40 years of expertise at Eaton Court: Anne shares words of wisdom
After several years of volunteering at various hospitals alongside her schoolwork, in September 1984 at the age of just 18, Anne Ruttle began her nurse training. Anne, now Home Manager at Eaton Court Nursing Home in Grimsby, has had her fair share of challenges in life and yet has come out the other side of them wiser, stronger and with a brilliant story of career progression and development. To celebrate her 40 year anniversary in the care industry, Anne has shared some of her wisdom.
From a very young age, Anne was involved in caring for others – even before she began volunteering in her teenage years at Churchill Hospital, Oxford, and Leicester Royal Infirmary as part of attaining her Duke of Edinburgh awards. “My mother was a nurse and we lived in Kenya for a while during my childhood years” said Anne. “At a very young age, I used to help her run vaccination clinics in rural areas”.
Anne was the youngest of eight children and she couldn’t wait to spread her wings and have some more independence, which is why she left to begin her nurse training in Doncaster as soon as she stepped into adulthood. After completing this, she worked in a variety of different nursing roles before beginning to work in care homes in 1997. “I worked as a scrub nurse in theatres and as a nurse in High Dependency and Intensive Care Units which were very different yet equally challenging and rewarding roles. I definitely feel as though my prior experience has contributed to my current skillset and allowed me to truly thrive in the care home industry.”.
With little leadership knowledge at the time, Anne took on her first manager role in 1999 as a live-in manager. Although she took quickly to the role and its challenges, she stepped back from management for a while shortly after while raising her 2 children independently (what a superstar!). “I worked as a night nurse for a while so that I could be at home with my children, then I moved from nights to days, and then I was offered a deputy manager role!” Anne stated. “I agreed, but said I’d like to do my registered manager’s award training so that I could do it properly when the opportunity came back around.”.
After stepping back into the ‘Home Manager’ world, Anne managed 5 different care homes, learning different values and skills at each one. Anne started her role as Home Manager at our fantastic Grimsby nursing home in April 2019, so she also celebrates 5 years at Orchard Care Homes this year! “I had heard of Orchard Care Homes before and their magnificent reputation. I have really enjoyed every minute of the past five years; Eaton Court really is just one big family! Every team member feels valued and heard and that is something really special.”.
Given her years of experience, Anne has many cherished memories. At Eaton Court, she specifically remembers opening the doors again to family members after the first lockdown in 2020 and how special it was for them. When asked for one piece of advice she would give her younger self, Anne said “You’ll never be able to please everyone all of the time, but as long as you stay true to yourself you will be content.”. Thank you, Anne, for sharing your stories and advice with us, and congratulations on your 40 years of expertise!
Eaton Court Nursing Home in Grimsby is warm, welcoming and modern. As one of our 23 amazing award-winning homes, it is rated ‘Good’ by CQC, which is exemplary of the high-quality care provided. Eaton Court also placed second in our ‘Cruise around the World’ culinary competition (read more about that here) thanks to their excellent efforts both in the kitchen and in their activity planning! For more information, call the home on 01472 341846 or take a look at their page on our website.
