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Mum of two Bonnie Frear spent five years serving as a special constable and even had ambitions to join the mounted police. But she has turned her back on police work and now is on a care home career path which she calls a ‘privilege’.
She has taken on the fresh challenge of being a quality assurance manager for the White Care Group, which runs three care homes in Glastonbury, Shepton Mallet and Taunton.
The former police officer also has experience supervising early prison release curfews, however when both her grandparents required care she spent a lot of time in Cornwall looking after 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 job 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 loved the work.
Access to nursing course
After five years, she began working in a nursing home and started an ‘access to nursing’ course.
She excelled in her nursing training and became the first recipient of the ‘Andy Hagley Memorial Award’, when she graduated in 2013.
Having qualified as a mature student in nursing at the age of 33, Bonnie spent two years as a community psychiatric nurse before joining a care home in Somerset, as their clinical lead for dementia care.
A year later she was appointed to deputy manager.
Bonnie says: “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.”
It was her participation in online NHS-led meetings during the Covid-19 pandemic that resulted in the dementia specialist being offered a new career opportunity she couldn’t resist.
‘It’s such a rewarding role’
During the pandemic, she was taking part in NHS-run adult social care Teams calls and met Philip White of St Benedict’s Nursing Home in Glastonbury.
When the nursing home appointed its first quality assurance manager it was Bonnie who secured the job.
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.”
“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.”
