Sambhana Care Ltd

Key Responsibilities :
As director and founder of the company, my responsibilities lay in managing the overall business and setting the strategy of the company.

Qualifications:
I was a trustee of a local charity that cared for adults with learning disabilities and it gave me an insight into the home care industry. My son is an adult with learning disabilities and we, as a family, had been on the receiving end of pretty poor standards of care I saw first-hand what I felt were shocking standards of care while running a charity. My background is in sales and operational management and I felt there was a gap in the market in the home care industry and that I could use my professional expertise in a sector that needed good management skills.

When was Sambhana Care launched?
I started Sambhana Home Care in August 2018 but the opportunity to really push the company forward came in Jan 2020 when I stopped working with the charity. I am a British-born Sikh and my heritage is something I am really passionate about. One of the core beliefs of the Sikh community is looking after and taking care of family and the community. We firmly believe in upholding the values of honesty, compassion, generosity, humility, integrity, service, and spirituality on a daily basis. The name Sambhana means ‘care’ in the Punjabi language and I felt it was important to embed that in my company name as a core belief and a mission.

Why did you set up Sambhana Care?
I have worked in the Telecoms industry for many years in sales and customer operations management roles, which has given me the skills I felt were needed to run a business of my own. I felt that my experience could really make a difference in running a business and with my family situation it seemed clear to me that I could add real value to the home care market, where great provision is woefully lacking much of the time.

I was a Trustee with a local charity for 3 years who cared for adults with learning disabilities and this experience really honed my decision to start a home care company of my own. Whilst I was a trustee for the charity I set up a consultancy service, free of charge, to advise parents of adults with learning disabilities adults about the resources available from Social Services. Providing care for my son, I have been through the system of social care and this provided insight into the process. It is far from simple to navigate and provision is often limited and the quality is often lacking.

My vision is to ensure that we provide a really client-focused, bespoke service, tailored to the needs of both the elderly, who want to remain as independent as possible at home but need help to do that, and adults with learning difficulties, who need support to remain at home with their family and to offer respite to family members involved.

Recent experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has made it even more clear that families want their elderly relatives to remain at home for as long as possible, where they feel safe and secure, before committing to residency in a care home. We believe we can facilitate that with our highly specialised quality home care provision.

Outside of work – What are your interests and hobbies
I’m a father of three and one of my children was born with a learning disability, so caring for him is a priority. I am passionate about football and have been a Liverpool fan for all my life. In fairness, I love all sports, watching and wherever possible playing!

I was awarded the British Empire Medal for my work on inclusivity in football in 2017 by the Queen and received a medal from the Football Association in 2014 for again my work on inclusivity. I also chaired the Inclusivity group in Kent County Football Association, overseeing major changes in reporting discrimination and I remain involved in football as acting chairperson for a local multicultural football club.
During the Covid lockdown, I was involved in a local Sikh Gurdwara running a group that provided 61,400 hot meals to vulnerable people and NHS Staff at four hospitals and care homes. We received a local heroes medal from Gravesham Borough Council for our efforts.

I get a huge amount of personal satisfaction from helping charities and from being a local councillor. As a councillor, I donated my allowance so that the local church that provided sandwiches to vulnerable people in and around Gravesham could purchase supplies during lockdown.

I’m also a trustee for the Dartford, Gravesham & Tonbridge Citizen Advice Bureau

I am the supervisor, managing carers in the Gravesham area. My main responsibilities are to ensure service users are at the heart of the care delivery and their wishes and preferences are met in our care packages to enhance their wellbeing. I also make sure that all staff contribute to the efficient running of the service and ensure that any feedback is taken into account to help us to continue to improve. I am also responsible for promoting and safeguarding the welfare and of the clients our teams support.
As part of the leadership team, it is important to monitor and provide care in accordance with current best practices, according to policy and procedures. As a manager I am keen to supervise staff, to maintain their skills and undertake such training and development when required.
Qualifications: NVQ 3 Adult lead care
How long have you worked for Sambhana Care?
I have just joined the company and been with them two weeks.
Experience prior to joining Sambhana Care?
I have worked in care for 3 years, working for home care companies and in care homes. I have gained an enormous amount of experience in caring for the elderly and in my previous role as a supervisor. I’m passionate about my job and like to work as part of a team and happy to help any of my team members.
How have you utilised your knowledge to help a client – Specific example if possible:
Working in a care home I was supervising an entire wing and during a very busy period. It was an extremely challenging role as I needed to ensure that all our residents received the best possible care around the clock to the same professional standards. As with all care environments, this can be challenging when every resident has their own set of particular needs. We had quite a large team of carers and so keeping on top of the rota and ensuring all staff were fully briefed and prepared for their shift was a complicated responsibility. I was pleased that my manager fed back that I had managed admirably during a particularly challenging time when some residents presented over and above the normal level of problems.
Outside of work – What are you interests (Interests that will tell a more rounded picture of you as an individual / contribute to build trust / show a team member a positive light / recent achievement:
I like to spend as much time with my young family and go on days out exploring our local area. I like to go out with friends for meals, as I am an outgoing person, and therefore make new friends easily
My recent achievement was gaining my level 3 in Care. I am particularly proud of my achievement as I had to work hard to achieve it due to a lack of confidence. The qualification has helped me gain confidence in both my work life and at home. I know I can add real value in my role at Sambhana Care and this qualification provides the evidence of this capability.

•    Build and maintain induction training programme in line with the care certificate.
•   Deliver induction training
•   Identify where training is needed for support staff
•   Add training to e-learning site
•   Manage e-learning training and maintain staff matrix ensuring all staff are compliant.
•   Co-ordinate care for learning disabilities
•   Assess new clients and care packages
•    Manage the learning disabilities branch of Sambhana Care.

Qualifications:
•   L6 planning and delivering.
•   L3 first aid assessor/trainer
•   L3 safeguarding assessor/ trainer
•   Iosh health & safety trained
•   L3 lead adult care
•   L2 conflict management

Experience prior to joining
10 years as a support worker for learning disabilities. 3 of them years as a training coordinator and trainer/assessor with a charity that supports adults with learning disabilities

Outside of work – What are your interests (Interests that will tell a more rounded picture of you as an individual / contribute to build trust / show a team member a positive light / recent achievement:

I am very family orientated so most of my spare time is spent with my family. Including my two beautiful granddaughters and my dog .
I also like to swim and do yoga and go walking. I am a member of the English Heritage and enjoy days out walking and viewing castles and historic buildings.
At the moment, I am looking into helping out where I can with some charity volunteering to help the homeless in some way as I feel this is a cause that needs as much help as it can get and I will probably try and volunteer for the charity Crisis at Christmas time.
Downtime is enjoyed socialising with friends, Dinner or shopping.