It’s a rainy morning in Woking and social care workers from Surrey County Council are checking in on residents at a housing scheme for frail or vulnerable people. The phone calls don’t stop. “Hi Andre, is everything OK? Great, thanks.” “Hi Jill, is all OK? Thanks.” “Michael? Hi, can you hear me?”*
Welfare calls like this are just a small component of the work Mandi Porter, a senior social care assistant for Surrey County Council, is involved in. She used to work in a day centre for adults with disabilities, but after going on a six-week placement with the adult monitoring team at Surrey CC, she never looked back. Five years on, her caseload is mostly working with adults with physical disabilities; the main aim of her job is helping people have a better quality of life and make changes in their life.
Sixty-year-old Jane* is one of the people she is currently helping. When they met last October, she hadn’t left her property in three years. Many people tried to get in, but she would throw water over them. Eventually, Mandi and a colleague were let into the flat where there was hardly anything. “A bed with no mattress, curtains taped together, a sofa and a table. The sofa wasn’t fit to sit on,” she says.
Jane wouldn’t talk to anyone unless she had something over her head as she didn’t want people to see her, apart from her son, who would pop in every now and then with food supplies. She cut up bits of paper and made sentences on the wall to communicate. Slowly, though, Mandi and her team began to see progress being made. “We managed to engage with her, we got her out of the property and took her out for coffee,” she explains. “We realised that she had no benefits, no GP, and no bank account. She was a lady with no identity at all.”
Within months, as part of a Surrey CC regeneration project, Mandi got her moved to a studio flat that was carpeted, with blinds installed and a new bed. “We got her clothes, shoes and food bank vouchers. She began getting meals on wheels and had all her Covid injections. We got benefits for her and we opened her a bank account, which is not easy when you’ve got nothing to identify yourself with,” says Mandi.
Working in the adult social care team means no two days are the same. Mandi works with people across the board, from those with mental health issues, brain injuries and physical disabilities, to people who are self-neglecting and hoarding. Each week, more cases are being referred in. “It can be anybody,” says Mandi. Every Thursday a team of professionals including GPs, social workers and the council, look at the new referrals and decide what care is needed.
It is a collaborative approach that works well for vulnerable people in Surrey. “We do an assessment and if we deem them eligible for our services, we work together to support them to improve their quality of life. It’s good having a multidisciplinary team approach as things get done quicker and referrals don’t get bounced back and forth,” she says, adding that there’s also no duplication of professional input. “We’re building relationships with different professionals for a better outcome for the service users in Surrey. Things generally go quite smoothly.”
Working as part of a team is a huge plus for Mandi. She feels valued as a colleague and her seniors are very approachable. “People are so full of knowledge and whether you’re a student, social worker or trainee, there are always people there to help.” Although they work in local teams, it is far more than an office job, says Mandi. There is project work, time spent out in the community, hospital trips and work alongside the local police, fire services, Citizens Advice, consultants, psychiatrists and social services.
The best thing about the role, says Mandi, is seeing progression. A year on from that first meeting, Jane is now going out independently and budgeting, and the team still see her once a week in order to see her progress. “She looks forward to us coming. She’s started mixing, going out without things on her head and she loves magazines. She absolutely has a better quality of life. Just being able to say good morning to people who also live in the same flats as her. That’s a great step up. Just opening the door and smiling.”
For Mandi, that’s what the project is about. It is about getting people up and as independent as they can be. “We want to give them a life. Jane had no life.”
Ultimately, she says, the job gives her a real sense of achievement and it makes her feel good. “What would I say to someone who wants to work for Surrey CC? I’d say no day is the same. It is rewarding and it’s great being out with the public and helping. You wouldn’t be in the job if you didn’t care and you weren’t a people person. It makes getting out of bed worthwhile.”
*Names have been changed
For more information, visit surreycc.gov.uk/jobs
