“CARE AT THE HEART OF WHAT WE DO”

Having been a carer for my sister for 10 years, I wanted to become involved in the healthcare sector to support families and clients in similar situations.

Prior to joining CHS Healthcare I worked for Weight Watchers UK as Area Manager, leading a team of 40 consultants.  Working with the public has always been a passion for me to offer care and support when needed.  I joined CHS Healthcare in 2015, based within a hospital environment supporting families with the discharge process.  Since 2017 I have been working with the Midlands Placement team as Senior Administrator supporting families and clients looking for permanent care, packages of care and respite.  Supporting families during these difficult and sometimes stressful times is very important to me.  Families and clients should receive care and support during this time and I am passionate about offering this support and being the “someone they can call”.

Donna Murray is CHS Healthcare Business Manager responsible for contracts and relationships with NHS hospitals across London and the south-east. Donna brings a wealth of senior experience in community healthcare to this role, encompassing a deep understanding of hospital discharge, complex homecare and the management of care services. Donna is the key contact for hospitals and clinical commissioning groups and is focused on developing services to meet their needs and to support the integration of health and social care. Donna has senior management level experience of large scale care services. As registered manager of a Harrow based homecare provider, Donna led a team of 160 carers for 130 clients delivering 3,000 hours of care each week. She has also worked for a service providing continuing healthcare for adults and children with complex needs. In this role, Donna attended commissioner meetings, developed care packages and costs and was responsible for liaison with CCGs across the whole of London.

“I understand health and social care from every angle, having managed community providers (both large scale and complex) and worked very extensively with the NHS, social services and charities. I know, from experience, how critical integration is and that if we communicate and plan care effectively, we can achieve real improvements in the experience of patients and the way the whole system works together.”

Julie leads our longest established care advice, support and co-ordination service, which is free for any individual and their family to use. This is the original service first established in 1995 when our company was founded by GP Dr Richard Newland, who recognised families lacked support and in finding and choosing care. Although many of our services are now NHS funded and operate according to the requirements of NHS commissioners, the original care support and co-ordination service continues to operate in the West and East Midlands and in London. Julie leads a dedicated Midlands team providing free care, support, information and care co-ordination. This may be help choosing a care home or arranging care in your own home including live-in care.

Julie joined CHS Healthcare in October 2014 as co-ordinator of the hospital discharge service commissioned by Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The highly successful service received a visit from NHS Improvement in December 2016 to gather and share best practice. Before joining CHS, Julie’s background was in catering management, holding senior roles responsible for operations, training, performance and compliance, eventually managing more than 200 staff.

“I really enjoy working on this service, which is wholly shaped by the patients and families using the service. They don’t need to be referred; they choose us because we are a longstanding, trusted source of information, advice and support. The service has grown and developed to meet changing needs: increasingly, people are looking for care and support to enable them to stay at home. Because of 20 years of experience, we are well placed to meet the challenges, such as individuals with complex and high levels of needs, or people who are struggling to find care agencies to provide home care where they live.”

I joined CHS Healthcare in 2014. Prior to that I worked for a logistics company, after completing a degree in Speech and Language Therapy.

Since joining CHS Healthcare, I have worked on a hospital scheme, liaising with the discharge team and social services to support families in finding care home placements and packages of care at home for their loved ones.

In my current role, I work directly with families to source the right care for their loved ones. Whether the client requires a domiciliary care package at home or a placement into a residential or nursing home we can support families through the process from start to finish.

I enjoy the fast pace of my role and the communication involved with families and care providers. My role is very rewarding, it is a good feeling to know you have positively helped a family at an often emotional and difficult time.

Melissa Allin joined CHS Healthcare in 2013, initially leading the team at Southampton General Hospital. Building on the success of her very well-regarded team in Southampton, Melissa drove the expansion of CHS services throughout the south coast and south-west, encompassing, Portsmouth, Winchester, Basingstoke, Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole.  As area manager, Melissa is the senior level contact for NHS, local authority and STP commissioners.

Melissa trained at the internationally renowned IBM Global Sales School, achieving advanced qualifications. She also has a BTEC Higher National Certificate in Business. Melissa began her career with Housing 21, a large national not-for-profit provider of care services and housing for people aged 65 and above, working in roles as housing assistant and finance administrator. Melissa then spent ten years with IBM, in a variety of roles focusing on customer relationships and finance, reporting and sales.

“My role for CHS draws on the broad range of skills I’ve built up during my career. My knowledge of the care sector has certainly been valuable and equally important are the reporting, administration and process management skills that were critical at IBM. I am very proud of our teams and the strong reputation we have built up for quality and relationships.”

I have worked for CHS Healthcare for 2 years now the first year being part of a hospital discharge team and the last year has been spent helping families find a care home or package of care for their relatives.

I understand the pressures on families with relatives in hospital and in the community and have empathy when families may be struggling to find care themselves. I started my career outside of the care industry and come from a large family, so my experience is varied and helps me support families in different ways.

Tina Snowdon joined CHS Healthcare in 2015, leading teams across a broad geography: services in London, Norfolk, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey, building the business in the area from two contracts to nine within a period of four years, together with a number of winter support schemes. The teams under Tina’s leadership encompass hospital discharge for all funding groups, discharge to assess and Continuing Healthcare services. As area manager, Tina is the senior level contact for NHS, local authority and STP commissioners.

Tina spent six years with GlaxoSmithKline as a contracts and liaison manager, before moving to Transport for London as customer interface manager for seven years. In this role, Tina was responsible for promoting collaboration between Network Rail and London Underground, developing steering groups to focus on customer experience and managing performance. She holds PRINCE 2 and AMP qualifications, recognised as the benchmarks for project management.

“The core principle, which underpins everything we do, is patient care first. We all take great pride in the work we do and have a strong team ethos, which is vital because there are certainly challenges and pressures. But we know that better care co-ordination is essential for the health and social care system and particularly for each individual patient.”