National Healthcare Estates & Facilities Day – we chat to Kieron about life as a porter at QVH

As today marks National Healthcare Estates & Facilities Day, we wanted to chat to a member of one of our colleagues and share some insight into what it’s like to be part of our Estates & Facilities team here at QVH.

Kieron, one of our porters, very kindly volunteered to speak to us and share his thoughts:

Tell us about your role within the Estates & Facilities team…

I work as a porter within the Estates & Facilities team, and some of my duties include ensuring patients get to the right wards, giving directions to those who may need it and carrying out some maintenance and ensuring cleanliness around the hospital site for a nice and clear working environment.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I used to come here as a child due to an eyesight condition called cataracts (a clouding of the eye’s natural lens causing blurred vision). This job gives me the opportunity to give something back to this hospital as a thank you for helping me and give help to those who need it too.

I really enjoy chatting with patients as it helps them feel secure and safe whilst also helping to reduce their anxiety; it also gives me an opportunity to use my sense of humour to connect with patients.

What does a typical day in your job look like?

If I am working the early shift, I start at 7am. The day begins with taking food trolleys to the wards for patient breakfasts, whilst also checking ward stocks and delivering milk.

I will then check the bins around the site and sort any rubbish that needs disposing of and bins that may need emptying.

The day really gets going when I come back to the Facilities offices and check the job board for anything that might have been logged for me to do. This will be different day to day, and will take my shift in all manner of directions.

When lunch time comes around, it’s time to go back to the wards and deliver all the lunch trolleys for hungry patients.

Once I’ve been able to squeeze in my own lunch break, it’s back to the jobs list. We also receive a lot of calls throughout the day with different requests to triage, and we will deal with transferring lots of patients from place to place around the hospital. We also help out the Pharmacy team when their drug deliveries come in.

At the end of my working day, I will help the porters on the late shift do another bin round, and then that will be my day done.

No two days are the same in this role, but that’s why I like it!

What is your best memory of working at QVH so far?

I have worked at QVH for two and a half years now; I started out as a kitchen assistant, then moved to domestics, and then to the porters (where I have now been for a year and a half).

Throughout my time here, some of my favourite memories have been taking young patients down to Theatres before surgeries. They are usually quite scared so I try to lift their spirits and make the wait less daunting for them. For example, I once took a teenage boy to Theatres for a significant surgery, and he confided in me that he was incredibly nervous. I helped to reassure him and calm him down, and as we were chatting, he noticed my tattoo which led to a great conversation and made him feel a lot better. I truly felt like I’d done some good.

I also try to bring laughter wherever I go – we porters always try to be cheerful and laugh together as that’s what keeps us going during busy days.

What does the National Healthcare Estates & Facilities Day mean to you?

National Healthcare Estate and Facilities means a lot to me and the wider team. It means we get recognition for our work, which can sometimes feel overlooked and undervalued (especially as we do more of the ‘behind the scenes’ work). Being able to get representation and awareness for my role as an individual also makes me feel like a valued asset to the team.

What’s a fun fact about your role that colleagues may not know?

Some might not know that porters are able to access every single part of the hospital, even the parts that are off limits to other colleagues!

We also get to meet so many different people doing what we do – I accompanied a gentleman to Pharmacy to collect his drugs and was chatting to him whilst we waited; he turned out to be an ex-sergeant from the African Military!

I really enjoy working at QVH, it is a special place to work and I love that everyone is so friendly and knows each other.

As a porter, we try and have a laugh, ensure everyone is happy and that all the jobs get done. It’s nice to walk into work and ask myself, who am I going to help today? Who am I going to make smile today?

Thank you to Kieron for giving us your time and insight to celebrate National Healthcare Estates & Facilities Day!

On behalf of all of our patients, visitors and staff, thank you to each and every one of you and we hope you’ve enjoyed celebrating your day!