Meet Asad Abdullah, Registered Care Manager – Care and Support Group, Redbridge

Hi my name is Asad and I’m a registered care manager at the Care and Support Group in Redbridge.

I’ve been a resident of Newham for 8 years. I came to the UK as a student from India where I trained as a physio sport therapist. I registered with the volunteering programme at East London NHS Foundation Trust. During this time I was given some advice from a friend and enrolled on to the health and social care level 3 course with a local college. With my background in physio the volunteers programmes placed me with the learning disabilities physiotherapy team in Newham for two to three days a week. I would assist with yoga, trampoline and water therapy activities alongside a physiotherapist for people with mobility problems.

I’ve always been a motivated person and I found myself a job working as a support worker at Eastway Care – a day care centre for elderly people. Here I led on group exercise activities with people who were in a wheelchair.
I enjoyed working with the community and helping people. My own grandmother passed away and I always wondered about the support she had received. Support workers are essential to a persons care and it brings a lot of happiness to the service users face when you are able to help them and meet their care needs.

I remember the first time I had to clean someone. I was leading an activity class and one of my service user needed help with changing their adult nappy. They were unable to do it themselves and two people were needed to change him. The support worker was unable to do it alone and asked me for help. At first I was surprised and then thought how could I not help. If I didn’t help then the service user would be left in their own soils. What would we do if a doctor or nurse refused to help a patient? I realised the care was no different. So I did it. I helped the support worker change the service user and it’s an experience you don’t forget but I didn’t hesitate to do it again. Once you know what to expect it just becomes routine.

I then moved on to a residential care home and became a team leader managing 4/5 people working with people with epilepsy. I would design activities for the groups and administer medication including emergency medication.

I was ambitious, I wanted to work my up the career ladder and decided to do my Post graduation diploma in leadership and management in Health & Social Care. After completing I got a job as a care co-ordinator, while working part time I pursued my MSc in health and social care management and I was promoted to branch manager and then became a registered care manager for the Care and Support Group.

Never did I think I would be working in health and social care. As a manager I now recruit other support workers, train staff, deal with payments and the finances. I am also the person responsible for making sure staff and service users are always kept safe. I make sure we offer quality care to the people who need it. I’m a very hands on manager, if a support worker is unable to attend a service user and I’m unable to find anyone suitable to replace them then I will jump into my car and attend myself. I will always have a commitment to my staff and the service users.

Top tip
Whilst studying I have always worked part time. Being a support worker meant I had the flexibility I needed to support my studies. I could go to class in the day and work in between or after classes. I would recommend it to anyone who needs the flexibility but will also say you need to have compassion and care about people and their circumstances.

If you would like to find out more about becoming a support worker email: info@chosencaregroup.com