“Variety, but with a purpose”: The role of Regional Support Manager at a glance

Jamie Ashton has worked at Orchard Care Homes for 8 years now; while his roles have shifted and changed, his commitment to excellent care has remained the same. His progression into the role of Regional Support Manager has brought along exciting new opportunities and challenges and we couldn’t wait to find out more about it.

As Regional Support Manager of the North West and Central regions, Jamie has worked across many of our brilliant care homes over the past 18 months. His progression from when he joined Orchard in 2017 as a Clinical Lead at Three Bridges Nursing Home has been spectacular, first becoming a Registered Nurse and then progressing through to the operational management teams.

“I started my career as a Healthcare Assistant and Senior Care Assistant whilst I was studying Nursing at university. During this time, I worked in nearly every job around the care home - domestic, activities, kitchen assistant… I built a real understanding of each of the roles.”

His varied background and extensive skillset mean that Jamie is used to balancing many tasks at once, which is a necessary asset in this role! Jamie told us he wears many different hats (and sometimes a hard hat!) as he moves around the homes. If he’s providing operational support, then he’s making sure the home is running like a ‘well-oiled machine’ and if he’s working on staff development then he’s mentoring and nurturing growth.

“I also work within other areas of support such as crisis navigation (acting as the calm in the storm), quality assurance and innovation and improvement – it’s so varied. If I had to sum up my favourite thing about the role it would be exactly that – variety, but with a purpose.”

Jamie loves the fact he gets to work across multiple sites as it means he gets to witness first-hand the amazing activities we do across all different care types, and he gets to learn from a multitude of experienced team members. He is constantly learning new things and is able to apply them to different challenges he may face.

With a role as exciting as Jamie’s, making time for yourself is important! Jamie told us: “Outside of work, you’ll find me spending time with family and friends, listening to music or enjoying an inspiring podcast. You may also find me travelling around England doing escape rooms as they’re a real passion of mine!”

Even in his free time, Jamie loves a challenge. Jamie’s contributions to Orchard Care Homes over the years have been nothing short of inspiring. He is a real asset and his hard work is appreciated greatly by everyone he works with.

Are you looking for a new, exciting challenge yourself, where you can have excellent opportunities for career progression from day one and make a real difference to people’s lives? Why not take a look at our vacancies today and see where it takes you. You never know which hats you could end up wearing!