Lucy Anderson graduated from Birmingham City University with a degree in Speech and Language Therapy. After working at ASDA and the logistics company TNT she wanted to get back into the Health and Social Care sector and joined CHS Healthcare in 2014 as an administrator on the Burton Hospital scheme. In this role she supported the discharge team to place clients into care homes and began supporting clients to return home with packages of care. Lucy moved to Head Office at Sutton Coldfield where she continued to support and increase the package of care placements, which now has a dedicated team of advisors. In June 2019, Lucy was given the opportunity to work from home as an East Midlands advisor, supporting families and clients to source appropriate care home placements for long-term and respite placements.
Read Lucy’s account of a typical day as a CHS Placement Advisor:
I check reminders and prioritise my cases. I gain updates on cases and liaise with ward staff and families with home research, assessment outcomes and information of when the client can be discharge to the home.
New referrals can be made to me throughout the day. This is a priority to research and present suitable homes to families. I revisit research for other cases that need further research completing and liaise with the families to arrange viewings and/or assessments.
I pick up families to provide transport to the home or meet them at the home to view. This can be during the day or in the evenings and weekends too, to support families around their working life. At the homes I ask questions the family may not have thought of or not want to ask; for example, about the CQC report, to help their decision making. This is often the family’s first experience of visiting a care home too, which can be daunting, so it’s nice to be able to provide reassurance.
Two days a week I visit my allocated hospitals to offer our services and build rapport with the ward staff. This can be a short visit or if a family member is visiting and want to talk about our service, I spend time at the hospital providing information and offering our support. I also attend ward meetings and patient multi-disciplinary meetings when required.
I research community contacts to promote our service and offer the option of arranging a meeting with our coordinators to see how CHS Healthcare can support their clients. I also contact non-contracted homes and care agencies to advise of our service and see if they would like to join our contracted provider network.
As I work from home, I have the flexibility to plan my own days. I particularly enjoy supporting families and clients to find appropriate care. At a difficult time says it’s nice to know we have a completely free service that can make it easier for families.
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