Q&A with Head of Social Care Content – Lindsay Rees
WHAT HAVE BEEN THE GREATES CHALLENGES THAT YOU HAVE HAD TO OVERCOME?
“Working in care homes as the COVID-19 crisis hit was the single biggest challenge of my career. Like most care services, the pandemic, which was an unprecedented event in my lifetime, left the care homes that I was supporting short of PPE and overwhelmed by constant changes in government guidance. On top of that, it accentuated and exacerbated difficulties that the sector has faced for years with recruitment, retention and absenteeism.
In the first wave of the pandemic with a lack of staff and resources, we found ourselves scared and powerless, fighting to stop the spread of a virus we knew little about. It was extremely challenging trying to provide high quality care for people who were dying every day, while at the same time desperately trying to support frustrated and anxious families, who were not allowed to visit their loves ones.
As we slowly move into a post-pandemic world, enticing more people to work in the sector, recruiting them and keeping them will be the greatest challenge we face. However, it would be a mistake to say that the social sector is broken. It isn’t. The workforce is highly skilled, but under-paid and under-valued. It has always been my mission to highlight to the world the amazing work they do, and the huge difference they make to the lives of many.”
WHY DID YOU WANT TO JOIN QCS?
“I was a customer at QCS for nearly two years prior to being employed by QCS. I see working for QCS as a unique opportunity to build on my knowledge and experience of operational management in social care and take it to another level. It also gives me an opportunity to utilise my skillset far more extensively, allowing me to channel real-world knowledge into content that has been chosen by over 140,000 users, all of whom consistently provide great person-centred care to those they support.”
AS A PREVIOUS CUSTOMER OF QCS, WHAT DO YOU THINK IS QCS’S GREATEST STRENGTH?
“Before joining QCS in May, I used QCS’s platform extensively in my senior operational roles. In short, from a customer perspective, QCS not only provides frontline staff with the latest policies and procedures 24/7, 365 days a year, it delivers compelling content, written and regularly updated by a team of industry experts. From a managerial point of view, QCS’s high quality content – which is accessible and scalable – enables managers to evidence the fact that staff have read and understood policies. Those, I think are the unique selling points.”
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING TO ACHIEVE NOW YOU ARE IN QCS?
“Having spent 17 years working as senior leader in adult social care, working in a wide range of roles including, registered manager, regional support manager, regional clinical quality manager, head of quality and director of health, I have a deep understanding of the difficulties that registered managers and their staff face every single day. The challenge is to continue to translate that knowledge into powerful and effective policies, procedures and products that enable frontline carers to provide great care.”
WHAT DO YOU DO ON A TYPICAL DAY?
‘’QCS is all about helping care professionals to deliver great care, so it is important to me & QCS that we listen to our customers regularly and see what we can do to help. I interact with customers weekly by supporting our customer experience team with enquires. I also visit customers in person to gain insight into how they use our system. I am keen to hear feedback so we can continuously seek to innovate and develop our product by working with other teams within QCS.
I also enjoy working with our partners frequently because I believe together, we can offer different expertise and services to our customers’’
WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME?
“I love gardening, but due to working in an operational role in the pandemic, this is the first time in quite a while that I have been able to enjoy gardening again. I find it relaxing and like so many people, it gives me a sense of real achievement to see the flowers that I planted earlier in the year blossom.
I also love to play netball. It’s a sport I enjoyed in my youth and I have continued to appreciate as I have got older. During that time, I have introduced my daughter to netball. She shares my passion for the sport, trains several times a week and plays regularly for her local team. Recently, all her hard work came to fruition when was selected to attend county trials. I am so proud of her and go to watch her matches whenever I can.”
