Do you work in an elderly care home?

[B3ty]

What's it like? I'm thinking of trying for a job in one.

Most care home staff work 12 hour shifts (they do where I live). You'd be wiping bums, bathing elderly people, cleaning dentures, helping to undress/dress people, changing incontinence pads, and emptying catheters. The pay is poor.

I worked in 3 different care homes and hated it. I spent 20 years as a community care worker and loved the variety, and of working alone.

Not selling it very well are you

Go in with your eyes wide open. Yes it's a lot of personal care, but it can also be very rewarding and it's a vitally important job.

You need patience, compassion by the bucket load, a stomach of steel and good shoes.

No, I'm not selling it at all - community care is better (if OP wants to look after people).

I did 20 years in elderly care and honesty, it’s back breaking and soul destroying.

There are lifting/moving and handling regulations however these are often ignored, the equipment isn’t available, the person in question refuses to use it and wants to be ‘picked up’.

I fucked my back up constantly picking people up from the floor because there was no other way of getting them up.

And the people you’re looking after can be pretty mean. Unpleasant comments about my weight or tattoos. Also nosy, I got asked a lot of personal questions which can be tricky to dodge.

Staff to patient ratios aren’t very good either. I work in supported living now where each person in our care has 1:1 funding and can be properly looked after.

Homes for older people tend to run on skeleton staff. Three staff for twenty residents was common. What kind of care can you give if you have six people to look after.

Looking back, it was grim. And it wasn’t just one home, I worked in about four different ones. It’s so easy to pretend things are okay when you know no different.

I closed my eyes to it because I needed the job and the hours were convenient when DS was younger but now my eyes have been opened to what proper care/support work can look like I will NEVER go back to elderly care.

Not unless it’s properly governed and staff ratios are put in place.

I could take a thread up alone talking about how hideous it can be.

Look for support worker jobs instead. These homes are given set hours each person needs and will be properly staffed.

It can be very rewarding but it takes a toll on your health. Bad back, on your feet all day, a bit depressing, strong stomach needed, exhausting and demanding. I was a carer for ten years then became a nurse. Now retired I look back with gratitude at the people I cared for in their final years even remember their names and feel good that I was a part of their lives. But, and its a big but, my own health suffered, burnout, arthritis, and now have chronic fatigue. But on the whole I felt it very rewarding, it will always be a career that is in demand, if only we had enough staff and facilities it would be better.

Think it's vocational. I have a friend (PhD bearer) who finds it very rewarding, but she doesn't need the money, she just enjoys the caring.

It's stressful, physically demanding and exhausting. I'm not phased by shit or vomit, but I hate moving and handling. For me, not being able to spend enough time with residents can be frustrating. I've had some wonderful moments, which have helped me keep going.

I think everyone should do a care job, even for a short while- then maybe they'd respect us more and pay us properly!