Dom Francis

I’m a Catering Supervisor. I’ve only started as agency March 23, 2022. I was from an agency company called Meridian before I got contracted with the Trust. I was a Catering Assistant.   

There was another job role available in the trust, which was the Saffron Supervisor, so I applied for that. Saffron is a big food ordering network system. You do your ordering on there. I was responsible for the wards mainly, patient’s menus and ensuring the meals are corresponding with what’s showing on the regular menu. The most important thing was to ensure all patients got a meal. And resolve any food or staff related issues. I only did that role for six months and now I’m the Catering Supervisor.   

I didn’t have a huge passion for hospitals to be honest, but in all the jobs I’ve done, I’ve always done them  with the best of my abilities. I always aim for greatness and to fulfil all my tasks in my job roles. I was doing other agency jobs, but it just wasn’t working out for me. Sometimes our lives have to be completely shaken up, changed & rearranged to relocate us to the place we’re meant to be. I decided to just give the hospital a shot because my missus told me about the hospital, so I applied. I was just thinking, it’s just a job, I just need some money. So when they came to me and offered me a contract I was even shocked – I spoke to other workers and they said ‘oh, they waited two years for a contract, as an agency’ and I was only there one month – so I took the offer. It was a great opportunity. 

My English can be slightly broken. Sometimes, because I have to think about what I’m actually saying, so you can understand more. My country is an English-speaking country, but we have this other language, we call it Patois, it’s the Jamaican Creole. We speak the Patois, we mainly. It depends on how you were brought up. We don’t speak the standard English on a daily basis, it’s just our way of communicating with our friend or families back home and abroad. 

The only reason why my English is this great is because in high school I found English quite fascinating. I liked writing stories. I have a friend from another school who always helped me with my English essays, grammatical errors, correct pronunciations and how to construct proper sentences. Also my dad was a police officer. So he tried to correct me and my other brothers, like if we should come in and say something in “Patwa” he would correct or tell us, to think about what was said and speak properly.  

I was twenty three when I left Jamaica. I had created a family for myself. I have a wife and two sons. I’d never dreamt I would come to the UK, but I got the opportunity to be with my family and also to achieve as many goals as I can and better my life.  

Life in the UK is totally different from where am from, so I had to adopt and adjust. 

I’m from Jamaica, Spanish Town, St Catherine. I grew up from a poor family and I thank God for that, because I learned how to be humble and appreciate everything. I came from nothing so mentally I never lose. Everything is a win or a lesson to me. 

At the moment, being a supervisor can be challenging sometimes, staff think I’m the coolest supervisor they ever had because I don’t really get upset. They’ve all been here for years you see so I expect them to actually know what to do without being supervised. They’re all good people.