Radfield Home Care Shrewsbury & Oswestry

We would like to introduce you to Karen, Operations Manager for Radfield Home Care Shrewsbury and Oswestry. Karen supports, manages, guides and directs the care management team and undertakes business development work in the local communities that the office services.

Karen joined Radfield as an Operations Manager in February 2021 having spent over 35 years within the retail and customer service sector, most recently as a department store manager for a well-known high street store. Alongside this, Karen worked with various different charities, befriending societies, community groups and local care homes, making her best placed to take up the role of Operations Manager.

We would like to introduce you to Lewis Collins, Recruitment & Training Manager at Radfield Home Care Shrewsbury & Oswestry. Lewis is responsible for recruiting our care team. He ensures that all potential Care Professionals are suited for the role and provides a smooth onboarding process for them.

Lewis has a varied background, initially attending the Defence Sixth Form College as an Army Bursar and continuing on the Defence Technical Undergraduate Scheme with the Army Reserve at University until 2012.

Upon leaving University, Lewis was accepted into the A Level accelerated Management programme with a very high profile supermarket chain. He managed a team of 15 colleagues and sometimes the entire store in both the Superstore & Extra formats. He became heavily involved in the recruitment & induction of new colleagues, giving him first experience in recruitment and retention.

Lewis then moved into a recruitment role in the IT & Digital space, going on to work as an Account Manager for a Digital Design Agency in Shrewsbury for 18 months.

During lockdown, after a year of working from home alone - he felt the call to switch to a more ‘people focused’ role. Enter, the social care sector. Lewis worked for a local charity as a support worker with adults with learning disabilities. After 9 months, he spotted the Recruitment & Training Manager role at Radfield Home Care.

“Maintaining my desire to stay in the Social Care sector, with a more Managerial role that would allow me to influence things in a positive way more readily, I applied, interviewed and was accepted. I am also currently undergoing selection to be a Soldier again in the Army Reserve in my spare time, away from work, hoping I can build on my managerial abilities and skills in other areas through that venture.”

Lewis goes on to say:

“The social care sector can be a shock to the system for anyone without previous experience, however, the rewards are massive. There was certainly a desire to stay in the sector, I enjoy making a difference to people’s lives on a daily basis, however small. Knowledge of what I was getting myself into was pretty important for me and helped my transition into a more office based, holistic type management role.”

Before moving into recruitment, Lewis had completed a care certificate during his time as a Support Worker, the same as Care Professionals do at Radfield. He also holds various First Aid & MAPA related certificates. By obtaining these skills, he has developed an understanding of what the Care Professionals on the ground are working with on a daily basis.

“Hopefully my interviewing, onboarding and induction skills will put me in good stead to identify good quality Care Professionals, and make their transition to Radfield as seamless as possible, understanding the challenges in recruitment in the Care sector as a whole.”

We would like to introduce you to Gemma Baugh, Care Manager for Radfield Home Care Shrewsbury and Oswestry. Gemma is responsible for liaising with clients, families and professionals to manage care needs and staff deployment, the creation and management of the rotas for clients and carers, and fundamentally, the safe running of the office.

Gemma explains her path to Care Manager:

“I am a mother of 6 children, all of which are home-educated, and I previously worked as a vending operator filling the machines in hospitals and HMRC offices. I left to take care of my Nan who moved in with me when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. When my Nan passed away, I went into domiciliary care as I wanted to provide care for people’s loved ones as I did with my Nan. I then moved from Telford to Shrewsbury, where I applied to Radfield to be a Care Professional. I have made some great relationships with both the clients and the other Radfield colleagues. Things really took off from there, and I have had the opportunity to work in our branch office, as the Care Coordinator. And recently I have been fortunate to be appointed as the Care Manager, and all the while, undertaking my Level 5 Diploma in Health & Social Care alongside this – so there are plenty of opportunities to progress in the Social Care sector.”

Since joining Radfield as a Care Professional back in April 2022, Gemma’s experience and passion have proved so important:

“I feel I have lots of experience within the sector after working in the care sector for some time both personally with my Nan and with a company like Radfield. I’ve been fortunate to be able to work with a wide range of clients and care professionals, understanding their needs, and trying to build fulfilling relationships to ensure the best care for our people.

I have a passion for giving people the best quality of life they can have to be able to live an in-depth, independent life how they want to, especially after having family members go through difficult times and having some unprofessional experiences with other agencies. I always aim for continuity when coordinating our care, maximising our time with our clients and minimising our travel and waiting times.”

Camilla joined Radfield as a home care assistant and now supports the care team and clients as the role as field coordinator.

Camilla's work involves undertaking regular care reviews and identifying any issues that our clients or carers may be facing and helping them to resolve them in the best way possible.