The life of...Kare Plus Clinical Lead

Life as Kare Plus’ Clinical Lead rarely produces two days the same. From clinical interviews, to service issues, to industry liaison, Kate Willis can have anything thrown at her when she walks into the office in a morning. Fortunately for us, band eight Kate has been a qualified nurse for over 13 years, so she knows what needs doing and, perhaps more importantly, why it’s so important.

Walking out of two straight intensive days of new franchise owners, Kate says: “Basically, it is my job to protect our businesses and their nurses, keep them compliant, helping them develop personally and professionally, as well as dealing with customer complaints and safeguarding issues.

 “I have been a practicing nurse for long enough to know all nurses are working towards the same common goal – providing the best care to their patients. The good thing about Kare Plus is I see it as a flagship for nursing; a model that ensures all the nurses under our umbrella have access to the best advice and best training possible – not only to improve their own standards, but to help improve nursing in the UK as a whole.

“All nurses will tell you how important being an advocate is to their patients and, in turn, I am an advocate for all Kare Plus nursing staff.

“With the company slogan - ‘The Caring Company’ - we have to show everyone involved in the network that we do actually care about them. After all, if we can’t look after our staff, how can we expect them to look after our patients?

“Development is a huge aspect of my role; whether that’s developing nursing opportunities for work or actual professional nursing development.”

True to her word, Kate also takes care of all customer safeguarding and complaints; a huge part of her job that she is very passionate about: “Of course it’s important. Thankfully it is rare we get complaints, but when we do I have to be totally unbiased to ensure no fingers are pointed and everyone is treated fairly.

“It’s people’s lives we are responsible for, both the patients’ and the nurses’. It’s not something you can afford to mistreat and it’s most definitely not something you can turn your back on”, Kate explains.

Kate is also Kare Plus’ point of contact for the Nursing and Midwifery Council and Care Quality Commission. She receives all the latest changes in protocol and policy, which she then relays to all necessary staff and nurses through the Kare Plus network and ensures they all remain compliant. Again, another role which holds a lot of responsibility.

Our next exciting challenge is assisting all of our nurses through their revalidation process.

So the chances are, if you decide to become a Kare Plus nurse you will come in contact with Kate. But even if you don’t meet her, she’ll still be helping you progress your career either directly, or indirectly.