Claudia was already a very well-known face here at Willows before her promotion to home manager. She has worked in the care sector for a number of years and has built up a great deal of valuable experience, beginning as a care assistant and progressing through various other roles before becoming manager.

She is very excited about her new role. One of her main aims is to take Willows to a CQC  Outstanding rating and she has many ideas for how to achieve this, starting with involving residents in everything from the home’s décor to activities and interviews. She’s keen, too, to develop available support for residents with dementia, creating greater opportunities for inter-generational activities and bringing animal therapies into the home.

“I’m passionate about helping residents with dementia to achieve their best quality of life. Part of this is around ensuring that staff are sufficiently well trained in dementia care,” she says. “We’ve also made some adjustments to our dementia unit, in recognition of the fact that residents with dementia don’t observe night and day in the same way that we do. And we’re buying a working phone box, improving the sensory garden and, later in the year, introducing a community tea room.”

Romanian by birth, Claudia grew up in the town of Buzău, 100km north east of the capital Bucharest. Having completed a year of her university studies in tourism, she left Romania to come to the UK. The plan was to stay for six months and earn enough money here to finish her studies, but she never went back! Instead, she met and married husband Barlen and the couple have a daughter, Maria. The lively four-year-old is a great favourite with the residents, many of whom remember her as a tiny baby.

As well as managing the care home (with mentoring support from operations manager Caron Sanders-Crook), Claudia is currently studying for her Level 5 qualification in Health and Social Care and undertaking the Skills for Care for Managers Development Pack. When not working or studying, she loves spending time with her family. Maria is a keen dancer and every evening she and Claudia enjoy dedicated dance time!