Your Career and Barchester

Barchester and You

Each care home in our extensive network is a success story. This is largely due to our teams of enthusiastic care professionals and their associates: working at Barchester is a team effort. We are unique in our structure, as our core staff rely on the contributions of many different specialist areas to make residents' care a positive experience.

This - teamwork - is one of the reasons that Barchester Healthcare has achieved 'Hospitality Assured' status, which is the industry standard for service and business excellence in hospitality. It is the only standard within the hospitality industry that focuses on the customer experience; achieving that standard is only possible with an amazing team of people, working together.

In addition to the healthcare professionals you would expect to find in this environment, for residents with particular needs, we consider a number of 'background' resources to be equally important. General property services, interior design services, hospitality, learning and development co-ordinators, health and safety experts, IT services, gardening expertise… we believe that by working as a team, and bringing in the best possible personnel available, we can offer the best possible levels of care.

This does not mean that our people always come from long previous careers working exclusively in the care sector. Some of our most positive, progressive contributions to the on-going success of Barchester Healthcare have come from the enthusiastic, dynamic people we recruit from outside the industry. A vocation for contributing positively to the care of others is vital, yes, but there are areas of our operation in which alternative previous career experience is considered to be equally as valuable.

We have an Academy of Excellence, which will harness your natural aptitude for personal development and the care of others - no matter which role you are undertaking while working with us. The Academy, and associated learning programmes, will expand both your knowledge - and your potential to grow as a vital part of our ongoing success.

We actively encourage the acquisition of NVQs in appropriate subjects; our training courses in-house and seminars are tailored to accommodate the future potential of our employees as well as their current needs - continuous professional development means that we work better together, for the benefit of everyone.

For example, people with all levels of experience are welcome to apply for positions within our catering departments: from apprentice to master chef. Through the Barchester Chef Academy, they will then add to their knowledge of nutrition, special diets, presentation, cooking techniques - and many other areas of skilled culinary expertise.