Meet The Cheltenham & Tewkesbury Team

Joanne Folkes

Managing Director and Registered Care Manager

Joanne joined Caremark Cheltenham and Tewkesbury early in 2018 as Registered Care Manager.

Joanne qualified as a physiotherapist in 2016 and worked at Gloucestershire Royal as an orthopaedic physiotherapist to older people. During this role Joanne worked closely with the Discharge Team and Occupational Therapy, working on discharge and equipment planning, and also carrying out home visits to check her patients were OK.

As this work was very similar to the services Caremark provides, Joanne decided to join Caremark and her experience in patient-facing care has made her a hugely valuable addition to the team.

Her role as Care Manager sees her taking on a range of responsibilities including co-ordinating the care delivered, making sure care assistants and customers have everything they need to liaising with local authorities and care professionals.

Michael Folkes

Director

Michael Folkes is our Managing Director and ultimately responsible for everything that happens at Caremark, ensuring we deliver the very highest quality of care to people we support across Gloucestershire. He is ensuring that Caremark is leading the way when it comes to innovation in homecare, including the use of robot technology.

Michael completed his members grade with the Institute of Leadership in September 2024 showing his commitment to growth and development at Caremark.

Sarah

Registered Operations Manager

Sarah has worked in the care sector for over 20 years and has covered many different roles. Since 2018 she has focussed on management, quality and business development within the sector, and she can’t see herself doing anything else. Sarah loves working in care and gets so much job satisfaction from making sure her customers get the care they deserve.

Sarah recently relocated from London to Gloucester and is enjoying exploring the local area and finding her way around. She is delighted to have joined the Caremark team who have welcomed her with open arms.

Sarah’s Top Tip A piece of advice Sarah was given some time ago and which she uses quite often is “When you feel overwhelmed, take a deep breath and focus on one thing at a time“.

Jessica

Deputy Manager & Field Care Supervisor (Cheltenham and Tewkesbury)

Jessica started as a Care Assistant and quickly progressed through the ranks, becoming a Field Care Supervisor and now a Care Coordinator. Jessica is dedicated to delivering the highest standards of care and support with high levels of passion for the work she does and is firmly aligned with our company values of kindness and support for our team and customers.

Katie

Care Coordinator

Katie started at Caremark as a home care assistant before being promoted to the position of Field Care Supervisor and now a Care Coordinator, ensuring our customers have the right care package to meet their needs and co-ordinating staff to ensure that care is delivered as per individualised care plans.  Katie is an amazing care coordinator and demonstrates her ability to support our customers and the team every day.

Jade

Care Coordinator

Jade joined us in March 2024 and has experience as a care coordinator in a previous role.

Jade has worked in the care industry for most of her adult life and attended Cornwall College and Plymouth University to further her knowledge in health and social care.

The role of care coordinator suits Jade perfectly as she loves to help people. She really enjoys working as part of the fast-moving environment and says the office team are really kind and caring and great to work with.

Jade’s Top Tip “Bring chocolate into the office regularly and promote independence with your customers.”

Frances

Business Development and Events Co-ordinator

Frances Frances joined the Caremark team in April 2024 as Business Development and Events Coordinator.

Frances has qualified teacher status (QTS) specialising in supporting children with special educational needs. Her previous role was that of a Teaching Assistant where she assisted children if they needed additional support in the classroom.

Prior to the Teaching Assistant role, Frances was the Assistant Headteacher at Alderman Knight School in Tewkesbury.

Frances’ Top Tip “Always take the time to get to know your customers, everyone is different. This is even more important when dealing with customers who have a learning disability. Never assume that you know what’s best for your customer; listen carefully to what they are telling you, check to make sure that you have understood them correctly and that they are happy.”

Bethan

Field Care Supervisor

Beth joined Caremark in 2019 as a Care Support Worker having worked in retail since 2017. As soon as she met her first customer on her first day of shadowing, she knew she had made the right decision and that she wanted to work in care.

Fast forward a few years, Beth returned to work for Caremark following a career break to have her family. She was offered the position of Field Care Supervisor.

Beth was really excited to take on this role as it gave her the opportunity to be involved in more of the care planning aspects of individual customers care.

Beth’s Top Tip “My advice for any carers would be to try and make each visit they attend the best visit the customer will have that day and to treat every customer how they would like a family member to be treated.”

Rachel

Field Care Supervisor

Prior to working for Caremark, Rachel, a busy mum of 5 cared for some family members. Unfortunately, that came to an end when they sadly passed away.

However, Rachel still craved that sense of purpose that caring had given her, so she joined Caremark in April 2022 as a Care Support Worker. This was a role that she absolutely fell in love with and in particular the great relationships she built with her customers.

Rachel decided she wanted to progress within the company, and when the position of Field Care Supervisor became available, she jumped at the chance. She was delighted when Mike and Jo felt she would be an amazing choice.

Rachel’s Top Tip “Always try to stay calm and be patient. Providing a listening ear and a cuppa ‘just how the customer likes it’ is usually a good conversation starter.”