There are not many people who can claim to be a social media influencer but that’s only a hobby for Francesca Ramsden and she is very much focused on her day job as our Clinical Lead at Lilibet Manor.
In her spare time, Francesca has built up an amazing 130,000 followers as a result of her TikTok videos where she has made her name unearthing bargains in charity shops.
During the working day she leads our team of nurses ensuring we deliver high levels of to residents.
Francesca could well have ended up in a courtroom rather than a care home had her personal circumstances not been different.
She explains: “I was good at law at college, so I went to university and got a law degree but when I was pregnant with my son I got something called Hyperemesis which is severe vomiting.
“I was in and out of hospital all the time and I had some really good nurses looking after me and I thought this is what I want to do for a living. So, I went back to university and got my nursing degree and I always wanted to specialise in older adult/end of life/dementia nursing.”
Francesca got her nursing ‘pin’ in 2022 and started working in a nursing home. In just a few years she has progressed from working on the floor to clinical lead, something she is understandably very proud of.
“I’m incredibly passionate about what I do,” she explains.
“I’m not there when someone takes their first breath, but I am when they take their final breath and that means a lot to me.
“It really upsets me the thought of people sitting around and basically just waiting to pass but whether it’s months, weeks, or days, you can still make this time as happy and as comfortable as possible.
“We’re really keen on championing end of life at Lilibet Manor and using sensory care to support this, such as playing calming music via a smart speaker, or having lavender bags to touch and smell. It doesn’t have to be sad and depressing and at the end. It can be dignified and respectful, and it’s about tailoring this to each individual.”
Francesca’s TikTok videos began when she started recording what she found in charity shops, and everything snowballed from there. As an influencer, she regularly finds herself in national newspapers and companies now send her gifts on the hope she will review them.
She adds: “I’m trying to break that stigma around buying second hand so it’s good to be able to do this via my TikTok channel, which I wasn’t expecting to be so popular.
“It’s had a very positive impact and one of the things I would love to do at Lilibet Manor is set up a little thrift store for the residents which we could incorporate into activities, for example labelling and organising the clothes and perhaps even selling them on to raise money for residents’ funds.”
