From Health Care Assistant to Home Manager: Dhanya's story

After qualifying as a Nurse in India, Dhanya moved to England to do a Masters in nursing. Whilst studying, she started working at Longley Park View as a Health Care Assistant in 2009. When she got her PIN number, she moved into a Registered Nurse role, and has since progressed as Unit Manager, Clinical Nurse Manager, Deputy Home Manager and now Home Manager.

Dhanya loves working at Longley Park View, which is why she’s developed her career with the company for over ten years. Here, she shares more about her role and what she loves about it.

“My day to day job is managing the whole home. If you think of it like a ship, and you’re the captain of the ship, you’re making sure that everything runs smoothly on a day to day basis - that’s my responsibility.

“My role involves leading the care and nursing teams, overseeing health and safety, monitoring and maintaining standards of care, and building relationships with local stakeholders to support occupancy in the home.”

A typical day as a Home Manager

“You can’t plan for a typical day at Longley Park View – it’s based on the priorities and needs of the day. Our service users always come first, so we prioritise our day based on their needs.

“When I come into work, I do a walk around and say hello to all of our colleagues and service users. Then at 11.00, we have a Take 20 meeting with the clinical team in the home, to discuss our service users, staffing and any areas for concern.”

Digital transformation in our care homes

“One of the great things about working as a Manager at Exemplar Health Care is that the company is going through a digital transformation programme, which is taking many of our systems and processes from paper-based to electronic. 

“For example, the company has launched a Health and Safety App which brings all of our health and safety checks, such as sling and hoist checks, into a single app. 

“We also have the Exemplar Quality Assurance Framework (EQA) as a digital system which includes audits such as care plan audits and medication audits, and really helps us to maintain and enhance quality of care.

“A few years ago the company introduced a signing in app so we can see which colleagues are signed into the building at any given time. This is useful to support us with staffing levels and fire safety. The app has recently been updated to include a function for colleagues to select an emoji when they sign out, so we can see how they feel after the shift. This helps us to identity how our people are feeling so we can take action, if needed.

“As a manager, we also have access to a KPI dashboard which shows key measures such as profit and loss, occupancy and average weekly occupancy, on one handy dashboard.

“These systems have made it much quicker and easier to complete the required checks around the home.”

The best thing about working as a Home Manager with Exemplar Health Care

“My favourite thing about working in this role is making our service users smile. I do miss the ‘hands-on’ nature of nursing, but when I do my walk around I love having a laugh with our service users, and I enjoy getting involved in activities and events in the home.

“The role can be challenging at times as we support adults living with complex needs, however this is overcome with proper planning and reflection. The role is really interesting and always an adventurous journey.”

Support from senior management

“We’re supported by a Regional Director of Operations and Regional Office Manager, as well as central support functions such as our Clinical Team, Recruitment Team, Referrals Team and Marketing Team.

“I’ve had great support from the senior management – the last sentence on an email is always ‘I’m here if you need me. Don’t hesitate to pick up the phone or just drop an email’.”

“I would encourage anybody to work at Exemplar Health Care”

“I would encourage anybody to work at Exemplar Health Care because it’s one of the great companies that I’ve worked for … me working here twelve years explains a lot!

“I’ve stayed because it’s like my second home. Everyone lives and breathes our values of fun, integrity, responsiveness, success and team work, and believes in the ethos of the company – to make every day better for our people.”

Working as a Registered Home Manager with Exemplar Health Care 

As an Exemplar Health Care Home Manager, you won’t just manage our home, you’ll be the heartbeat of everything that happens there.

You’ll lead and inspire your team to make every day better for our residents, and be responsible for ensuring that the home runs effectively and efficiently, as well as building close connections with local authorities and Clinical Commissioning Groups to drive referrals. 

Over the next few years Exemplar Health Care is growing, and we're looking for experienced Home Managers to join our team. 

If you're a Registered Manager looking for a new role, read more on our website. 

If you'd like an informal chat about our Registered Manager roles, contact Rachel Smith, Management Talent Specialist on rsmith@exemplarhc.com or 07375 926239.