Meet Rebecca Histed-Lince – Quality Support Manager

Quality support manager Rebecca Histed-Lince is the newest addition to Canford Healthcare’s quality team.
Led by Amanda Rae, head of quality & compliance, the quality team is responsible for ensuring that our 11 homes comply with internal and industry-recognised care quality standards, meet their operational, compliance and business objectives and achieve high quality standards, in line with company and CQC policies.

The quality support manager role is a new one, and Rebecca is working with Amanda and the rest of the team to develop and implement robust quality assurance and management systems and processes, ensuring that an effective framework of clinical governance and quality care is imbedded across the organisation.

Rebecca was introduced to the care business at a young age. Her father, a painter and decorator turned property developer/entrepreneur, owned several residential care homes in Kent. During the 1980s, it was quite common to buy up care homes and operate them with the help of a dedicated registered manager, or convert them into flats. Rebecca’s family ran the homes for over two decades, eventually selling them all off, apart from Beulah Lodge in Tunbridge Wells.

Rebecca says: “Beulah Lodge was always a part of my life growing up. My grandparents lived in the home and I would visit them each week.”

After leaving school she initially chose not to follow her family into care, but gained secretarial qualifications and went to work for a local firm of solicitors. A couple of years later, as an experienced legal secretary, she moved to an international law firm in London where she met her husband-to-be, Robin. Other roles followed, including a spell as a legal assistant in the insurance team of a corporate law firm near St Paul’s Cathedral. Here, Rebecca regularly attended listing appointments before the judge and took notes. She spent a great deal of time in the impressive Royal Courts of Justice where she memorably once saw Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in a car. “It was a very special moment,” she recalls. “There was no-one else around, and for a fleeting moment our eyes met.”

Rebecca and Robin married in 2005, and when their first child Olivia (now 17) came along two years later, Rebecca finally entered the family care business. “I wanted to scale back on working while Olivia was little and Dad offered me some work at Beulah Lodge. I was originally going to do a bit of office work but, somehow, I soon ended up as operations manager!” she explains.

This was a challenging role from the start. Her first major task was to move the home over from being paper based to being fully computerized, something that was initially unpopular with staff. When the registered manager left in 2011, Rebecca took over the role which she performed while studying for a Level 4 in Management in Care through the Chartered Management Institute.

“The home and our residents were my passion and I gained a wealth of valuable experience. My expertise grew with real life experiences and problem solving,” she says “But it didn’t feel like work at all. I think if you enjoy something you’ll never do a day’s work in your life!”

During her years as manager and, later, director and nominated individual, the 20-bed home went from strength to strength. Its care was rated by CQC as ‘outstanding’, turnover tripled and thanks to canny reinvestment, the home was refurbished throughout.

By the time she sold the home in 2022, Rebecca had already spent 15 years in the care sector. She was determined that in her next job she would help care homes navigate some of the challenges that she had encountered in her previous roles.

Rebecca is enjoying her new role here at Canford Healthcare. “I enjoy working as part of a team and love meeting the staff and the residents. It’s great to hear their stories. I also believe very strongly that quality is everyone’s responsibility, and hope that I can support the company in its passion for delivering outstanding care,” she says.

Away from work Rebecca spends time with Robin and their children Olivia and Austin, now 14. She likes travelling, going to the gym and walking the family dog, Rory. She’s also a self-confessed shopaholic with a passion for luxurious spas and hotels!