I went to Lancaster University to study English and Linguistics. But when I graduated, I didn’t really know where I wanted to go from there. I just knew I wanted to do something that involved helping people – something that would be rewarding, and something that I would enjoy. I fell into a customer service role, but it wasn’t where I wanted to be career wise.
I knew someone who worked in PropCare at Clatterbridge, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre that manages the Trust’s Estates and Facilities services. After chatting with them, I saw that working with the team could be really rewarding, and offered more opportunity for me to progress in a career. So, I applied for a role that became available and never looked back!
I joined PropCare in September 2017, originally as an Office Administrator within the Estates and Facilities Team, whilst supporting the CCC-Liverpool hospital build project. From there, I progressed into auditing and compliance, before moving into an operational management role.
Estates and Facilities is such a varied field - you don’t get two days that are the same, so you’re constantly experiencing new situations and challenges, with plenty of opportunities to test yourself and develop. Ultimately though, it comes down to doing something that helps people.
There’s a real drive to provide the best possible service to patients at CCC. I couldn’t work here if patients were not the priority. There are also a number of colleagues who’ve been at CCC for 10, 20, plus years and there’s a good range of people who support each other, sometimes going outside of their specific job role to make sure patients are looked after. It’s a great place to work.
The highlight of my time at CCC so far would have to be opening and mobilising our new specialist cancer hospital, CCC-Liverpool, in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. As everyone is aware, the pandemic was a unique challenge that no-one was prepared for, particularly on that scale. It took a lot of exceptional work and extra hours from all my colleagues to ensure we delivered CCC-Liverpool at such a difficult time. The site provides easier access to our patient demographic, provides state-of-the-art facilities to support treatment and is situated next to Liverpool University – supporting opportunities for research and clinical trials.
However, there’s a lot of work that goes on in the background which also springs to mind that I’m proud to have been a part of – the development of our superb catering service to better support inpatients, or the mobilisation of our Community Diagnostic Centre at Paddington to reduce patient waiting lists.
But the most rewarding part is definitely helping people. CCC is such a special Trust and being able to play a small part in supporting patients is truly rewarding. When I first started in PropCare, I remember someone telling me, “there’s a patient at the end of everything that everyone does” and it’s absolutely true. It doesn’t matter what role you’re doing – everyone at CCC works together to provide the best possible services to the people of Cheshire and Merseyside.
The highlight of my time at CCC so far would have to be opening and mobilising our new specialist cancer hospital, CCC-Liverpool, in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. As everyone is aware, the pandemic was a unique challenge that no-one was prepared for, particularly on that scale. It took a lot of exceptional work and extra hours from all my colleagues to ensure we delivered CCC-Liverpool at such a difficult time. The site provides easier access to our patient demographic, provides state-of-the-art facilities to support treatment and is situated next to Liverpool University – supporting opportunities for research and clinical trials.
