Wendy Hawkins is a Brain Injury Case Manager for CA Case Management Ltd. Here she explains how Almond Care helped her to put in place a package of care, on behalf of a client who has a severe brain injury and now needs around the clock care at home.
I provide case management to a lady. My client requires complex care around the clock and her family were desperate to move her from a nursing home to live with them in an adapted family home.
Included in my remit was the challenge to ensure an appropriate high calibre trained and responsive care package to meet the needs of not only my client but her family too.
This, as it turned out, was easier said than done! The first care provider I got in touch with sounded ideal. Then, in the middle of negotiations, the owner of the company went AWOL! Suddenly I was getting no response to my emails and my calls weren’t being returned.
So, I began the process all over again. This time, care provider number two passed all the initial checks but when I asked to meet the nurse with overall responsibility for my client’s care, alarm bells started to ring. As I went through the care plan including equipment provision, the nurse commented that she was “fairly certain she could remember how they all worked!”
Back to the drawing board and this time, following a recommendation from a case management colleague I got in touch with Almond Care. From my initial dealings with the directors, I felt confident that the Almond Care team were aware of the challenges and would be able to provide the package of care required
In fact, Almond Care exceeded my expectations and with the housing adaptations and Almond Care’s nursing and specialist care team in place, my client was finally able to transfer safely from a nursing home to her own home with her family.
The team from Almond Care have been amazing and special mention must go to Justine, the lead nurse specialist. She is highly skilled and has a lovely manner, which is calm and reassuring. She is also a natural leader and has trained the specialist support worker care team so we have a skilled, trained responsive highly professional team.
There have been so many occasions when Justine’s expertise and cool head have averted a crisis.
Having the Almond Care team in place has provided client’s family with peace of mind.
My client receives the best possible complex nursing care in her own home and when, on occasion, she needs to go back into hospital for treatment, the Almond team are by her side – accompanying her to ensure that she receives seamless continuity of care.
