Zwelani Ndlovu - Service Manager

Zwelani is a Registered Nurse and a Registered Social Worker who has worked in the health and social care field for 20 years, starting out as a healthcare assistant before moving into managerial roles.

Zwelani has worked in the NHS with older adults with an acute Dementia diagnosis. She is always conscious of reminiscence and the biographical approach when working with older people. Her passion is for delivering high-quality, empowering, compassionate evidence-based care to residents and their loved ones and promoting their health and independence from admission.

Zwelani works in an empathetic way, taking time to listen, understand and respond to concerns from residents and family members in order to promote good quality of life and well-being until the end of life.

Nokutula (Tully) Gogotya - Deputy Manager

Tully joined Tupwood Gate in November 2009 as registered nurse, she was made deputy manager in December 2021. Tully enjoys providing residents with the support they need to make their lives as enjoyable and as comfortable as possible with the dignity they deserve.

Tully enjoys supporting the staff team and take staff welfare very seriously. The thing she likes most about Tupwood Gate is the teamwork and inclusivity. Everyone is treated with fairness and respect. She says "We feel empowered by Cygnet to step up when we need to."

Carole Paes - Catering Manager

Carole is the catering manager and has worked at Tupwood Gate for 17 years - in this role for 15 years. Carole is a qualified chef and also studied patisserie. She likes to get to know the residents on a personal basis, understanding their like, dislikes and preferences. Tupwood cater for all manner of diets, including diabetic, vegetarian, gluten free and also any religious requirements. Carole looks forward to meeting all new residents and discussing their catering requirements.

Owen Davies - Registered Nurse

Owen has been working at Tupwood Gate Nursing Home since November 2021. Most of his adult life he was employed in manufacturing, Owen studied engineering in the late 70’s and early 80’s. During a St. John First Aid course he was inspired to consider a career change to nursing.

Owen qualified as a nurse in 2014 having studied for a diploma at Surrey University. Initially he was employed in the acute sector before moving into adult rehabilitation and elderly frail care. Having been offered a position as a registered nurse at Tupwood Gate, Owen decided to commence working for Cygnet Health Care.

Owen's favourite part of his role is getting to know the residents and their families really well, something which was not always possible in his previous nursing roles.

When he is not being a nurse Owen enjoys attempting cryptic crosswords, visiting zoos and nature reserves, he has also been trying to learn Spanish for the last 30 years! Owen used to volunteer as a steward at Shakespeare’s Globe in London so theatre is another of his pastimes. Fun fact: Owen's favourite animal is the Asian Short - Clawed Otter.

Rahul Jayadevarajan Rajeev - Health Care Assistant

Rahul is from Kerala in India and has a BSC Nursing qualification from the Royal College of Nursing. He worked as a Registered Nurse for 2.5 years in India and 2 years as an emergency Nurse in the United Arab Emirates.

Rahul joined Tupwood Gate in May 2022 as a health care assistant. He hopes to progress soon to complete the exams required to work as a Registered Nurse in England.

Bobby Valencia - Maintenance Manager

Bobby started working for Tupwood Gate when he came to England from the Philippines in 2003, where he had just graduated as a Registered Nurse. At first he was working as the laundry assistant and then progressed to laundry and housekeeping manager. Dealing with staff allocations and ensuring that the Nursing Home always looked clean and smelled nice.

During his time at Tupwood, Bobby has assisted the staff in many ways, he drives the minibus and collects staff at the train station, assist all departments as and when needed. Bobby was offered the Maintenance Manager position a few years ago and this is his main role now, he deals with general maintenance of the building and garden areas. Bobby enjoys working at Tupwood Gate and the interaction with the staff and residents.