David Colley, from Minehead, Somerset, joined Advantage Healthcare’s Community Programmes team in 2017. As a trained nurse, he started working on a flexible agency work basis with just a few appointments each week assisting patients with IV home therapies.
Since he started David has also helped clients with dialysis as a renal technician. David is part of Advantage Healthcare’s rapid response team who visit clients around the country to help them to learn to manage their own IV or renal care. In recent weeks, David has been supporting clients in Norwich and Bangor.
The 55-year-old has had a varied healthcare career to date, including being a hospital surgical nurse, carrying out project work for a strategic health authority and as a general manager of a Community Trust.
David explained: “Many of these roles were highly pressurised, whilst the hands on work with clients providing home therapies and renal care has been enjoyable. It is great fun to build rapport with regular clients, have a fair amount of time to spend with them and in the case of IV patients to help them to become competent and confident in managing their own care.”
David travels around the country to meet new clients who he trains to administer their own medication on IV, or to support patients with the setup of their dialysis machines or provide care in doing manual exchanges for therapy on dialysis. “It’s intensive work to train someone, especially after they have returned from hospital, sometimes after several months. Often clients need reassurance, as well as clear and patient instructions.”
Visits to clients can vary from a few weeks to ongoing visits. IV home therapies will include the administration of parentarel nutrition or antibiotics via central lines, either daily or several times a week. David is also a renal technician which involves setting up renal peritoneal dialysis for clients with kidney failure. In both these cases the clients, with help from family members can learn to manage their own care. Whilst a nurse or renal technician will continue to visit clients who live on their own or have mobility limitations.
Visits may also include health checks such as blood pressure readings and especially with the IV home therapies.
David explained: “Whilst my role involves a lot of driving, something that I choose to do when there are less clients being discharged from the hospitals more local to me, I enjoy the face-to-face nature of this work. I’m employed on a flexible basis which means that I can choose when not to work, such as next weekend when I’m going to Dublin.
“The clients are great fun. I enjoy the regular contact and learning about their lives and seeing them settled in their own homes. After many years in management it’s especially rewarding to be working in the community in a role where I have the time to get to know clients and become the friendly face of care.”
Advantage Healthcare is recruiting for renal technicians and IV home therapies nurses. To apply send in your CV or look out for vacancies by following Advantage Healthcare on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.
