As our new regional trainer, Tony works alongside colleagues Sandra Rogers and Roy Langstaffe in the team headed up by Sarita Baxter, Learning & Development Manager.
Tony grew up in Romford, Essex, with his parents and older brother. After leaving school he became an estate agent, working as a negotiator for several years before joining the Essex Police, where he discovered his true vocation as a trainer. Tony spent his days instructing police officers on many vital areas of police work including custody handling, taking DNA, finger printing, GDPR and IT.“
I loved that part of the job, and soon realised that training really is where my heart is,” he says.
After spending 13 years in the police, Tony made the move into domiciliary care, training carers to look after people within their own homes. As well as ensuring that clients received the best possible care, he was responsible for helping the company to prepare for CQC inspections. A care home trainer role in London later followed and then Tony went freelance for a while, specialising in children’s safeguarding. When the pandemic began and freelance work was hard to come by, Tony was employed as a new build trainer for Barchester Healthcare.
Before a new care home opened (there were usually about 10 a year), Tony would spend four weeks onsite providing induction and other training to care, kitchen and housekeeping staff on the Care Certificate, safeguarding, moving and handling and the dining room experience. He also organised more specialist training such as medication, dementia care, laundry and kitchen equipment.
The role could take Tony anywhere in the UK, from Cornwall to Scotland and everywhere in between. “I got used to living out of a suitcase and eating at the Beefeater for 10 months a year for four years!” he says.
Here at Canford Healthcare Tony has a much shorter commute from his home in Kent, as he looks after our London homes – Parkfield, Hampton and Maples.
“The best part of my job is passing on knowledge, so that the people I train can use it to keep our residents safe and make their lives better,” he says.
He also loves chatting with residents. “You can learn a lot more from them than a textbook, especially life skills. That’s the reason why we’ve got one mouth and two ears – we’ll hear and learn more if we talk less!” he says.
With a shorter commute and more evenings and weekends at home, Tony has picked up his former habit of going for frequent 10k and 15k runs. He also enjoys spending quality time and playing football with sons Rupert, 11, and eight-year-old Theodore, who may already be following in their father’s footsteps. “They’re both really good at first aid!” he says, proudly.
Contact us 