AN ESSEX woman who has spent the last 30 years working around the world in the healthcare sector has returned to her home town to set up a new office for a care franchise company which provides support for the elderly in their own homes.

AN ESSEX woman who has spent the last 30 years working around the world in the healthcare sector has returned to her home town of Frinton on Sea to set up a new office for care franchise company Home Instead Senior Care, which provides support for the elderly in their own homes.

Jean Allen, a trained midwife and a qualified nurse practitioner, got a taste for overseas work when, as a newly qualified midwife, she was recruited to work in the Canadian Arctic on Baffin Island.

She worked with the Inuit people for 4� years and then returned to the UK where she worked as a Primary Healthcare Facilitator and did a Masters degree in Health Policy.

The travel bug got her again and she held various positions across the world, working in places such as Cambodia, Liberia, Kosovo, Indonesia, Iraq and Sudan. Her most recent job was in Tibet where, for the last three3 years, she has been advising the local Ministry of Health on child health.

Having decided to come back to the UK on a permanent basis, Jean said she assessed her skills and areas of interest.

“I was very keen to put my many years of healthcare experience to good use as well as using my teaching and management skills,” said said. “I was also keen to have my own business - something I could build, with a great team.”

She decided that a care franchise operation offered her an ideal solution as this would allow her to be her own boss, but have the support she needed going into a new area of care.

She added: “I want my team to think of our clients as being their own parents. In that way we will deliver only the very best standards of service to the elderly in the Frinton area.”

Also joining the business as care manager is Celia Conroy from Clacton on Sea who has also spent several years working in the care industry.

She added: “I am delighted to be part of Home Instead, I have elderly grandparents and realise just how important it is to provide the right quality care. I love my job and to think that I started out 13 years ago helping out at a care home owned by my friend's parents just making cups of tea”.

Home Instead Senior Care's service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is tailored to the needs of individual clients. It can include companionship, meal preparation, light housekeeping, post-discharge care, personal care, medication reminders, shopping and errands.

www.homeinstead.co.uk.