15 minutes, Ive had enough

[RiceAndP]

I bloody hate this and have given my notice in. All of our clients are vulnerable and elderly and they just want a friendly face who will sit and talk to them. As in most cases we are the only human contact they see all-day. But in 15 minutes I have to Log in, Make a cup of Tea, Toileting, Taking back into an Armchair, Bed or Wheelchair, Ensure correct Medication is given and taken, Write a daily record in writing of the visit, Log out and go onto the next client call. All this has to be done whilst the client is wanting and needing a lot more attention than this and wanting to have a chat. I'm angry that 15 minutes is all that is allocated to do all this and its the client that suffers. I want to sit and talk and take more time and care for the clients.
Being Elderly means that you cant bloody rush around like Lewis Hamilton and time needs to be taken in doing the tasks. I feel so guilty rushing them about and having a hurried conversation, its wrong to treat people like this. 45 minutes is allocated for Morning calls, Get the client out of bed, toileting, Shower/bath, Dressed for the day, make and eat breakfast, Take Medication, fill in record keeping. Feels like the clients are being poorly treated so I am off, Cant bear for them to be treated like this.

I understand your frustration but Social Services just don't have the money to pay carers to sit and chat with clients.
If the people you visit don't see anyone else but you there are lots of other resources they can access. Day centres and Age UK offer some excellent social opportunities.
You need to calmly feed back to your manager the concerns you have that these needs are not being met.
You sound like you really care so it would be a shame to loose you as a carer.

I don't think OP is expecting to be paid to 'sit and chat'. OP is just saying she'd like to give elderly people the care they need without it all being done in a horrible rush.

Its also the low morale of the carers, most of whom are on this awful nought hours contract. It suits the employers but not the clients and the carers. Social Services have the recourses to pay inflated salaries to the top people in charge and when things go wrong the pay out thousands of pounds to these people. Instead of channelling the money elsewhere in providing better care and time to our most vulnerable.

I'm not expecting to be paid to sit and chat. Being paid for 15 minutes is not a lot of pay, all of 2 pounds. It would be better if we could visit for a full hour and take our time with the client, who are after all human beings in need of comfort.

Rice in our area there is also the problem of not having enough care agencies. Carers are then over loaded because they try to accommodate too many people.

That's terrible OP

The spending panels are not in charge of the salaries of the managers. So that is not relevant.

What is relevant is that older people do need to be cared for properly. That is simply not enough time to do that in. If you want decent care for older people (and people with LD and so on) you need to pay for it.

You are paid £2 for 15 minutes? I am shocked as I know the agency will be getting a lot more than that. I sometimes use private PA's as clients get a lot more time for their/social services money. Have you thought about becoming a PA?

:( I admire people who do what you do for a job and I am disgusted at how little you are paid for it and how much you are expected to do in such a short amount of time.

I am not at all surprised you have had enough - but it's very sad that this will push more of the 'good carers' out and then they will be forced to employ less caring people to do the job, so the clients are even worse off... it's horrible.

There are quite a lot of families who look for private carers - would you consider looking at that? It would be a shame to lose you as a carer completely.

Its a private care provider, whom most of are. Wheretoyou a P.A?

Personal Assistant. You can register as one with your local council - you become an 'approved' PA. When Social Workers are looking for one they look on a website and can see if you are available.
Or you can go freelance. Lots of people advertise in 'Lady' Magazine.
Our Social Services give clients a budget to spend on care so they can get more for their money and have flexibility.

I did like my work and enjoyed being with the clients. But parts of the work can be very demanding and challenging. A lot of times I have had to make split second life threatening calls to Ambulances because the client has fallen, cut their heads open, passed out and so on. And we get no support ,just told to go no to the next client. The client often has nobody to go the hospital with them and are bewildered at the time. There is no empathy from these people running the company.

Please look at another agency as the one your with sounds awful and they are not all like this. Most managers and social workers would sign off for extra time in emergencies. I once had a carer stay an extra 2 hours because of difficulties and there was no issues with this.
Don't give up, try a different place with a better ethos.