About
Marianne Ellis, on why we
started
Heartwell
Founder and Director of Care. Fifteen years at the bedside, and one conviction that would not leave her alone.
The first family I ever sat with asked me a question I still think about: “Will someone notice if she has a bad day?”
I spent fifteen years working in nursing homes and hospital wards, and the honest answer, too often, was no. Not because anyone was unkind. Because the day was built around tasks, and there was no room left in it for a person. Bad days went unrecorded, and so did the small good ones.
Heartwell began in 2011 with four caregivers and one rule: we write down what we noticed, and we tell the family. Not vitals alone. That she asked about her sister. That he wanted the window open. Fifteen years on, with more than three hundred families in our care, that rule has not changed, and it is still the hardest one to keep.
What I can promise you is not perfection. It is attention. Someone who knows your mother's name, her routine, and the difference between a quiet afternoon and a worrying one. If that is what you are looking for, I would like to meet you.
Marianne Ellis
Founder & Director of Care
Marianne Ellis
Founder & Director of Care
RN, 15 years in senior care
What we believe
01
Care is a relationship, not a rota
The same two or three caregivers, every week. Continuity is the single thing families tell us matters most, so we protect it before anything else.
02
Independence is the goal, not the obstacle
If someone can still make their own tea, they make their own tea. We assist where help is genuinely needed and step back everywhere else.
03
Families deserve the whole picture
A written note after every visit, good days and difficult ones alike. No family should have to ask twice to know how their parent is doing.
04
Caregivers who are looked after, look after better
Fair hours, paid training, and a supervisor on call. The quality of care a family receives never rises above the quality of the working life behind it.
Fifty-two caregivers, nurses and coordinators work alongside Marianne across London and the South East. Every one of them is directly employed, DBS-checked, and trained in-house.
