Homecare Independent Living is in the spotlight once again due to its recent success at the Women in Business Awards where the company scooped the top prize for Customer Service.
Managing director Mairead Mackle was present to accept the award on behalf of the company. "We're absolutely delighted to have won this award," said Mairead. "Particularly for something so close to our hearts. I genuinely believe our success is due to our unique approach to care and our dedicated staff. Homecare Independent Living has always been social-work-led in how we care for clients, which makes a real difference in how we approach difficult situations. We also enjoy a close relationship with our employees. Not only do we rely on them to apply policy and provide top quality service but also to give feedback on the structure and delivery of our services, based on their experiences."
Since its beginning in 1995, Homecare Independent Living has steadily expanded into becoming the leading private sector supplier and provider of community health and social care in Ireland, blending a unique mix of integrated services including specialised housing and support facilities for young people and families in distress.
Homecare Independent Living also provides services to the elderly, disabled and vulnerable in the community, all within the comfort and familiarity of their own home.
Headquartered in Armagh, Homecare Independent Living now has offices in Belfast, Dundalk, Magherafelt, Ballymena and Sligo and employs more than 1200 professional specialist healthcare practitioners and care workers.
The driving force behind Homecare Independent Living's ethos and vision, Mairead saw the necessity for a specialised care provider through her experience working in the health and social care trusts. A qualified health care professional, her dedication to delivering professional, person-centred health care enabled her to found and develop the diverse range of operating divisions which form Homecare Independent Living. "I believed that if a care provider were able to provide a more complete package - the accommodation, the care and the support - that we could create a service model that not only would be far better suited to meeting the needs of our clients but would also be cost-effective and reduce the strain on the health service.
I'm very happy to say that we did just that and Homecare Independent Living was born. Now here we are nearly 20 years later and we have 357 units of accommodation, 160 fleet vehicles and just this year we've provided over 1,000,000 hours of care to more than 2,500 clients. "This puts us in a unique position to grow our service, maintain top quality training and facilities for our staff and to continue to provide the caring service for which we have now been so generously recognised."
LEFT: Mairead Mackle of Homecare Independent Living is presented with the award for Best Customer Service by Roseann Kelly, chief executive of Women in Business NI, and Kate Oakes of Asda at the third annual Women in Business NI Awards in association with Invest Northern Ireland