A momentous day at Windsor Castle
Earlier this week, I posted that I was due to go to Windsor Castle for a reception hosted by the King and Queen.
I wanted to ensure that I shared insight which was grounded in the depth of experience of our frontline teams at Elizabeth Finn Homes, if I had the chance to speak to anyone with influence.
In the end, I was delighted to shake hands with His Majesty The King, he was however quite in demand and we didn’t really get to chat.
However, early in the evening Prime Minister Keir Starmer came over to say hello.
I shared that I had wanted to represent my team properly, so had sought their views via emails and two brainstorm sessions.
I explained that the teams had shared five key insights. Sir Keir was very keen to hear them, even returning to me when we were interrupted half-way. He said these things were so useful to hear, at which point I worried I wasn’t doing them justice so pulled out my briefing notes, which he promptly pocketed!
These were not policy points, not jargon, not political, they were just heartfelt, thoughtful reflections about the humanity, complexity, and privilege of working in care homes. Perhaps that’s exactly what policy makers need to hear.
I’m absolutely delighted therefore to have, unexpectedly, hand-delivered the words of our team to the Prime Minister!
I also got to tell him that 1 in 12 working women work in social care, a statistic he’d never heard before, and my belief that we must get employment right for them, because they prop up not just our sector, but our society.
The rest of the evening was equally wonderful, meeting care sector professionals from across the UK, and enjoying conversations with HRH Duchess of Gloucester (the wonderful Royal Patron of both Elizabeth Finn Homes and our owner charity Turn2us), HRH the Duchess of Edinburgh, (Patron when I worked at Fight for Sight), Rory Stewart, Care Minister Stephen Kinnock and the really impressive Coleen Rooney, who shared her personal experiences of delivering and receiving care.
With big gratitude for the invitation to my wonderful colleagues from the amazing Care England Board, Professor Martin Green, Angela Boxall and Rebecca Cresswell. Here’s a picture of Angela and I in the beautiful grounds after the event.
