Working Life: Pamela Fagan

Early morning

I spend most of my time out on site with clients — in nursing homes, hospitals, disability services, or other healthcare organisations.

Health Care Informed provides outsourced managed services for patient safety, quality improvement, and regulatory compliance in health and social care organisations. My team and I start the day’s work on site, dictated by the client’s location.

9am

We kick off with a senior management meeting to agree priorities. We might be focusing on developing a specific area, such as medication management, or infection control.

Alternatively, we could be training staff or doing a full audit of the organisation, to see if there are areas they need to adjust in order to improve patient safety.

10am

We spend a lot of time working directly with the staff — from management to front line doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants, allied health professionals, and support staff.

Those providing the service are best placed to know what needs to be improved.

11am

We always involve residents or patients in the work we do, often by speaking with them directly, or through an advocate.

Particularly in nursing homes, residents have a right to a homely environment, so they need to be consulted on any changes that would impact on that.

1.30pm

I have a quick lunch, usually discussing the morning’s work with the client.

2pm

Education and training is a core part of what we do at HCI. This might relate to a specific topic, such as risk management, care planning, or staff information sessions about the importance of patient safety.

2pm

We spend time reviewing paperwork. To meet the standards, it is important that good records are in place, for example staff files containing details of qualifications, or resident records with information about the care and support they need.

We also look at what information is provided to patients. People have a right to be involved in their care.

5pm

At the end of the day I like to catch up with our team on the phone and see how they all got on. When I get home I like a walk on the beach, or a short run. Fresh air is the best way to clear my head and get ready to do it all again the following day.

* Pamela Fagan is chief operations officer, Health Care Informed