My Journey at Wigan & Leigh Hospice
Before joining the Practice Development Team here at the Hospice, Marie worked in home care where she worked her way up to being a manager of a residential unit in a care home. However, after being supported by the PDT team in her previous role, she saw an opportunity become available to join the team. Here is her story.
A New Opportunity
“Debbie and Monica from the Hospice in Your Care Home team, as it was known as back then, came into the care home where I used to work and supported us to ensure our residents didn’t need to go into hospital and could stay in a comfortable environment at home when they were reaching the end of their life.
They gave me lots of support and encouragement and their help gave me a passion to do the same for others. I heard about a role becoming available in their team and wanted to apply. It was a difficult decision however my real passion was in palliative and end of life care and found this to be a great opportunity.”
Joining the Practice Development Team
“I was contracted 48 hours when I was working at the care home, but sometimes I was doing 60 hours. Coming here was a big change and switching to Monday – Friday shifts was hard to deal with at the beginning. But now, I think it is the best thing I have ever done. I am a Healthcare Assistant and my main role is providing hands-on training. We do sessions such as clinical skills and I put together induction programmes for all new care staff at care homes, so they can visit the hospice and get a basic background of what they will need to know.
We go out to lots of different settings. We are involved with the drug and alcohol teams, the prison service and the hospital and we now support those with learning disabilities.
If a resident is approaching the end of their life, we go out and be a supportive role model to the care staff and implement best practice strategies to ensure that the patient receives the best care. It gives the care staff confidence that they are doing everything right. Because of my previous role, I do have a great understanding of being in a care home, they’re super busy. I get how hard they work and can understand that side of things which really helps. I enjoy that part, because I get hands on experience, and it is very rewarding. The care home staff are always so grateful when we go out to support them.
Working together
The Practice Development Team is a very supportive team and everyone is treated equally, no matter your job title. I could go to any member of the team and ask for help and they’d help me.
People think that working at the hospice is doom and gloom. People are shocked when we are smiling and are happy – but we need to be! It is a lovely team and I would recommend working at the Hospice to anyone.”
If you would like to join the Hospice team, see our current vacancies here.
Published November 2024