Working in Care - is it really that bad?

[WhamBamThankyouHam]

I have always, always, always wanted to work giving something back to the community / others.
Over the Years, relationship, money and kiddies have preoccupied all of my time and I have stayed in a successful well paid career which I really dislike.
DH and I have discussed that I finally chasing my dream as such and I have recently applied for a few minimum wage Community Support Assistant positions, I even have an interview next Thursday.
Now here is where my concerns start, EVERYONE (friends / family) I have spoken to about the change of career direction has warned me off care work, it's the worst job in the world, heavy manual labour, stressful, dirty, blah blah blah..
So my question is, is it really that bad?

I think it is naive to go into a job like that because you want to ‘give back to the community’. I say this as someone who works in social care.

@Drpeppered Thanks for the reply, please can you elaborate why it's naive?

I'm a support worker rather than a care worker but aspects of it are similar, I've been doing it for nearly two years now after years of office work/working with the public and it is literally the best job I've ever had! The money is dreadful and the hours long and very early/late but I always come home with a smile on my face. If you can arrange some shadow shifts before you start so you can check out the ethos/culture of the company that might be a good idea. Good luck!

I'm a support worker for young adults with disabilities and I love it. It's the most amazing job I've ever done.

There are hard days, really really hard days, and it's not for the faint hearted but the good days where I really feel like we've made a difference to our service users make everything worth it. There's one of my service users, who is non verbal, but responds in the most beautiful way humming along to music he enjoys, and I swear seeing him smile is like the sun coming out.

It's a job that is often sneered at, or people are horrified by the personal care part of it, but it's genuinely the most rewarding, enjoyable job and I really love it.

I've done it in the past and I couldn't stick to it. I'd previously worked in care homes so I did know what I was doing, but even then it was a shock to go into people's homes and do the same sort of work. You're in "their territory" and so you have to be doing everything their way, negotiating your way through horrible dirty homes , trying to find the things you need , being accused of doing it wrong, or taking their stuff , I could write a book.

It sounds like you have a very rosy picture in your head, of what happens. "Giving back to the community" isn't reality at all when you are breaking your back trying to shower someone in a cramped bathroom , or trying to find some clean clothes in drawers full of urine - smelling underpants. And then get accused of stealing their stuff when they see you opening the cupboard to get something out.

Sorry to sound negative . But if you want to do something in the care line, try doing some voluntary work first to get some idea. Just don't burn your bridges and give up what you've got now - you could regret it. Good luck.

It depends what type of work you’ll be doing.
Support work with the learning disabled-ain’t too bad at all usually.

Care work for physically disabled- usually awful.

wham because more often than not you end up feeling like everything is hopeless, including your own actions. You feel powerless to make an substantive changes to an individual a lot of the time. Most of it is out of your control.

You need more than a wish to change the world into a better place to do work like that. I wouldn’t rush into it.

Thanks so much for the comments, it's nice to finally read some positive experiences first hand! I'm certainly not heading into it with rose tinted spectacles, in my current position I work 4 x 16 Hour Days a Week starting at 6am without a break, it is a very physical job so I believe I am absolutely robust enough for the physical aspect of the job and long hours.
I have volunteered with several projects with vulnerable adults and children so do have a small idea of the challenges ahead, shadow shifts would be a great idea - I'll certainly ask that on Thursday!

I work in an assisted living facility for the over 50s. We have a mix of residents ranging from elderly to people with mental health problems.

I enjoy it but you do need a lot of patience. I have residents who point blank refuse to get out of bed. I have residents who won't take their medication unless you bargain with them (eg. you take this tablet and I'll do some colouring in with you) and residents who will trash the place if you don't arrive to their call on time. Plus residents who believe the emergency buzzer is the equivalent of room service and press it for anything and everything and get pissy when you arrive half an hour later because you were helping someone else on the toilet and couldn't leave.

On top of that needs assessments aren't done by care workers. They're done by social workers who've never worked a day in care in their lives. You residents who are awarded 15 minutes for a meds call who literally take 30 seconds and then you have residents where you have 15 minutes to give them supper, get them into the bathroom, washed, dried, creamed, medicated, dressed for bed and into bed who have severe mobility issues because they happened to be having a good day when the social worker visited. Your next call start immediately after their 15 minutes ends and is the gentleman who will start throwing furniture around his apartment if you're late.

We find a way to figure it out, usually by rearranging our calls ourselves into an order then enables us to give everyone the time we need and still be on time to people who need us there on time. We do this by sacrificing some of our breaks.

On top of that you have residents who have no family who you feel desperately sorry for and want to take home but can't spend more than 15 minutes a day with.

Overall though it's rewarding. There are days you will want to tear your hair out and days you will think "I'm in the wrong job. I need to go home" and there are days you won't stop laughing. There are residents you will despise but tolerate and residents who you would genuinely class as friends.

If you're thick skinned enough it's a great job.

I have done support work, dom care and residential care. Someone told me once with care you'll either quit int he first week, quit int eh first year or do it until you need care yourself which rings true for most carers I know. The money is shite and people constantly give you that head tilt "oh how nice, must be so rewarding" patronising chat.

Best job in the world on the good days, the days where everything goes well and you can genuinely make a difference. Days where you actually feel like youve made a difference.

Care bad days are unlike anything I've ever known. It can effect you for weeks after and is not for the faint hearted. You will get accused of all sorts, theft, abuse and sexual abuse are allegations that get thrown around with no basis. You will not just be making tea and chatting, you will be up to your eyes in faeces and god knows what else. Houses you wipe your feet on the way out and need a shower after you leave.

BUT if you love it you really will love it and the relationships with your colleagues are like no other work friendship I've ever known

I work in care and have done for a couple of years. I am currently a mental health support worker which does not have the personal care element but I have worked in both end of life care and physical disabilities/learning difficulties with challenging behaviour and I find it very rewarding. My criticism is that some companies are better than others to work for and if it is a place where you could get injured, you should reassure yourself that the correct back up is in place.

Shadow shifts are more often that not part of the induction programme. There are some places that don't but few and far between.

I would say give it a try to see what you think.

Re the shadow shifts. When we get people in for shadowing we send them to worst calls not because we want rid of them but there's no point asking them to shadow the carer visiting the lady who wants a cuppa and a chat and the gentleman who only wants his medication all shift long when their first call on their own might be the lady who deliberately defecates on the floor in front of you while maintaining eye contact.

While you're shadowing ask questions i.e "are all the service users this difficult/easy etc"

Another thing to bear in mind is hours. Most care workers are on zero hours contracts and most care companies want an excess of staff so they always have sick cover. For care workers it means one month you will have more hours than you can comfortably manage but the next month you might only have one shift a week.

That's the only reason I am looking for a new job. I am a single parent. I need to know what I have coming in every month is fixed. Atm I am terrified because there are staff coming back off long term sick and maternity leave and the company has just taken on six new care workers. I'm already only just getting the hours I need.

Can you try it along side your usual job for a few weeks before deciding?
I've done it for 6 years now and I love it
I've had maybe 10 clients who were horrible/ nasty, everyone has always been so lovely (sometimes it takes a bit of time)
The one thing I've found to be fairly consistent is despite circumstances they usually love a bit of sarcasm and a giggle!

To those with messy houses we tend to take it upon ourselves to clean up bit by bit. You probably wont find the time for a few months but when you are faster and confident with the client you can do the extra bits and pieces.

I find the hardest part is to deal with the families.

It's long hours, poor pay and very physical demanding. Community work can also be very time pressured (e.g, you might be given 15 minutes to get an incredibly frail person toileted, dressed and fed, when in reality you need twice that amount of time).

Well ive done care work for 28 yrs, if thats anything to go by lol. Depends where you work, Ive done hospitals, agency and care homes.

I work nights in a dementia unit, look after 20+residents and care workers. Im a senior carer.

I love my job as a nurse, but I think the pay is very poor for what I have to do.

It is very, very stressful at all levels. Impossible targets set by the government and poor levels of staffing lead to you being pushed towards delivering poor quality care all the time, and you really have to be strong and dig deep to keep providing any semblance of good care. Care workers are generally poorly valued by employers so are unlikely to get much sympathy if unwell, injured or traumatised. Oh, and a lot of the illness, injury and trauma will be gained while at work.

There are some good things though - generally there's a strong sense of camaraderie and i like my colleagues. I do feel I am contributing to society (although you will rarely get any thanks from the people you help). At senior levels care work can be flexible around families (though less often when you first start).

It isnt a bad role exactly, you just need to be realistic about what you are getting into.

@KitKat1985

It's long hours, poor pay and very physical demanding. Community work can also be very time pressured (e.g, you might be given 15 minutes to get an incredibly frail person toileted, dressed and fed, when in reality you need twice that amount of time).

I have heard similar stories in my research. We have written about the law in this area on our website if anyone is interested...

research.kent.ac.uk/social-care-regulation-at-work/staffing-levels-workload/

InTheHeatofLisbon has what it takes. I speak of a parent of an adult child with severe disabilities. You need a heart for it, you either have what it takes or you soon find out you’re not cut out for it. It’s more than a job & good care workers love what they do.