A day in the life of…Oliver Mann, Day Opportunities Older People Lead Manager

Tell us about your role.

“As Older People Lead Manager I am basically responsible for the Older People’s Service at Loughton. That includes managing the day to day running of centre as well as making sure we operate within our budgets, management of the employees and all that entails such as supervisions and one to ones. I am the main point of liaison for most things related to the service.”

What does a typical day look like for you?

“The only part of my day that’s “typical” is the morning part I guess. I arrive at the centre at 7am and open up for the day and getting everything ready and setting up my daily handover notes. The team get in for the day at 8.30 so then we have our morning handovers and do the allocations, medication, go through the activities for the day and reviewing what customers we have in and any information about those individuals that we need to share.

Then from 9am it varies and no two days are the same.

“I get a lot of visitors, from ECL colleagues like facilities and the clinical team, to social workers. I now also accept new referrals into the service, which is new for me as I didn’t do that as a Team Leader. Getting new customers in and also networking with third party organisations in the community to promote the service. I do quite a lot of work with the Alzheimer’s Society.

“I’ve always got projects going on for example, I’ve just redone our activity room and the next step is redoing one of our offices and redecorating our dining room. I’m also always looking a new activities for our customers to do, be that here at the centre or out in the community. I also book people to come into the centre and lead activities such as the therapy dog.

“I am more office-based as Lead Manager than I was as Team Leader as I have more meetings and do more administration like assessments and audits. But I do make a point of still going in and spending time with customers and do still support with the customer-facing side of things, especially where staffing is an issue. I ensure I am very visible at the centre.”

What do you love most about your role?

“I’d say how busy it is and of course the customers. Every day is crazy busy but I flourish in that sort of environment. I love our customers and keep in touch with their families a lot too, it’s so important. They can only get so much from logging onto Moment and seeing notes and a photo. They get so much more peace of mind from having a chat with me in addition to being able to see what’s on Moment. I make sure I am always around if they need to see me or talk to me on the phone.

“I also really enjoy meeting new people. Welcoming new customers and seeing them settle in is great. Seeing the difference that we make to our customers is so rewarding. Being a part of them achieving their personal goals is the best part of this job I think.

“We have a big impact on the lives of the people that come here and when you stop and think about it, it’s an incredible thing to be able to do. We’ve got people that come every day and think of us as family and I’m enormously proud that they like us so much! For some customers we are the people they see most in their week so it’s vital that we make that contact positive and fulfilling.”

Advice to those thinking of a move to day opportunities for older people:

“I’d recommend it to anybody because I love working with older people, but it has its challenges. I’d say you need to have a passion for older people and people living with dementia as you need to have an interest in that customer group to the best job you can. I would recommend shadowing before making a move and I’d welcome anyone to Loughton who wants to job shadow.

“You have to be prepared for everyone wanting your attention at one time, so you need to be able to remain calm when under pressure and be good at prioritising. It can be emotional too; I always say sometimes you need a heart of stone and a stomach of steel as you do have to deal with things that you may not have experienced in other roles.

“It’s hard work, but having a good team makes it enjoyable. A good team is so important, you can bounce off each other which makes the fun times even better and the harder days easier to deal with. I make sure it’s always fun here - there’s always laughter. It’s what the customers want out of it and if we’re having fun and laughing it is infectious and rubs off on the customers.

“There are good opportunities for training and development at ECL. If you want it, the progression is there and you’ll be supported to achieve it. I’m about to start my Health and Social Care Diploma Level 5 which is focused on management in health and social care, I did my dementia level 3 diploma last year as well as the ECL Management Development training.”

Interested in a role in our Recruitment team? Visit our recruitment page! www.ecl.org/careers