Care & Support

Our Care and Support team incorporates our Care and Support Manager, Liz, Quality & Operations Manager, Claire, and Quality Improvement Officer Paula. We are based at Head Office but routinely visit all the services we provide.  

Our team is committed to providing care and support not only to the individuals who use our services but to all staff members. We focus on the wellbeing of our staff and service users, working closely with our Managers, Team leaders and Deputies to ensure that they maintain the knowledge and skills needed to carry out their job role.  

Personalised care is our focus and through our new care planning platform ‘Birdie’ we can assess the individuals needs to provide person specific outcomes. This platform allows real-time information to be shared amongst colleagues and gives reassuring updates to family members through the Birdie family app.  

We work closely with multiple agencies and organisations to ensure that DGMHA is continuously growing and able to provide support to more individuals in the region.  

Our Quality Improvement Officer, Paula, monitors the effectiveness of the overall operations of the service. Focusing on auditing, training and compliance to improve the quality of the services we provide.  

“We will provide the best possible support, in the best way we are able, to adults with mental health conditions across Dumfries and Galloway, we will enable those we support to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives as part of their local communities whilst they are treated with dignity, respect following a person-centred approach.” 

Estates

We are dedicated to providing effective property services for service users with mental health conditions.   We prioritise putting people first and ensuring their well-being is our top priority. Our aim is to create a safe and supportive environment, tailored to the specific needs of individuals facing mental health challenges.

Our team is committed to providing a comprehensive range of services to meet the needs of our service users. From settling into appropriate accommodation to offering ongoing support and experiences, we strive to create a positive and nurturing environment where individuals can thrive.

We believe that everyone deserves safe and suitable housing, regardless of their mental health challenges.

We are fortunate to have dedicated support to address our day to day problems and provide quality solutions to ensure that our properties are well-maintained and functioning properly.

Our Maintenance Person, Ross McKee, has a diverse range of skills and can handle various tasks that would otherwise require outsourcing, which can be costly. By having a maintenance person who can perform tasks such as plumbing, joinery, painting, groundworks and more, we can avoid the expense of hiring specialised tradespeople for small jobs.

Ross’s skills provide valuable support and expertise in preventive maintenance - identifying potential issues, making repairs and suggest improvements to prevent costly problems in the future. This proactive approach helps to ensure the smooth operation of our facilities and reduces the risk of unexpected breakdowns and interruptions.

Finance

Our Finance team is small and operates from our Head Office.

The team is responsible for payroll which we have recently successfully brought back in house from an external payroll bureau, suppliers invoice processing, sales invoicing production for our customers and clients.

Additionally, the usual financial support services both internal and external that you would expect from a Finance Team including the maximisation of income and involving effective and efficient procurement processes to obtain best value in a time of ever rising costs and expenditure pressures.

The team produces financial information for internal use of Managers and Board Members to assist in decision making and external use by our stakeholders including National and Local Government, HMRC and our Auditors and Accountants.

We are always looking to obtain new funding streams and income from new operational activities. We are hoping to develop more capacity to increase funding activity and take advantage of current and future funding opportunities.

Our recent successes include a £60,000 grant from the Castle MacLelland & Kavli Trust for our activities in Castle Douglas and a grant of £10,000 from Inspiring Scotland to improve the Health and Wellbeing of our employees.

We have achieved much over the last few years and there is still more to do as we face the future with confidence.

HR

The Human Resource function with The Association is a vital support service for the care and support we provide within our provisions.  Our staff are our largest asset and we credit them everyday with the support they provide to our service users;  without our dedicated staff teams this would not be possible.  It is extremely important that we recruit, train and retain the best teams possible to ensure our service users receive an excellent support service at all times.

The HR Department is responsible to ensure the Safer Recruitment for Safer Service Guidelines is adhered to during every step of the onboarding process to safeguard our service users and beneficiaries.  We ensure that all new members of staff go through an extensive induction programme to welcome them on their career pathway with DGMHA.  We pride ourselves on promoting our Service Users to be involved in the selection process and our shadow shift opportunities.

With regard to the employee relations aspect of the HR function we ensure our staff’s wellbeing is paramount at all times, our absence figures remain low and that our teams are a stable and have a consistent blend of experienced, qualified and new members of staff.  This ensures our service users receive a consistent yet varied support and which in turn brings fresh ideas ensuring that safeguarding is at the forefront of everything we do.

Staff retention is always on our agenda and we love to hear ideas from our staff teams regarding ways we can consistently improve our workplace and service provisions to enable us to become an employer of choice in the local area; utilising Exit Interviews and holding regular Staff Working Groups which take on board suggestions to inform our policies and benefits going forward.  Our latest policies which have been put forward by our teams and collated and promoted by our Board of Directors include Company Sick Pay and Full Maternity, Paternity and Adoption Leave Allowance. 

HR Department in addition supports the running of the Associations Charity Shop ensuring our external volunteers are also regarded with the highest esteem; we promote our service users joining us for volunteering opportunities within the shop allowing integration opportunities within the local community.  If you would like to know more about volunteering with us at MHA please get in touch!