At Care First 24 Ltd we understand the importance of upskilling our care team and offering career progression opportunities. Here to tell you a little more, is our Clinical Manager, Clair Ware.
Clair has been the Clinical Manager for Care First 24 Ltd since February 2023, but prior to that she has had a long-standing career of community nursing in a variety of areas, including her previous role as a Clinical Lead Nurse with another care provider.
We asked Clair about what opportunities are available at Care First 24 Ltd.
Q. So, tell us Clair how did it all begin for you at Care First 24 Ltd, and what do you enjoy most about this role?
I have worked in the community for a number of years now and I really enjoy the role of Clinical Manager. It is a privilege to work with our service users and their families. You get to build relationships and share life experiences with them. Joining Care First 24 Ltd as Clinical Manager was the next step in my career progression and the senior management team have been fantastic to explore my skill set and support me with learning my new role. The most enjoyable part of my role is visiting service users and exploring ways that they can live their lives as independently as possible with our support. I have been able to support service users, along-side their care team, to access the community, take short breaks away and go for days out to places they find fun and enjoyable. I am extremely passionate about making sure that we understand that our service users are the reason WHY we do what we do.
Q. Did you know there would be career progression opportunities with Care First 24 Ltd?
When I joined Care First 24 Ltd, one of the first discissions I had with our Managing Director was about career progression for our care teams. There are several different roles available but because our care teams usually work in service users’ homes, most often one-to-one, we are mindful that the more conventional modes of sharing information about job roles or vacancies such as wallboards or break room chit-chat. That meant that we had to look at how we keep our care teams motivated and empowered to take control of their career progression. The way that we decided to do that was to maintain a presence out there in the community conducting regular clinical supervisions to identify individuals who have the skill and desire to progress within the company.
Q. How do the clinical opportunities come about?
Each package of care requires a compliment of care staff, but the make-up of that team may vary depending on the needs of the service user. We have some teams of care professionals (traditionally care assistants) and support workers, and then we have some service users that require a designated key worker, team lead or Clinical Lead (registered or unregistered) that works in the package of care reporting back to one of the Clinical Lead Nurses, or to me as Clinical Manager. These roles are advertised externally and internally within the company.
Q. Are there many opportunities to access training to help you enhance your knowledge and advance your career at Care First 24 Ltd?
At Care First 24 Ltd we have the luxury of being able to offer clinical training at our Head Office in Westerham. We have a Clinical Educator that can provide virtual training, face-to-face training, and in-house training for service user specific care skills. We also have approved training agencies that we work with that can support with more specialist training externally if this is required. All employees with the company are able to access advice and support regarding training opportunities and are able to access a variety of training as part of their ongoing continuous professional development (CPD).
Q. What would you say to anyone who is looking to join Care First 24 Ltd?
Care First 24 Ltd is a company that will always put ‘Care First’; so, if you have a passion for providing quality care then come and join our team. We are looking for individuals that share our ethos and we welcome anyone who would like to make positive changes to our service users lives.
Q. What can you tell us about the support and guidance you received from your colleagues and managers since joining the team?
It may sound like a cliché but the first thing anyone joining the company will notice is that we operate like a family. When I joined, I felt very welcomed and to this day I can comfortably and confidently spend time with different members of the team. Everyone within the business has a role to play in the team effort of supporting our service users, but also in supporting each other. The Care First 24 Ltd team really do lift each other up. I couldn’t have asked for a more positive and happier place to work.