A Newport based care recruitment company, Ultra Care Health Professionals, has taken the level of support it provides its clients into its approach with its workforce, by driving each staff member to and from their shift, ensuring travel costs are not an issue for their staff.

Set up by husband and wife team Albert and Georgina Chidembo, and supported by Business Wales, the Welsh Government’s business support programme, the company, which was launched this Summer, already has nearly fifty staff, both health care assistants and registered nurses, supporting nursing and residential homes. It is active across Newport, Bridgend, Pontypool, Penarth, Cardiff and Cwmbran with plans to enter Bridgend and Swansea soon. However, it’s the level of thought given to their staff which also helps set them apart from other care providers as Albert explains:

“We recognise that travel costs can be very prohibitive for staff and we wanted to provide as much support as possible. We therefore decided from the very outset that we would drive our staff to and from their shift, eliminating travel costs and ensuring our service to our clients is even stronger. We hope to employ a driver very soon to take on this role.

“We also provide free training to our staff, opportunities for new staff to shadow other team members who are more experienced, and importantly, place our staff where Georgina and I have worked, so we know the culture of each home very well and can relay this to our team.”

The desire to help people as much as possible is firmly rooted in Albert and Georgina’s backgrounds. Albert also works in education with kids from across Newport as part of the Aspire project, helping young people who are unable to engage with mainstream education. Georgina has over twenty years’ experience of working in the nursing / care sector and takes a very hand-on approach with all their staff. Georgina is completing her criminology degree as well as working in the office.

The company has plans to enter the support work sector in the near future and is receiving training from Business Wales on tendering, allowing them to target bigger contracts. This reinforces support already received in HR and social media strategy.

Business Wales, which is funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government, supports the sustainable growth of small and medium-size enterprises across the country by offering access to information, guidance and business support.