Since opening its doors in 1994 with just 20 beds, Griffeen Valley Nursing Home has managed to maintain its small community ethos by just expanding to 26 beds over its near 30-year existence.
Griffeen Valley was originally started in 1994 by James & Josephine Foley and later taken over by their children, Anne and Jim Foley. Being family run and with all members of the family involved, Chorale, Anne’s daughter, drew her inspiration from being involved at an early age to take up a vocation in Nursing and qualified as a RGN in 2023. Anne says “Indeed, many people have come to us from the community to take up roles as part of work experience, summer jobs or as young volunteers wanting to help out and have gone on to pursue professional healthcare roles, and we feel we have facilitated that start for a lot of people.
“We have seen hundreds of residents come through our doors over the past 30 years, most from the local area and a lot with relatives living in Lucan or who have newly settled in the area and wish to have their family close by. It makes us feel immensely proud when we look back on all the families that we were able to assist and serve, some at a hugely difficult time in their family’s lives.
“We were involved with Céile Care from the very start. Being the proprietors of a small private nursing home is very difficult, as the private nursing home sector is so niche that the services available specific to address the needs of this type of business simply didn’t exist, or were so generic that they were not fit for purpose. The last 10 years plus have seen a huge shift in how the sector is funded and regulated, these being the reasons that a lot of independent service providers have chosen to exit the sector.
“Without the peer support of other operators in tackling regulatory compliance, a pandemic and then the cost of living crisis” says Jim, “I don’t know how we would have survived without the support of the other operators we have met and become friends with through Céile Care in the last number of years. ”
Last year Céile Care launched Céile Purchasing through Trinity Purchasing, offering discounted prices through hundreds of suppliers and service providers.
“In late 2021 we started getting increase letters from our suppliers all citing the impending Ukraine war, Brexit, and COVID 19 for the spiraling costs. We had been dealing with our wholesaler for almost 30 years and always thought we were getting the best value out there, whether through loyalty or reluctance to change. When I finally let Alan from Trinity Purchasing audit our suppliers in March 2022, I was shocked at the savings that I could make. He was able to save us €8000 – €10000 straight away by switching wholesaler. With just 26 beds, this saving was enormous. He introduced us to our new butcher who was able to provide us with exactly the quantities we required, further saving us money and reducing our waste. We were also able to make a saving by switching our waste collection services and later put us in touch with an Energy broker who provided us with the most competitive rates available and invaluable advice when gas and electricity prices were sky high.
“Being a member of Céile Care has given us confidence in the depth of experience built on tradition and family values our small nursing home has always had, and reinforced our unique position as hands on proprietors to provide a personal commitment for the delivery of quality nurse led and resident-centred care to our community.”
