A new manager has taken the helm at King’s Manor Care Home, in Ottery St Mary, Devon, with plans to build even more relationships with the community.

Marita Westaway brings a wealth of experience having worked in the care sector for 20 years, latterly as a home manager in Honiton.

As well as bringing fresh energy and seeking to build on successes within the home, she is planning to extend King’s Manor’s tradition of working with the wider community too.

Marita said: “I am so excited to step into this role as care home manager, and as the pandemic restrictions begin to lift, at last, I want to re-establish those relationships and forge and develop new ones too.
“Being a busy, outward-looking, active, and engaged home is so important for us, and by connecting with others and bringing people in, we are also supporting the vibrancy of the brilliant Ottery community of which we’re proud to be a part.”

The care home has long been a supporter of the local business community, forging links with The Silver Otter, a charitable café in Ottery St Mary, where the team has held training events and meetings. Before the pandemic, the home also worked with five businesswomen who used its therapy room to run businesses offering reiki, acupuncture, massage, beauty treatments, and reflexology, while a hearing aid business was based in the home too, after moving out of a shop in the town.

King’s Manor also supports The Ottery Help Scheme, and the local Age UK group, among others.

Marita said: “King’s Manor has worked with so many groups and individuals over the past few years, and that is something we’re determined to keep going as we open a new chapter for the care home because supporting and caring for others is what comes naturally to the fantastic team we have here.”
As lockdown and other restrictions begin to lift, and with a new manager in charge, 2021 looks to be an 'exciting' year for King’s Manor Care Home, a 66-bedded, purpose-built care home in landscaped gardens, that specialises in the provision of nursing, residential and dementia care.