Tracey celebrates a lifetime in care at The Hillings in St Neots

The team at The Hillings care home in St Neots, Cambridgeshire are all supporting their home manager Tracey Morris as she has been shortlisted for the Lifetime Achievement in Care Award at this year’s National Care Awards.

Tracey will be going to the awards gala dinner in London on Saturday along with her colleagues from The Hillings and others from Healthcare Homes. The company also has shortlisted finalists in five other categories.

Tracey started work in care as a carer on a Youth Training Scheme (YTS) when she was just 16 – she is now 57. At the time she thought she wanted to work in childcare, however she fell in love with care work and 41 years on is still passionate about what she does.

Tracey first began working at The Hillings in St Neots, in 1983 leaving to have her first daughter and being told as she had back problems that she should not go back to care work. She spent five years working with Mencap caring for people with learning disabilities but then returned to the care home.

Tracey has been a senior carer, head of dementia, deputy manager and home manager over the years celebrating her wedding, four children and eight grandchildren with her team. One of her daughters is a senior carer at The Hillings and another the activity coordinator, the third is a domestic at the home.

“I love the Hillings and my loyalty is to the home – we had one resident who had been here for 17 years and I promised I would stay as long as she did,” said Tracey.

“We are a team, a family and we have our ups and downs, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

On being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018 Tracey continued to work throughout – timing her chemotherapy sessions for days off and weekends, only taking time off when she had surgery. She shared the experience with her residents and staff as she lost all her hair and was taught by an African resident how to style her headscarf coverings. Tracey says working at The Hillings kept her going throughout this difficult period.

“I’m not ready to leave yet,” she said and is busy building new links with the community and looking forward to celebrating the Christmas period with residents and relatives at the popular home.

This lifetime in care is far from over – we can’t wait to see what Tracey will achieve next and keep our fingers crossed for the National Care Awards on November 26^th

The Hillings is part of the Healthcare Homes family of 48 care homes and 11 home care branches. The company has recently been names in the Top 20 care home groups for the seventh year in a row by independent review website carehome.co.uk

The Hillings has a 9.5 out of 10 score on carehome.co.uk and is rated Good by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). To find out more about working at, or living at The Hillings visit our website www.healthcarehomes.co.uk

Pip Rich