Shadowing Hazel McGwyne, General Manager at  Woodland Grove Care Home

Rachel Tiff, Head of Marketing at Oakland Care recently spent a day at Woodland Grove Care Home shadowing General Manager, Hazel McGwyne. Rachel wanted to get more insight into the daily running of the care home, the challenges, the needs of the residents, the staff and the daily maintenance of the home.

Rachel wanted to gain further knowledge to help inform her job as Head of Marketing and understand the needs of her colleagues that work on the front line in the care homes.

Rachel accompanied Hazel throughout the day, sitting in on daily tasks such as the 10@10 meeting – a daily meeting and opportunity for all the Heads of Department (Head Chef, Head Housekeeper, Maintenance, Business Administrator, Lifestyles Manager, Heads of Department, Client Relations Manager and Deputy Manager) to discuss the day ahead. This includes the outings and activities for the day, meals, staff sickness, admissions and discharges, maintenance issues, housekeeping requirements, clinical updates and residents’ and care plans.

Speaking about the day, Rachel said: “The day flew by. What struck me the most is that there is so much more that goes on behind the scenes to enable the highest quality care for the residents and the general running of the home, a lot of this is not always visible. These foundations as such, need to be laid to enable the care of the residents.

“From the staffing and training to the maintenance of the home, activities, meals, admissions and discharges, this is all in addition to the clinical care needs of the residents and also the general care needs such as providing comfort, a friendly chat and support to the residents.

“The running of a care home can definitely not be covered in a single day, but it was so insightful to see what really goes on. Every day is different and there are many challenges throughout the day, but all it takes is one little chat from our residents and it all seems worth it for Hazel our General Manager.”

Speaking about her role as General Manager at Woodland Grove, Hazel McGwyne said: “The best thing about my job as General Manager is the residents. It is a pleasure coming to work and being with them, no two days are ever the same and it’s nice to make a difference in the small things you can do for them and to be part of a very large family. It’s very humbling to be able to do this and a privilege.”

Speaking about the most important skills required to be a Care Home Manager, Hazel said “An agile brain is a must as we are spinning lots of plates constantly. You need to be happy to expect the unexpected and know that change is constant, you can have basics in place but every day there will be a change you will need to react to.”

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