Job Searching - Part 2

Induction - the most important part of a persons introduction to a new position, in particular for those in a senior position. Well it didn't happen. On my first day I was greeted at my new care home by the CEO, a nice gesture, but by the time he arrived I had already been at the home for well over an hour, he knew only a few of the staff by name, less of the residents by name, didn't actually know the layout of the home or any of the important things like routines, policies and procedures (there will be a whole section on this!) nor did he know any of the paperwork required by the company he is CEO of!!!! ................................ Scary.

Well as an old cowboy actor once said, 'A man has to do what a man has to do!' I had made my bed and now I had to lie in it. Far from being the home that was running smoothly I found a home that had staffing issues, where care plans were archaic, assessments were not being completed, where a senior was effectively running the home, even though there was a deputy manager, the staff appraisals hadn't been completed in some case for years, and all the files both residents and staff needed to be rebuilt. I believe strongly in, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' but this was so broke I was wondering what had actually been going on from the Care Services Manager, who should have been conducting regular visits called Regulation 26 visits, which are a legal requirement, and should have picked up what I was discovering within a few days.

As a migraine sufferer I started to get headaches on a regular basis, and I was also starting to get less sleep at nights. Where the hell do you start? All this from a large company who also had a charitable status from the inland revenue, although exempt from being registered with the charities commission. I had only been at the home at most a few days, but every drawer I opened showed a new problem, every file I opened showed a new problem, the documents on the computer were in a complete mess, not in nice organised folders. My hair which up until this point had been still showing very little signs of grey, I could almost feel turning grey everytime I looked at something new and found yet another flaw or error, I had also begun to suspect that some of the assessments that had been 'reviewed' had in fact just been signed off.

It was almost impossible to create a plan of action, because everything was so flawed, and to top it off the computer system in the home was crashing almost every day, wasn't networked, and every one seemed to be using differing versions of files.

To be continued................................
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Job Searching - Part 1

This particular blog will be about my searches for a new position within the care sector in England. I am currently very unhappy in my present role and I feel that this affecting the way in which I ensure that care of the highest level is delivered by staff I manage, it also doesn't help when the backing from head office is at best patchy and lacking in knowledge.

So I took up a position as care manager on 2nd January 2008, what a mistake, but no one else to blame, only me. I was or infact had, turned down the position I had been offered, something didn't feel right. I got persuaded to visit the home where I was met by the then Care Services Manager who spent 4 hours persuading me that I was made for the home and that the home was running so smoothly that I would just be able to slide in.

What a smooth talker this Care Services Manager was. I took the job and on my first day the warning bells started to ring faintly in the back of my head. The Care Services Manager herself was off on long term sick with stress, she had fallen out with the Chief Executive Officer of the company to boot as well.

So as a result of this I had no induction into the company I was working for, and when I started to look beneath the surface, the home and indeed the company were actually under functioning at a level I couldn't believe. What had I fallen into? Trepedation started from day one, and to top it off I had a smug wife at home who looked at me smiled and said, 'I told you so, I told not to take that job, you were better off where you were', thanks babe, but it was what I deserved.

To be continued...............................
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