LORETTA’S ROLE   SO, WHAT DOES A TYPICAL DAY LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?     WHAT ARE YOU MOST PASSIONATE ABOUT?
TELL US A BIT ABOUT THE TEAM YOU WORK WITH    HOW DOES YOUR WORK IMPACT ON PATIENTS?    HOW DOES THE SERVICE IMPACT THE TRUSTS?    WHAT DO YOU DO OUTSIDE OF WORK?

Loretta, tell us a bit more about the role of Hospital2Home Operations Manager at Abbott?

As Operations Manager, I am responsible for our Hospital2home service provision across our Maidenhead and Sittingbourne sites, ensuring that patients who use our service receive their enteral feed deliveries on time, to support them in their recovery and the management of their ongoing health.

My key areas of responsibility include recruitment and onboarding of staff, the management of staff training, process, policy and strategy and performance improvement to find ways to continually increase the quality of our service, to ensure that it remains fit for purpose and meets the needs of both our Trusts and patients. 

So, what does a typical day look like for you? 

There isn’t really a ‘typical’ day in my role as such, it is really busy and very varied and that is one of the things that I love about my job. 

I always start my day with an update with my management team to review the key priorities and ensure that there is sufficient cover for the day’s operational activity. 

I actually spend a lot of my time problem-solving. As a patient-led service, there are lots of things that can change really quickly. The great British weather, strikes, local events that impact road closures, staff absence, just to name a few can all impact our service delivery. Some of these are known about in advance and contingency plans can be put in place, but some of them can happen very quickly and a big part of my role is to ensure that we are ready and equipped to respond to any changes quickly to ensure that our patients always receive their feeds on time.

As well as the day-to-day management of our services, I also hold regular meetings throughout the day to discuss service provision from a strategic perspective, especially around training, policies and processes, and continuous improvement. 

A key part of my role is providing direction and mentorship to my team. Ensuring that they are up to date with their training and development is a crucial part of our service delivery and our compliance requirements. In addition to this, I spend a significant amount of time looking ahead at how we can further improve performance across the division — we deliver a great service to our patients, but I am always striving to find a way to further enhance the quality of our services for our patients and Trusts. 

I also work really closely with our Contract Managers, joining them to attend meetings with Trusts to make sure they are happy with the service delivered, providing them with updates on upcoming changes and getting their valuable feedback on our service provision.  

So as you can see, there isn’t such a thing as a typical day, but it mainly consists of a mixture of the above! 

What are you most passionate about in your role at Abbott?

There is so much to like about working here if I’m honest, it is such an amazing company across the board. What we do changes patients’ lives and we make a difference to people worldwide in all sorts of ways. 

My main passion in the role is service delivery — delivering a first-class seamless service, every time. A big part of this, as I mentioned above, is continuous improvement — how can we strive to make the service even better for our patients? It is important to me that we don’t become complacent and can quickly and easily adapt to any challenges, whether planned or unforeseen.

Tell us a bit about the team you work with

My team are really incredible at what they do, and they echo my passion for service delivery. They absolutely want to make a difference and they really care about their role and ensuring that they deliver a great service in an ever-changing landscape. People buy from people and that is what is absolutely key to what we offer — delivering for patients — and we live and breathe it!

How does the work you do have an impact on patients?

For our patients, receiving their feed is essential — it isn’t a ‘nice to have’, it literally can save their lives and is an essential requirement to ensure they stay healthy. What our team does really takes away any worry that they might have about ensuring their feeds will arrive on time and that they have everything they need to assist in their recovery. 

How does the service impact the Trusts?

For the Trusts, if their patients are taken care of, they don’t then have to worry about that patient contacting the dietitian for support or help, because ultimately we have done what we need to do to support the Trusts in delivering their service to patients, and this really does relieve the burden for them.

What do you do outside of work?

I’m a massive gym bunny! Gymming and eating, those are my two main hobbies, and the two things aren’t mutually exclusive — I go to the gym a lot and this allows me to have a passion for food! 

UK-N/A-2300235 | June 2023