If you work as a care assistant please can you tell me about it

[acatcalledcatto]

I'm now a single parent to two children - a teen and a pre teen.

After years of not working, I am very lacking in confidence in myself. I need to be working soon though or we will be in dire straits financially, and full time or almost full time.

Pre DC I worked in retail but I think I'd like to work in care.

I'm pretty sure I could cope with the personal care and the emotional side of supporting people.

I am not sure about -

Is there much heavy lifting?? I have badly separated abdominal muscles and a shit core so don't want to risk prolapse by repeated heavy lifting. I don't mind 'normal' lifting. I know there are supposed to be procedures in place but are these always followed??

Is it really pressured ie time constraints, workplace bullying, really stressful ?? I can work under pressure and happy to take on criticism I know that, but I have like a fear of being bullied. I've had it in one previous job and used to dread work to the point it made me ill and it scares me tbh.

Is it worth doing a college course (NC Care), would that equip me more or is it better just to dive in?? Do employers value these courses??

Do you need to be outgoing?? I'd like to think I'm a kind person, and I'm polite and friendly and interested in people's lives, want to give the best possible care and respect, but I'm quite shy and reserved. My ex MIL was a care assistant and if someone didn't want a bath for example, she was good at trying to joke with the service users and jolly them along persuade them etc, whereas I'd find that a little difficult.

Is there anything else you think I should know??

I guess I just doubt myself and think can I really do this, will I fail..

Thanks for reading if you made it this far through my rambling!!

I started in residential home with no experience and learnt through training and shadowing the other carers.
You gain alot from other colleagues and their experience.
Go for it and apply

I worked in a nursing home for a few years loved it and I think my passion will always be working with the elderly although where I worked a lot of them were independent or just need some assistance. There were many other units of the care home that were a lot heavier like the dementia unit...

I learnt so much and it’s definitely the hardest job I’ve had in terms of short staffed constantly and heavy work load... in the end I left mainly because I was tired of running round the corridors on an evening for another member of staff to help me with a resident that needed 2 people.

I have worked in a hospital for a long time now again that can be busy but in terms of your more accountable. Depends on the area you want to work in. I would definitely bank first OP.

Thanks @redvest . My granny receives home care. She can still walk but needs help with meal prep except breakfast, all house work, shopping brought in, and showering she has a shower seat and is helped and dressing in am and pm. Carers come twice a day. Is that the kind of thing you mean by home care??

I wouldn’t recommend community care to my worst enemy

^^ strokes for different folks, working in a ward environment or busy care home with multiple residents is my worst nightmare. Much prefer 1-1 or ideally 2-1 in peoples own homes.

Thanks @mummyoneboy19 and @Lilysnotroses

I have worked in care for 30yrs wouldn't do anything else .I have been a team leader in bout ald and community care settings .I have done my nvq 3 and nvq team leader level 2 and planning on doing level 5 .
Support work such as ald work can be extremely challenging but i loved it .With support work you have less hands on personal care and more support with care you have the personal care etc.
I love the community, I work with an amazing team I a rural area.
You need good people skills , be able to work under pressure and above all empathy and patience but it is such a rewarding job .
One tip I would give and I haven't read full post so someone may have mentioned it when you see a job advertised go on the cqc website and read the inspection results will give you a good idea of how good or bad they are .You should receive training on any aids such as hoists etc you shouldn't be doing any lifting of any individual at all , if someone is unable to lift themselves off a bed or chair without being physically lifted actually up by a carer then they need a moving aid such as a hoist .You can support someone to stand up from a chair or bed but they need to be able to weight bear so you are not actually lifting them. Best wishes with your future job hunt.

@chunkyrun my friend does 1-1 but it’s mainly live in work and it’s something I would like to do once DS has left home. Some agency’s pay quite well too.

• @GeologyRox* I just read your post and actually said spot on .You absolutely should not lift an individual either on your own or as a double up. The whole reason hoists etc are there is for this reason. It is basic health and safety. To put it very bluntly if your employer is asking you to actually physically lift and I mean lift not just gently support to say stand up out of a chair then if you injure or forbid anything worse that person you will find yourself in a serious amount of trouble .It doesn't surprise me at all this still goes on I witnessed it happen a few years ago when my own gran was in a residential home they did it in front of me not realising I worked in care and knew it was an absolute no .They were more worried I would report them than actually train their staff correctly and it is often lack of training.

I do overtime in elderly care wards although it's not my full time job. I find it really rewarding & the hardest thing for me is the staff. It's slightly different as I go to different wards so don't know the people well but I do find a lot of staff attitude towards elderly care is awful & patients aren't treated well at all. The main things you need I would say are: 1) a good sense of humour- you will literally be dealing with ALL bodily fluids most of the day. 2)Patience- in abundance. 3) An ability to get on with all different types of people from all backgrounds 4) a friendly face - I've been paired up with 'aggressive & hostile' patients and had NO issues whatsoever- and I do think as well as good luck it's because I treat them how I would want to be treated. Far too many staff in elderly care are disillusioned with it & I suppose it's easy for me to say I find it rewarding because I don't do it full time I'm under no illusion that it isn't difficult but I do enjoy it! Oh also - there's supposed to be no heavy lifting but you do need to roll patients over & sometimes hold them in that position for a whole for washing/changing and I have felt it in my back on a few occasions. Its not good practise and shouldn't happen - but when someone is falling your instinct is to help them. Good luck!

For a while**

@Echo08 Thanks for that advice, I'll certainly look at the reports when applying. I suppose I'm not confident with my people skills as such. I certainly am kind and have empathy and respect, I'll chat up a storm but I guess I'm just not that outgoing, persuasive, or joking and singing. When I visited the day care centre my MIL worked, some of the staff were singing and sort of 'bantering' with the service users, that sort of thing. One lady was going to the hairdresser's and and a carer said something like "ooh you'll be the envy of the whole place when you get back!!" . It wouldn't come to me naturally to say that, although I'd definitely ask what she was having done and had she been there before etc. I'm far too shy to sing in front of people. Sorry for long winded explanation. I'm probably overthinking it haha.

I hope I don't end up anywhere with unsafe practices. I'll really pay attention in the training and ask for more training or to go over it again if I need it.

Thanks to everyone who has posted, you've all really put my mind at ease and I'm actually quite excited now.

@acatcalledcatto

Thank you all so much!!

@Tattoocrazymum
@UseOfWeapons
@chunkyrun
@TheLightSideOfTheMoon
@bigpurplefuryknickers
@GeologyRox
@TwilightSkies
@Elmo230885
@Umbridge34
.. and anyone else I've missed.

Extremely useful information to me, I am going to go for it!!

Can I just ask how you got into it?? Did you do a course or just apply??

When I've had a look at jobs, some of them say no experience in care required or experience required but not essential, some say experience or NVQ required.

At my home people bring in their cvs, some have experience some don't, it doesn't matter. My manager will call them for an interview & if all goes well they start off on a bank contract- as and when they can work & as & when needed then after a few weeks will be offered a contract etc. They start off shadowing others while training is being completed (It's basic common sense to be honest nothing to be worried about). I got into it as my mum was & still is a senior carer, I started working weekends as a cleaner while at college & picked up extra shifts in holidays. Over the years I have trained as & work as a carer, care team manager, domestic & laundry assistant, kitchen assistant, cook, activity coordinator & administrator- what ever they need me to do really, all training done in house. You can find cqc (care quality commission) reports for homes online if you want to do a bit of research. Good luck

Thanks @Fromthetopmakeitdrop
I am ok with bodily fluids. I've family experience of this. Would make sure to make no issue of it to the person.

I used to work with people who had been recently released from prison on community service retail placements. Hopefully I have the right people skills and awareness of confidentiality, non judgemental attitude. I dealt with some slightly challenging behaviour. My sister worked in a residential home with children who couldn't cope in the foster system with really challenging behaviour a lot, she was attacked often and her car damaged, and dealt with self harming. I don't have the skills to do that all day every day, so I'll avoid that type of care work I think.

I’m now a nurse but worked as a care assistant throughout my training on bank. I loved the variety of the wards, but in a care home you’ll really get to know the people so it’s what you’d prefer. Working in hospitals will give you the nhs pension, and there may be training courses and progression. I think if you do decide on hospital work, starting on bank is a great idea as it lets you try out a few different places. I found it wasn’t so much the speciality of the ward that put me off as much as the staff and attitudes there. You might love elderly care in one hospital and hate it in another due to staff and how it’s run for example. I found people helpful and you don’t need to be hugely outgoing, I‘m certainly not! As long as your kind and hard working the wards will be so happy to have you. Good luck!

I'm not outgoing at all, but I did home care. I drive but some didn't and I would often double up with them or I did shifts alone
Hard work, some of it I enjoyed, some I didn't. Found smells hard at first and used to use vicks in my nose! But the caring bit kind of came to me like if I was putting cream on someone's legs I would be saying "dancing shoes on then later" and they would end up telling me about places they had been to when they were younger. It does kind of come to you when you have built up a relationship with the person, and you've no hope of ever getting me singing!!!

Thanks @bigpurplefuryknickers

That's good to know about the training, and wow you've had so many varying roles.

What does your home do about references?? I literally have none. I've been a SAHM for years.

I think I'd also be interested in the domestic and laundry and kitchen assistant. I could probably do those as well.

@AluckyEllie and @QueenOllie

Thanks, it certainly sounds like there is a place for all personalities in care, so long as we are kind and want to help people.

We need 2 references- either previous employer or personal. As long as you explain about being a sahm I shouldn't see a problem- if they get a good feel from you that should be enough. We've had people come in with years of experience but they had really shitty attitude and didn't get a call back.
When you apply let them know your willing to do domestic/ laundry & or care (it'll be better for them to have someone who can work in multiple job roles if & when needed)

You are most welcome. You don't have to be outgoing to do care. A kind nature and patience will get you far. I a right chatterbox but you wouldn't catch me singing for toffee 🤣.That huge smile you get when you walk through someone's door is what makes the job the best in my eyes .

I have experience of both the community and working in a nursing home. Personally working in the community was extremely difficult, I was paid only for the people I did and I didn't drive so walked to the calls. This meant that some days I would be out the house from 6am and wouldn't get back until 11- and would only get paid for 6 hours (or something ridiculous like that). We had a week of training before we started and that was unpaid. It was a truly horrible company although perhaps others are better. The nursing home was great, I was paid for the hours i did and I felt more 'protected' iyswim. There was more emphasis on enriching the life of residents, although I won't lie it's tiring and busy work!

You shouldn't be doing heavy lifting, there are manual handling techniques that you will be trained in.

It's a wonderful job, and I loved having a positive impact on the lives of those who needed it. I left to train to be a social worker and another colleague became a nurse so it can open doors further down the line.

I agree support work may be better? I do outreach and hardly see other staff. I work anything up to 36 hours with my main service user. We have a bedroom though. I'm only part time and with sleepover rates I do ok. You can get work without sleepovers if that would be a problem.

6am-11pm I mean

Thanks. I think I'll apply and see how it goes on bank shifts.

I used to work behind the scenes in an organisation that provided community support to adults with learning disabilities

Just incase this type of work is of interest:

In my organisation bullying wasn't really an issue because staff didn't often work together. If you're worried about bullying, 1:1 community work could be ideal for you.

In terms of not being outgoing- we matched staff to customers based on their personality and skill set (and every potential match could be refused by either party). Whilst some customers responded best to outgoing staff, others much preferred a calmer person. Since most of the people I interviewed tended towards outgoing, I'd have been excited to find you! It might be worth asking organisations how they match staff to customers before you apply (that way you avoid being sent to work with people you won't necessarily gel with)

When it comes to heavy lifting, we would have discussed any requirements with you before putting you with a client. In practice, this might have meant you couldn't work with a few people, but it wouldn't be an issue in most instances Again, I'd query a company's approach to this before you apply.

Many of our support workers didn't drive and this was fine (many customers were working on improving their ability to use public transport anyway)- but do bare in mind how good your local public transport is. It would be more difficult to do a community based role for example if you're rural and have limited bus services than in a city centre.

When it comes to qualifications, these were a plus in interviews but not a necessity. Far more important was relevant experience. If you don't already have experience some voluntary work will really help set you apart

Good luck!

i second the post about community care, id never do it again. in an ideal world, maybe.
But in reality i came across some of the most challenging behaviour ive experienced, and i worked in challenging behaviour units! . In our particular care company we ended up with a lot of service users that had been through every other local company due to abusive behaviour, a lot of last chance saloon types,, a sad state of affairs. but it highlighted how much abuse carers experience with little protection.

Care homes have their own problems but i did prefer them in comparison.