Meet Ajeesh Thomas, Senior Care Coordinator – Ebury Court Care Home

As a boy in India, Ajeesh Thomas wanted to be a teacher. In 2005, he was 23, a qualified accountant, with a lucrative career ahead of him. However, that year he felt deeply that something was missing. He came to London in search of a new life and answered a profound sense of vocation to work in care. Ajeesh found a job at Ebury Court care home in Rush Green in Havering, where he has worked ever since, committing himself to improving the well-being of its residents.

As he has worked with his colleagues to improve the care home, so he has thrown himself into self-improvement. He has earned a Level 3 diploma in palliative care, one at Level 4 in health and social care and a Level 5 Diploma in leadership and management. Today, Ajeesh has a huge range of responsibilities in the care home, and he has become the teacher that he wanted to be as a boy. He trains, coaches and supports staff across the home. Like all the best teachers, he remains an avid learner, liaising closely with district nurses, GPs and listening acutely to what they say. He loves to learn about the health of his residents, but over time, that learning has brought frustration. Ajeesh could see how the excellent care they received could be even better.

As for so many care staff, 2020 was a gruelling year for Ajeesh. He lived apart from his own family – even as they coped with sickness – thinking constantly of both of them and of his residents. If his mind was not made up already, COVID-19 made him certain – Ajeesh wanted to be a clinician. However, he is hugely committed to Ebury Court, where he has worked and flourished for so many years. This was the dilemma facing him – choose between your residents and colleagues in the care home and an apprenticeship at the local hospital.

Thanks to the Apprentice Nurse Associate Programme, Ajeesh has been able to do both – to become an Apprentice Nursing Associate without leaving Ebury Court.

Excerpt from A Healthy Living – Four Stories from the future of Care