Meet Lucy Hastings: The Heart of Care Coordination at SilverBirch Healthcare

Lucy Hastings is the Care Coordinator at SilverBirch Healthcare, playing a vital role in ensuring seamless and high-quality care for clients. With a keen eye for detail and a deep understanding of the needs of both clients and carers, Lucy is responsible for scheduling visits, managing client care plans, and ensuring that every individual receives the right support at the right time. Her compassionate nature and strong organisational skills make her an invaluable part of the team, helping to create a smooth and efficient care experience. Passionate about making a difference, Lucy takes pride in building trusting relationships with clients and their families, ensuring they feel supported and valued.

About the Role

1. Can you describe your role as a Care Coordinator at SilverBirch Healthcare?

I assign the calls to the carers and try to maintain continuity and order so our customers can have a routine that works for them. It can be challenging at times due to emergencies with clients (i.e they had a fall), carers having care troubles/ sickness. I work with the office to get new carers out to shadow out on the field and help arrange the refresher training/ team meetings.

2. What does a typical day look like for you?

I don’t have many typical days as each day comes with its own challenges, but I could have a new package to allocate, or I could find multiple messages from carers requesting favours regarding their shifts that need to be looked at. I also work on the runs adjusting them as needed and perming them into a regular slot.

3. What are the biggest challenges you face in your role?

There are many challenges when managing people, but I also have to be able to match up customers and carers taking into consideration compatibility of personalities and interests. As well as occasionally personal beliefs to ensure that both customer and carers are happy and comfortable.

4. How do you ensure that care plans meet the individual needs of clients?

Our management team will do an initial assessment for our new customers which forms the basis of the care plan and covers the main points. From there we receive feedback from both carers and the customers over the first few days of care and adjust as we all get to know each other and how we can best work together. As clients are sometimes more cheeky/ reluctant to do things when we ask compared to their family.

5. What qualities do you think are essential for a Care Coordinator?

Huge amounts of patience and to be a people person. Along with this to be a little weird and inventive to help make schedules work when someone goes sick at short notice. A good memory can be helpful regarding who is compatible.

6. How do you work with carers to make sure they feel supported in their roles?

I make sure I am seen to be approachable so that they know they can come to me with any problems or requests that they may not want to take directly to the office team if I can Fix it for them on the quiet.  It’s an open secret that I run a side hustle for favours. (or I have perfected pretending to give a shit so that they will come to me to be exploited while still thinking I have done them a huge favour)

7. What steps do you take to handle last-minute changes or emergencies in scheduling?

I run a side hustle and store up favours with carers. It helps in the long run, though we have clients that live close together which means any emergencies are easier to deal with

8. How do you balance the needs of both clients and carers?

I take any feedback I get and use it to monitor how things are going. I also take any concerns I might have to the management team if it needs looking into. Though sometimes we do have to remind both that they are only seeing each other for around 30 minuets with another person there as a buffer when it is an emergency.

Experience & Background

9. What inspired you to work in the care sector?

At first it was the convenience. After having my daughter, I needed flexible hours to work around my husband’s shifts, which being a carer allowed. I then grew to love working in care and helping all the naughty old ones have an extra slice or cake and I didn’t mind if they had bad language as I would laugh with them.

10. How did you get started in the care industry?

I started as a domiciliary carer going house to house. Before I became a field supervisor in a previous company. I worked in the office with Catherine. However when Catherine opened her own company in Kent I lived to far to go with her. Between Catherine opening her own company and me joining SilverBirch I changed companies to go back to being a carer again as I missed it.

11. What led you to join SilverBirch Healthcare?

I joined Silver Birch Having worked for Catherine before over ten years ago, when she was a branch manager at a different company.  In fact our first meeting was me coming into the office asking my then care co-ordinator if she thought I had a helicopter based on the schedule she gave me. Catherine then laughed introduced herself and we all worked together to make my schedule more manageable.

12. What previous experience do you bring to your role?

Having worked extensively in the field I understand the importance of well-planned routes and realistic travel times which matter a great deal to the people expected to work those routes. Along with this I understand that sometimes to get the legal observations done so the field supervisors can do their job I have to make a mess or my rotas for a few hours or a day when we have team meetings. To ensure everyone still gets their care and the office can do the work they need as well.

Personal Connection to Care

13. What do you find most rewarding about working in care?

The reward is knowing that there are vulnerable people out there who have a better quality of life due to the work we at Silver Birch do. Showing love and compassion to the people in our care and giving them choices as well as dignity. I loved when I was a carer and could make them laugh and help them be what they believed was cheeky. Especially if I was taking them for a day out it was always great fun being in the car with them.

14. Have you had any personal experiences that have shaped how you approach your role?

There have been many over the years, some beautiful and some sad, but all of them have taught me that there is always a way to connect with people on a personal level you just have to find it or sometimes earn it just like trust and affection. I know having spoken to friends and loved ones that have family receiving care that isn’t up to the standard we hold it makes me passionate to ensure I help SilverBirch continue the great quality of care we do give to our clients.

15. Can you share a moment where you felt particularly proud of your work?

I have always had a reputation (well earned) for being very good with the worse tempered and sweary customers, one of my favourites had dementia and a somewhat hostile attitude, she had sent the first two carers packing after about ten minutes. Once I got to know her, I realised her anger came from frustration at her failing memory. She had a delightful streak of mischief in her soul. One day we had been for our walk, and I suggested we got a coffee before going home. I steered us to the nearest pub garden and got Beth settled at the table, I grinned and told her to behave herself and not to talk to any strange men which made the two businessmen at the next table giggle and exchange some cheeky banter. Beth was in her element with her dry comebacks and mock disapproval. I went for the coffee but came back with orange juice due to a broken coffee machine. Beth loudly accused me of trying to get her drunk much to the amusement of the neighbouring businessmen. 

I took her home sober and on time and went on my way. When I arrived at my next visit Beth opened the door and grinned and announced in ringing tones ‘It’s you! The naughty one!’ Her son then appeared from the living room to see who was at the door and naughty. Beth proceeded to spin a tale of corruption and debauchery, based on our visit to the pub that would have made a pirate blush, Beth was hoping to get a rise out of me. Instead, I winked at her and expanded on her tale adding my own exaggerations and confirming her claims. After a few minutes of total bewilderment her son realised he was being wound up and it was his mums humour coming through not confusion, we all ended up roaring with laughter.  While I am extremely proud of my mischief causing skills The shining moment for me was that for a few minutes a son was able to reconnect with his mother in pure joy.

SilverBirch Healthcare & Teamwork

16. What makes SilverBirch Healthcare stand out from other care providers?

We have a solid foundation of principles and ethics that we build upon all the time to provide quality affordable care. Along with this Catherine ensures every member in the office understand the goal is to grow with quality care in mind not just to expand. That any care given should be with the mind we would be happy for our family to receive. She definitely puts it across to any carer she interacts with which though isn’t as often as when we were a little smaller, the message is still put across.

17. How would you describe the team culture at SilverBirch?

Our team has a family feel to it; we all take care of each other and pick each other up on a bad day. Catherine wants us to have a good work life balance and prefers us to be honest with how we feel the team is working and, in our roles, then suffer.

18. What do you enjoy most about working here?

I like the warm fuzzy feeling it gives me to know I have contributed to the care of others. Managing to cover everything when it has been a particularly trying week with; new clients put on, sickness, clients having a fall, cars breaking down etc makes me feel very accomplished and proud. It is even nicer when the schedules are covered far enough in advance, I have the opportunity to play with them so they can have better travel time.

Future & Aspirations

19. What are your professional goals within the care industry?

My goal is to help Silver Birch continue to flourish and grow. The long term plan is to expand SilverBirch with more branches and hopefully Catherine will open one closer to me as well. I am excited to do more fun courses maybe on dementia, end of life etc. As I don’t necessarily want to do the professional NVQ’s but I do like to know how to help the clients, so other short ones may be fun.

20. How do you see your role evolving as SilverBirch Healthcare continues to grow?

As we grow, I will be taking an active role in training future care coordinators as the branches become bigger and need the full attention of one devoted care co as I am the only one. I can train them and then move onto the next areas for Catherine. The idea is to hire someone within that area who is familiar with it.