to think that working in a care home actually meant caring?

[showmewine]

I have worked in a care home part-time for nearly a year. The shift pattern fits around me being a SAHM mum, I do one 12 hour overnight shift a week. I thought that working in a care home meant actually caring for people but this has been a bit of a rude awakening....I get spoken to like i am a piece of sh*t both by senior staff and by my colleagues, everyone who works there is terrified of losing their job, we are constantly understaffed, ridiculous rules are made and then changed at the last minute and three times in the past month i have left the shift and cried, i have senior staff watching my every move and everytime i make a decision i am told it was the wrong thing to do....
Was i just really naive to think i could make a difference?

My mum worked as as a night carer in a residential nursing homes for over 20 years. She has told us she'd top herself if we put her in a home.

The problem is that these places exist purely to make money, so the staff get paid low and the morale is low and then the standards drop, people leave, new people come and get into the bad habits which made the others leave, its a vicious circle.
Care? no, money factory? for sure

DD has worked in dementia care, she has been sworn at, punched, bitten and groped by patients, she didn't blame them because they couldn't help it but she did blame the other staff who stood around chatting when the alarms went, or went out on endless fag breaks. Eventually her mental health was affected and she had to leave.

No wonder the owners were always on exotic holidays or wondering which top end car to buy next

My FIL is cared for by a private carer in his own home. She visits other people too. It is paid through money paid to FIL. He is very well looked after, and she has time to really look after him properly. Consider doing this maybe?

I would not go back to this as it’s just too demanding. You can’t fart without worrying you are doing the right thing. The pay is rubbish for what you do and even with all the policies and procedures in place people still move and handle wrongly and if you don’t follow them they get nasty as things take longer. I have since been to uni to get better paid work but I just could not do elderly care again. Some staff do really care about the residents but you struggle to give someone a reassuring gentle pat on the arm if they are upset without being accused of something!

Call CQC. It's anonymous. You can not be fired just for pointing out the truth. Record everything from supervisions to meetings. Sounds like you belong in care! X

Both my husband and I have been carers and you are right, it's soul destroying. The industry needs more people like you, people who genuinely want to make a difference, treat people like humans and give them the best possible life. Unfortunately until carers are paid a decent wage and homes stop being a business first and a 'care' home second that's not going to happen. My husband was a brilliant carer, he is kind, funny, compassionate and sensitive. He was the one who had cards from relatives thanking him personally for the care towards their parents. When he left the home he was really missed by the residents and their families. We'd bring our baby to visit and have to stop at so many rooms to say hi.

So no, not all staff are terrible, but the majority are. The industry needs more people like you and my husband who want to make it better, but those are exactly the people who don't stick around because they're the ones who move onto bigger and better things precisely to make a difference.

Two people close to us were in a care home for several years before they died. It's run as a non-profit making charity and we can't fault it. Care is the operative word there.

I wish all places were as good.

I'm a home carer in Cheshire, I had to say when I first started I loved it, it fitted in with my young son at the time, but now I can honestly hate the dam job.. There always asking you to fill in when it's ur day off, old folks are needy and demanding and rude, some days. I go home and cry.. I must sound like a horrid person I'm not, your pushed to the limit, but the pay is crap.. All I do is go home, go to work. Cook tea, go to bed. Like a hamster wheel, my son is a teenager now doing his own thing, jyst recently had 2 weeks off, after working 16 days I couldn't relax sleep...