Meet Sarah

We caught up with Sarah Millican, Extra Care and Community Manager at Trustcare, to share her career journey – from her early days as a carer through to management, and how Trustcare, a homecare and support provider in Trafford, has supported her along her career path.

What experience/qualifications did you have before you came into the Trustcare business?

When I joined Trustcare, I had my GCSEs and care qualifications gained along my journey. I didn’t have any formal Health and Social Care qualifications.

Can you talk us through your career journey since you joined Trustcare?

I joined Trustcare as a Temporary Scheme Manager, when this post came to an end, I was offered the position of Extra Care Scheme Manager at Newhaven in Timperley.

I have always had a specific interest in care and relished supporting our customers to be able to understand how the social care processes worked to enable them to receive the best care possible. It's here where I built my relationships with the Local Authority, social workers, and discharge lounges.

Whilst at Newhaven, I was offered the opportunity to become Registered Care Manager for our then new care service, Trustcare, which was daunting and very exciting at the same time! Helping to grow Trustcare to being a service people could turn to, no matter if they were the customer, a family member or a friend of the customer, we wanted to make sure that everyone slept peacefully at night knowing that we were taking care of all aspects of their care.

The growth of Trustcare meant that there were other opportunities along the way, which is how I secured the role of Extra Care and Community Manager – in turn, this meant that other members of the team could grow and move up in their own careers.

How has Trustcare supported your career over the years?

Trustcare has enabled me to complete my Level 3 Health and Social Care qualification, which gave me the basics and helped me to come to the decision that this was the sector that I wanted to work in, develop my knowledge and build my relationships.

This led to me completing my Level 5 Leadership and Management in Health and Social Care when I became Registered Care Manager. I had the same tutor for both of my qualifications, and this is the same person that has worked with Trustcare for the past six years, so consistency has been great! I was given the time and space to be able to take the time to really concentrate and as much emphasis was put on my academic work as my practical day to day.

Alongside my qualifications, I have been lucky to have an excellent management team that is very much on board with ensuring that I am supported both in a professional and personal way.

How does Trustcare, in your opinion, differ from other businesses in the care sector?

Trustcare has the reputation of being a service that people can rely on, we are ‘people’ that are known by our customers and not just a voice on the end of the phone, and because of this, we have built longstanding relationships with customers and their families. Our external partners, such as the Local Authority, know that we will go above and beyond when dealing with our mutual customers; they also know that we are extremely knowledgeable about our sector and our main aim is to support them to keep our people safe.

What do you love about your job?

The people! I love both my staff teams and our customers; I get to build relationships daily and see changes that are happening both with them personally and across the Extra Care buildings. I take the time and make an effort to get to know each and every one of our customers so that they feel they can always come to me, no matter what their future issues or concern may be. I will try by hook or by crook to get a resolution for them. There is no better feeling than being able to support someone through a crisis.

How flexible is your role and do you feel supported by Trustcare from a health and wellbeing point of view?

My role is very flexible, every day is completely different. One day can be quiet and then there are days that can be extremely busy because there has been a particular issue that needs immediate attention. I am able to go to my management team when I have a particular issue, I can always get any advice that I need, and I know I can talk scenarios through so that I am reaching the best outcome.

Finally, what skills and personal attributes would you say are suited to a carer role and what advice would you give prospective candidates?

Anybody that wants to work in care needs to be able to see our customers as ‘their people’, they need to treat them like they would want their own grandparents to be treated.

They need to be compassionate and understanding, without judgement, and they need to be able to build trusting relationships whilst working with customers in the most caring way, both physically and emotionally.