Bindu, our Care Home Manager at Oakwood Court tells us about her career as she approaches the end of her first year in her Care Home Manager role.
“I trained as a registered nurse in India where I grew up, and began working for Sussex Housing & Care at Oakwood Court as a bank care assistant in 2008. This gave me flexibility around my other job which worked brilliantly for me while I settled in my new country.
Senior care assistant
Soon, my manager observed my patient and compassionate attitude and my good listening skills and offered me a permanent role as a Senior Care Assistant. I give 100% to everything I do and life is a big learning curve, I grab any opportunity and always try it before I say no. This is how I’ve managed to progress to where I am today.
As a senior care assistant I enjoyed spending time with residents, hearing their life stories and supporting them with daily living. In the background I spent around three hours a week studying for my NVQ Level 3 in Health and Social Care. I particularly enjoyed the responsibility in this senior role of liaising with other health professionals such as GPs, nurses and mental health teams and building a collaborative working relationship with them.
Being trained and trusted to manage the medication round also gave me valuable experience. When administering the medication to residents I took the opportunity to have a friendly one to one conversation with them and I’d often find they’d be looking forward to my arrival! If I’d been off for a few days, my medication round took longer because of all the chit-chat and catching up with them!
Deputy Manager
After five years as a senior care assistant, in 2020 I applied for the Deputy Manager role and was successful. I began studying for my NVQ Level 5 Leadership and Management in Health and Social Care and have enjoyed putting the theory into practice, and being supported by Sussex Housing & Care to continue my professional development.
Care Home Manager
Since March 2021 I have had an exciting time as the Care Home Manager at Oakwood Court. I now lead a team of 37 people and it’s my responsibility to make sure our residents are safe and create a positive relationship with their families. Of course there have been daunting moments taking on this role, but every day I get to boost my confidence and put my experience into practice. I’ve learnt to believe in myself more and with the support of senior managers here, I have a fantastic team around me.
It’s hard to believe sometimes that I’m now the manager! Everything I do I take the experience and learn from it. I will always try to go above and beyond and with this attitude, I believe there’s a career in care for many people.”
If you would like to talk to our team to find out more about our current opportunities please contact us at jobs@sussexhousing.org.uk or visit our vacancies page.
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