Short staff meeting chaired by Mrs Rose (care provision manager) and attended by Maria (night care supervisor) and Peter (caregiver), who is representing his line manager Mr John Perry.

Situation: Mrs Rose welcomes the two staff members to a staff meeting and proceeds to address the agenda, which was provided to all of the attendees prior to the meeting. The three colleagues systematically address the agenda items following a formal meeting process.

Audio: Listen to the audio file here.

Grammar points:

Future continuous tense

Persons: Mrs Rose (care provision manager), Maria (night care supervisor) and Peter (caregiver) Location: The meeting place takes place in the Bridge street nursing home meeting room.

Maria:	Morning Mrs Rose, am I the first to arrive?
Mrs Rose:	Morning Maria. Yes, you are the first but we’re still on time.
Maria:	Are we waiting for John Perry?
Mrs Rose:	Actually John won’t be attending today, something came up at the last minute.
Maria:	Is everything ok?
Mrs Rose:	Yes, it’s nothing to worry about. We’ll be joined by Peter today, he’ll be attending on behalf of John.
Peter:	Good morning both. Did I hear my name?
Mrs Rose:	Morning Peter. I was just explaining to Maria that you’re attending on behalf of John.
Maria:	Morning Peter.
Mrs Rose:	This meeting shouldn’t take too long. We’ll be working to the agenda I sent you both by e-mail. Do you have copies with you?
Peter / Maria:	Yes.
Mrs Rose:	OK, the first thing I want to discuss is the upcoming changes to the laundry service. From March 1st we’ll be changing the company that we use for laundry.
Maria:	Is that because of the recent issues with lost clothing?
Mrs Rose:	Partly, though we had already started discussions with the new company; their prices are better. Of course I’ll be monitoring the quality of the laundry service over the first few weeks.
Maria:	Will you also be monitoring the sorting and returning of resident’s clothing?
Mrs Rose:	Yes, I will, but I don’t think we’ll ever get a completely perfect service. The new laundry company will also collect slightly earlier than the previous company. Can you ensure your staff members are informed that all laundry must be packaged and labelled by 11am each day?
Peter:	Yes, I’ll be meeting our team this afternoon and I’ll be passing on all information from this meeting.
Mrs Rose:	The second item is more related to your team Maria.
Maria:	OK?
Mrs Rose:	While this is not a serious issue, I have received a small number of complaints about the noise levels of staff during the night, as well as some issues about main lights being switched on.
Maria:	Well, my staff need to be active during the night. It’s not just a case of sitting around, there are a range of checks to be carried out.
Mrs Rose:	Yes, I understand that and I have no complaints about the quality of their work. I just want to know if we can reduce noise levels and the use of the main lights. What do you think?
Maria:	I’ve heard a couple of the staff talking a little loudly around some residents’ rooms. I can ask them to be more considerate of sleeping residents.
Mrs Rose:	And the lights?
Maria:	The low-level night lights are not working, so we’ll be using the main hall lights for at least another week. I can’t do anything about that. Maybe you can call the electrician to bring the job forward.
Mrs Rose:	Ah yes, I remember now. I’ll be calling the electrician tomorrow to see if we can get the night lights working sooner.
Maria:	I think that would help.
Mrs Rose:	I’ll be keeping an eye on the noise levels too, so please ensure that situation improves.
Maria:	OK
Mrs Rose:	I’ve had an update on Reg Smith. As you know it was a heart attack he suffered in the gardens. Luckily Peter was on hand to call an ambulance.
Peter:	That’s true, but I did feel a little isolated with him in the garden. Once I was on the phone with the operator I had no way of notifying any other staff.
Mrs Rose:	Yes, I recognise that. I’ve decided that I’ll be reviewing how we monitor residents in the gardens. Do you have any ideas?
Peter:	I did wonder if we might install a surveillance camera and link it back to reception.
Maria:	That sounds like a good idea.
Mrs Rose:	I’ll make a note of that and discuss it at the next managers’ meeting. So finally we have ‘Any Other Business’. Do either of you have anything you want to discuss?
Peter:	Yes, I do. I’ll be taking a group of residents on a trip to a local theatre in two weeks time. There are ten residents going and I need another staff member to attend.
Mrs Rose:	Will you be attending yourself Peter?
Peter:	Yes, I will.
Maria:	If you can give me the dates Peter, I will ask some of my staff. Gail would probably like to attend, as she’ll be transferring to the day care team soon.
Mrs Rose:	Can I suggest that you sort that arrangement out between the two of you?
Peter:	Yes, I’m sure we can.
Mrs Rose:	OK then I think we can conclude the meeting. I will be circulating the minutes of the meeting to all staff, once I’ve prepared them that is.