I’ve been part of Hospital2Home for 9 years now. I started in a coordinator role and worked my way up to the position of team leader, which I’ve been doing for the past 6 years.

There are three team leaders, and each of us manages the workload of our individual teams, overseeing the service-level agreements and ensuring that all tasks are actioned correctly and in a timely manner.

We currently have 20 Hospital2Home Coordinators who serve as the frontline response for Hospital2Home patients. We handle patient communications and queries by telephone and email, including the creation of new orders, changes to orders, and the coordination of deliveries. We are also the key point of contact for pump troubleshooting, so if a patient requires any support in the use or maintenance of their pump equipment, we can walk them through step-by-step to resolve anything they may be having difficulty with.

We work closely with our specialist team, which includes online order processors, new patient callers and GP callers. They operate in tandem with us to action things like prescription requests and will liaise directly with GPs to process any prescription changes as swiftly as possible

Then behind the scenes, we’re all supported by the wider Hospital2Home staff who make up the Admin, Operations, Training and Management teams

We will get a notification from an HCP when a patient is referred to Hospital2Home. This will include the patient’s details and prescription needs so we can register them onto the service. A coordinator will then contact the patient for a welcome call. This is a very important part of the patient journey, as we will go through all the details of the service and answer any questions they might have. We spend as much time on the welcome call as needed to ensure they fully understand and feel confident about the Hospital2Home service before the call ends. We’re their first point of contact, at a time when they may feel a bit anxious or uncertain, so we want them to be fully assured right from the start

After that initial call, we continue working ‘in the background’ to make sure that everything runs smoothly and is as simple and consistent as possible for the patients. We’re here to handle all of their tube feed needs, so they don’t have to worry about it.

I think there’s a strong sense of pride within the team in knowing that what we do makes a real difference for patients and their families. We support a lot of different patients, from new mums with premature babies to older people who may be living on their own. We’re sensitive to their individual situations, and have to be mindful that in many cases, a Hospital2Home coordinator might be the only person that they speak to that day. Sometimes, just having a compassionate conversation with a patient can mean a lot.

It’s incredibly rewarding when we receive positive feedback and gratitude for the support we provide, and we share that within the team. It is always lovely to hear and serves as a big motivator for us all.

When you walk through the Hospital2Home offices, you can see how well the team work together, not just to support patients, but to support each other. It makes me proud to be leading a team that is genuinely committed to going above and beyond to make sure that every individual’s needs are met.