans to help their recovery.
We pride ourselves on providing the highest standards of care, comfort and support within a safe and homely environment.
We provide community-based residential care and a network of supported living services for adults over the age of 18 with autism, dementia, learning disabilities, mental health conditions, Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) and behaviours that challenge.
We provide Adult Care services through:
By encouraging people to take control and have belief in their potential, we make positive outcomes a reality for everyone, regardless of age or presumed ability. We help individuals develop the skills they need to live as independently as possible and create pathways that support them towards community living.
We strive to provide the highest quality education and care in a safe and positive environment that enables each young person to achieve their potential.
We provide Education and Children’s Services through:
CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services)Our children’s homes across the UK provide specialist care for young people aged 5 to 25 and work alongside over 30 Priory schools and colleges designed to meet the needs of children with complex learning, emotional and behavioural difficulties, autistic spectrum disorders including Asperger’s syndrome and specific learning difficulties associated with dyslexia.
Our teams work hard to equip the young people in our care with the skills to live independently and offer them stimulating and engaging activities that contribute to their physical and mental health.
Helpful (2)
I have been working at Priory Group full-time (More than 5 years)
Pros
- Good career progression if management at site level supportive, which mine when I started were thankfully
- Senior management team made a lot of improvements to the running of the company in a lot of ways in recent years, from Craegmoor to Priory Adult Care
- Satellite services good; HR, admin support etc
- Employee benefits good
- Good governance procedures in place, they have a document for everything
- As a company, always trying to find ways to make improvements and lessons learnt which is reassuring
- Learnt an extensive amount over time I’ve worked in 3 different services from support worker to registered manager in 4 years
- The tasks/roles you are required to do as a manager make you far better as a manager
Cons
- Estates budget needs attention, there are still a lot of services that are in need of extensive refurbs, sends a message that doesn’t align with company values
- Support worker wage not as competitive as it should be across the division, would be a far better investment for the company and improve efficiencies to increase wage/get a better candidate profile that is more competitive
Advice to Management
Not too many complaints, the company, mainly Priory Adult Care, is going in the right direction, have a lot of time for the leadership team in general. Would say it just seems obvious to reduce agency across the company, increase the wage and have a better quality candidate profile, reduces inefficiencies such as sickness, HR issues and everything else if better quality candidates were available, such a better investment surely?
Application
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Priory Group.
Interview
Straightforward interview with friendly people. The questions were what I expected and not too challenging, basically asked to describe my previous work experience and what I thought I could bring to the role.
Interview Questions
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