Online meetings during covid lead to a new career for Bonnie
A professional relationship which started online during Covid via NHS-run adult social care Teams calls, resulted in dementia specialist Bonnie Frear being offered an interesting new career opportunity she couldn’t resist.
She is now working in the newly-created post of quality assurance manager for the White Care Group which runs three specialist residential and nursing homes in Glastonbury, Shepton Mallet and Taunton.
Bonnie started her career in care as a community psychiatric nurse in 2013, having come late to nursing and qualified as a mature student aged 33.
By that time she was already a mum of two, with an early working life that featured a variety of public-facing roles, including five years serving as a full-time special constable in the unfulfilled hope of joining the mounted police, something she’d wanted because horses had always been a huge part of her life.
After leaving the police service, Bonnie became part of the team that supervised early prison release curfews, however when both her maternal grandparents required more support she spent a lot of time in Cornwall caring for them.
Bonnie said: “It was my grandad who spotted an ad for a home-care assistant and suggested it might suit me. And he was in a good position to recognise that.”
Her initial role involved day-long visits to support a woman with dementia in a way that allowed her to continue living in her own home, and Bonnie immediately loved the work.
After five years in that role, she moved to working in a nursing home for the same company but found this less fulfilling and was inspired to take an ‘access to nursing’ course.
She loved her nurse training and made the most of her student years, acting as university representative for her cohort throughout her course at Plymouth University based at Bridgwater and Taunton College, and becoming the first recipient of the newly established ‘Andy Hagley Memorial Award’ when she graduated in 2013.
There followed two years as a community psychiatric nurse before Bonnie joined a specialist care home in Wellington, Somerset, as their clinical lead for dementia care. A year later she was appointed to deputy manager and stayed in that position until 2023.
It was during Covid, when she was taking an active part in the regular NHS-run adult social care Teams calls, that Bonnie met Philip White of St Benedict’s Nursing Home in Glastonbury.
And when Philip’s family business decided to appoint its first quality assurance manager for St Benedict’s and their other two homes - St Cecilia’s in Shepton Mallet and The Rectory in Taunton – Bonnie was his ideal choice for the position.
Bonnie said: “This has been a massive career change for me, but it’s such a rewarding role.
“I am responsible for overseeing all three homes, for supporting the managers and for helping ensure overall quality, systems compliance, new care planning and observation of governance principles throughout.
“We are entrusted with the wellbeing of sometimes very vulnerable people, and it is genuinely a privilege to be able to support them to live their best lives.
“What is most important in the care sector is having the right attributes: a kind nature, a caring attitude and approach, and the right life skills. Training is importantly, obviously, but much of that can be delivered on-the-job, so when we’re recruiting it’s the underlying personality we’re most interested in.
“Working in care is demanding, but I think it’s one of the most rewarding things you can do: knowing it’s in your hands to deliver the best quality of life for your residents, and enjoying the variety of a working environment where no two days are ever the same.”
