Belong Atherton

Award-winning former lead nurse, and support manager, Nicola Johnstone, was promoted to the role of general manager in November 2023.

Starting her career in the care sector in 2003, working for the former CLS group as a domestic assistant, Nicola completed qualifications in health and social care to enable progression to care assistant, senior carer and care team leader roles. Following completion of her BSc in adult nursing at Salford University in 2008, she joined Belong’s newly-opened Atherton village as one of its first nurses; gaining promotion to lead nurse just a year later. In 2014 she also attained a degree in leadership and management with West Cheshire College, which led eventually to her taking on her new role as support manager.

As a leading example of frontline nurses in social care, in 2018, Nicola was invited to Buckingham Palace to meet Prince Charles. She has subsequently helped to guide the Belong Atherton team to achieve platinum status in the Gold Standard Framework, to go with the village’s ‘outstanding’ rating awarded by the CQC.

She is a former ‘Nurse of the Year’ winner at the Wigan and Leigh Hospice Awards, and also a recipient of the ‘End of Life Care Award’ in the Great North West Care Awards.

Jemma was appointed Village Nurse Manager in 2021 and heads up the village nursing team. She is an inspirational leader, who mentors and coaches through positivity, recognising others’ successes and engendering a culture of empowerment. She leads by example, advocating the best experiences for all our customers, including those living with dementia, always seeing the person, not their condition, first.

She originally came to Belong Atherton in 2004 from an NHS background, joining as a support worker. She was quickly impressed with her personal values, person-centred approach to care and her commitment to driving innovation and best practice while giving a personal touch to everyone she encounters.

Jemma completed her nurse training externally in 2019 and then returned to Belong Atherton to begin her career in social care nursing. She has a particular focus on end-of-life care and is the village ‘champion’ for leading training and networking in this area, also acting as the primary link with GPs, and Wigan and Leigh Hospice, a partnership working project helping to embed good practice.

Her ability to promote change and reflect on what has delivered the best outcomes for our customers has resulted in top credentials for Belong Atherton, including an Outstanding CQC rating and Platinum Gold Standards Framework (GSF) for end-of-life care. She is confident, professional, full of enthusiasm and demonstrates person-centred care in all her work.

Gill has worked in the care industry for the over 23 years, starting her career with CLS Care Services, as a Domestic Assistant at Golborne House. Whilst there, Gill progressed to the role of Care Assistant, and then made the move to another CLS Home, Sherwood House, as a Care Team Leader.

Gill then supported the Management Team at Belong Macclesfield for 12 months when it opened in 2007, before moving back to Sherwood House, when her career took a change of direction and she took on the role of Administrator at Belong Wigan when the village opened. Gill enjoyed this role for two years before being promoted to the Front of House Manager role at Belong Atherton, and is now a valuable member of the village management team.

Kim's career within the care industry began over seven years ago, initially working as a private care assistant. She joined the team at Belong Atherton in 2017, as a housekeeping assistant, and has supported all areas throughout the village including household and reception teams.

Since starting at Belong, Kim has been involved in a number of events and fundraising activities such as dressing as Mrs. Clause for the Christmas fair, walking Snowdon Mountain to raise funds for sensory equipment, and much more. This led to her progressing to the role of Experience Days Support Worker and she has since been promoted to Experience Coordinator. It is this experience, plus the relationships she has built with household residents and apartment tenants, that enables her to understand individuals' needs and understands the importance of delivering a programme of meaningful activities aimed at improving well-being throughout the village.

In her time outside of Belong, Kim is an avid member of the local community and has been involved in running a local Morris dancing troupe for over twelve years.

Lesley has an extensive career history in social care which began in a residential home in Salford, and later as a care assistant for social services for 9 years, before leaving to live in Holland and later Portugal.

On returning to England in 2004, Lesley returned to social care, working at Cornwall Care as a community carer, before progressing within the company and becoming an area manager for two areas of domiciliary care in the area of St Ives and in Falmouth.

Lesley returned back to Manchester, to be nearer to her parents in 2008, and managed a small residential home for people with mental illness before joining Belong, as the Registered Manager for the Belong at Home service in Atherton, in April 2019.