Meet the team

Franchise Owners: Bernadette & Hugo Mills

Since 2012, Bernadette and Hugo’s Bluebird Care franchises have been delivering home care to enable customers to remain in the comfort and familiarity of their own homes. Providing the highest quality of home care and assistance is their absolute goal, and the team would be delighted to hear from anyone who is seeking support, from short daily visits to 24-hr care, for themselves or a loved one, or who would simply like to talk to someone about the services we provide.

Bernadette and Hugo Mills live in the New Forest with their three children and Tess, the dog. Having previously worked in finance in London, the couple decided to live and work locally. Once the children were old enough, Bernadette and Hugo began looking for a business they could run, giving them family flexibility and a bit of a challenge. They were also very aware of the growing local (and national) demand for care at home. Starting their first Bluebird Care franchise in the New Forest in 2012 certainly didn’t disappoint!

Driven by a passion for delivering high-quality care, they subsequently opened offices in Southampton (2015), and Totton (2016) and, in 2017, took over the Portsmouth franchise too. Yet it is not their intention to build the biggest care business, but rather to deliver the best service on a local level through staff who genuinely care. A key focus is establishing a joint partnership between all the teams to provide outstanding daily home care and live-in care.

Head of Care: Rachael Benn

Rachael has 34 years experience in the Health and Social Care sector working in hospitals, residential and domiciliary care. Rachael is a Qualified Teacher Status (QTLS), Assessor and Trainer. In her spare time Rachael likes to spend time with her family, loves to read and travel. Rachael is responsible for the overall day to day running of Care Operations across all branches.

Branch Manager, New Forest: Emma Monteith

Emma started her career in care in 2013 and has been with Bluebird Care for eight years. She began as a Care Assistant at Bluebird Care but has since moved up the ranks to become a Registered Care Manager. 

As Emma started as a Care Assistant herself, she knows the ins and outs of all Care Assistant-related and customer issues - and can see from every point of view. Emma is responsible for guiding you through tailoring your care wishes and needs and works very closely with our Care Assistants to ensure you get the best care possible. Whilst her passion is to provide our customers can stay at home as long as possible with the help of either domiciliary care calls or even 24-hour live-in care provision, she has the mandate to run a safe and compliant CQC registered branch.

Emma is experienced with more complex care needs such as PEG feeding, Catheter care, End-of-life care, and Dementia care. She is one of our fully trained Basic Life Skills trainers in the business.

Branch Manager, Ringwood: Kelly Potter

Kelly is the deputy Branch Manager for the Ringwood office. Kelly started her Health Care career as a Care Assistant and worked in various care facilities. She has her QCF level 3 in Social Health Care, moving on to the management level. She is supporting Emma with the running of this little care team.