The thought of giving people quality care, focused on supporting people with life-limiting illnesses in the comfort of their homes, brought Eidyn Care to life.
Rebecca McLennan, Eidyn Care’s Registered Manager, came home after a long shift working with palliative clients at St. Columba’s hospice in Edinburgh. Over dinner she talked about how there appeared to be no dedicated palliative care at home service and that most of her clients with Palliative needs wanted to live at home.
From this discussion, grew the seed of starting a quality care at home company that would be dedicated in supporting people with life limiting illnesses in their own home.
Working in a busy oncology ward has provided Rebecca with many years of practical experience in delivering care to people who are at their most vulnerable, giving her the skills and insight to realise that helping people to live with dignity and respect at the end of their life was something Rebecca was passionate about pursuing.
In the following interview, Rebecca shares her opinions how the home healthcare services has evolved and on how Eidyn Care has become a prominent name in the related market.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Tell us more about your home care solutions, that make your company stand out from the competition?
Eidyn Care provides bespoke care at home services to clients across Edinburgh. All the visits are at least a minimum time of one hour that allows for the necessary tasks to be completed but also allows time to support the client’s mental health by spending time building a relationship and ensuring that they are not lonely.
What is your opinion on the impact of the current pandemic on the global healthcare sector, and how has your company fared during the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns?
The pandemic has shed a light on Social Care and how important this unsung workforce is in supporting the NHS to ensure that holistic care can be provided and keep people safe at home.
It was extremely worrying at the start of the pandemic as there was very limited supplies of masks and these had to be sourced from Amazon, Ebay and other random suppliers as our main supplier did not have any masks.
The use of PPE has increased dramatically as the team take infection control seriously. As well as the amount of PPE being used, the cost of PPE has increased dramatically however we cannot put a price on a person’s life.
What is your opinion on the necessity for healthcare service providers to align their offerings with newer technological developments, especially when it comes to catering to changing patient preferences and needs?
The client is always right, and it is this factor that we need to consider. We cannot continue in the old-fashioned way of using paper care plans and updates must be seen in real time. We currently use an electronic care planning system (called PASS) which allows us to monitor our clients on a regular basis and ensure tasks or medicines are not missed. It was during the first lockdown that this really came into its own when we monitored a client that had got Covid-19.
We were able to ensure that they were kept comfortable and adapt their care plan. We involved the “hospital at home” service and District Nurses that could read these notes and have confidence that we were providing care. After a few weeks of watching them fail and become weaker, it was with a great sense of relief that we saw them get better and even sat up in bed to eat toast!
In your opinion, what could be the future of the healthcare services sector post the pandemic? And how are you strategizing your company’s operations for that future?
The biggest challenge has always been on recruitment and we hope with the greater awareness will allow us to recruit so that we can better serve our community. The biggest opportunity in life is care as families are scared to put their loved ones into care homes. This will be a growth market as the cost for life in care vs a care home is comparable, and it allows people to live longer at home and have limited risk if a new mutation or another pandemic hits.
How do you envision on scaling your company’s operations in 2021?
We are planning for the company to grow by 10 – 15%. We have spent last year on consolidating our processes and building a strong team which will now allow us to grow.
About the Leader
Rebecca started her career in the Financial Services sector and following the birth of her first son realized that her vocation was helping people and retrained as a Nurse in 2009. Rebecca specialized in Oncology during the last year of her training at the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, and after qualifying with her degree in Nursing she remained there.
Working on a busy oncology ward has provided Rebecca with many years of practical experience in delivering care to people who are at their most vulnerable, giving her the skills and insight to realize that helping people to live with dignity and respect at the end of their life was something Rebecca was passionate about pursuing.
In 2011, following the birth of her second son Rebecca changed direction and moved to work at St Columba’s Hospice, Edinburgh enhancing her skills and experience.
