To think being a carer is actually quite a nice job?

[Shouldbeworkingnotreadingtalk]

It's a honest question.... I've taken on a (subject to completing the training) a new job as a carer, visiting clients in their homes ... , having never done it before in my life. So far, the training is all Zoom workshops / e-learning. The trainers and management seem lovely, really caring about their clients and I'm actually quite excited to start in real life. Family and friends seem to think it's a grim job and think I'm mad to be doing it .... so, am I being unreasonable to think it's quite a nice job? Or is it grim?
If I'm looking at it with rose tinted glasses tell me now

@Shouldbeworkingnotreadingtalk

I am a domiciliary carer and have been for a few years now and absolutely love my job. The company I work for are an excellent company to work for. They are supporting the parents through home schooling. Letting us work flexibly when we are able to, We have time to get from one client to another, time to spend with clients.
I appreciate that this isn't the norm though!

I work as a PA to a young adult with additional needs and it’s brilliant. The family employ me through the Direct Payment scheme, and I get mileage and meals. We do lots of enrichment activities and have a lot of fun together. There is some personal care involved, but we have a respectful relationship and it’s not a problem to either of us. It’s a really enjoyable job which benefits both of us in terms of well-being.

I think it’s bloody awful that carers don’t get the same kind of treatment from agencies. We NEED carers, yet we don’t value them... it’s such a fucked up system. Carers need caring for too.

I used to work as a health care assistant in hospital - it was wonderful . Exceptionally stressful, very sad, always understaffed and often very frustrating but the first person I saw discharged alive and well - having come in critically ill - it’s something you never forget.

After a while you stop noticing the awful bits - the heat in summer, bodily fluids, smells - and just get on with it . I used to love hearing patients’ stories good and bad, and figuring out where I could make a difference to their day .

I remember my (very senior) GP chum who helped me apply; when I phoned her sobbing after first 12 hour shift saying I was knackered and couldn’t move for back pain:

‘But you are learning about LIFE and humanity . It is knackering, and sad, and will make you so angry and and sore and tired - but it’s also so bloody wonderful that it’s all worth it.’

Some people aren’t meant to do it, I haven’t worked during covid as studying instead - and I’ve never worked for an agency so can’t say what it’s like doing home care etc - but loved every minute of working for the NHS .

I did it
Care was always cut down to squeeze in an extra client . There was literally nothing caring about one of us giving meds then quickly making a sandwich and the other quickly coaxing him / her to the toilet .. very very often , actually always an 1/2 visit was cut down to 15 minutes in order to squeeze in extra clients
The company charged the 1/2 hour
Some clients needed an hour care due to choking issues while eating or other issues . This also was ordered to cut by 15-20 minutes to squeeze others in
Fucking despicable
One client I visited had no tv , no visitors, no magazines no books , we were literally the only people we saw all day , she required , breakfast , lunch , tea and bed, she was so grateful to see our faces , her eyes lit up
We had to cut her time down
I left
There’s no care in that bullshit , it’s all about the money to them ( the company)
I’d never employ a Carer for my loved ones for that reason

Thank you all so much for the comments, I was worried I was being naive, but would rather know at least.... I have been pleasantly surprised at the amount of good ones .... for me, the clients all have dementia in one form or another (some very mildly), but the minimum visit time is one hour with each client, and your travelling time between clients is paid for too.
The money isn't the main driver for me, (but it will help), it's also just the getting out of the house / seeing people / feeling worthwhile as a human.
Yes, the hourly rate isn't great, but I don't want a stressful job (commuted to London in a high pressure well paid role previously) .... I want to be able to get home and not have sleepless nights worrying about my job. (Although of course I'm sure you still think about the clients - I doubt it's so stressful you don't get any sleep).
Off for more training today on giving medications, I don't think they let you loose for a few weeks yet, but I'll come back and update you all how it goes. Thank you all

It's a factory The client pays £20.00 an hour,you get 10,the bastards in the middle keep 10.Theres nothing caring about care.

That £10 pays the organisation to co ordinate the care, send a replacement carer when needed, train and recruit and keep carers, ensure health and safety regulations, investigate complaints ,
process the required admin, covers insurance etc etc

Good luck OP

The worst part was seeing the clients not get anywhere near the care that they needed. Luckily most of mine had really good neighbours. You realise how much unemployed women pick up in our society.

The next thing was, other carers not doing their job properly and the company not pulling them up on it. Even medication breaches were ignored.

Then it was the manager's incompetence around rotas, not being valued and getting disillusioned. It can be a good stepping stone, though.

You will earn 'angel points' , feel a deep sense of satisfaction, learn more about how people tick than you ever thought possible, and discover a well of stamina you might never have found before. You will connect with people on a real, gritty level and help them through their darkest times, celebrate their success, and feel that you are doing a job that actually means something to humanity. Good luck with it OP!

In my experience of doing care work while at uni and now working as a nurse, it’s the family members that can really spoil it for you. There’s always someone’s relative watching you like a hawk and implying that you are incompetent. Many people seem to equate low pay with low value, which is ridiculous really because if the work was easy they would be looking after their relative themselves.

I manage a home care service for a charity. In my team there are a few carers who have been with us for over 20 years, they all really enjoy the work. Of course you cannot be squeamish but surprisingly most carers get used to that quite quickly. Good care providers have a variety of work options and a lot of our staff have shifts so they can avoid needing paid childcare - big financial advantage, I had a high paid job when mine were small and paid most of it out for childcare. I work for a not for profit and the expenses of running the ;business - CQC fees, insurance, admin for all the paperwork, staff training etc. mean we work on a virtually non existent margin.

We have had a number of people join us because their usual work is not available - think creative types - I'm sure they will leave when the economy improves but they have given a lot over the last few months and g;ot a real insight into the life of older people.

I love my job and work in a care home but the pay is bad and now they cutting down on carers in my care home. What we do is a lot but I wouldn't change it at all.

@IamMaz

My late father needed a carer when he developed dementia and my mother didn't [wouldn't] look after him properly. She used the carer's visit as an opportunity for company for HER!!!! She sat in the lounge with the carer and made a cup of tea for each of them and had a 30 minute chat - and my father wasn't being cared for at all. His was the first visit of the day so all they did was drive from their home, sit chatting and drinking tea for half an hour - and get paid for it. Meanwhile my dad was still wearing the same mucky clothes for weeks and having no help with getting washed etc.

You sound like you're going to be a lovely carer, OP.

That’s awful but presumably the carer was being employed to do as she was asked by the people paying her ie your DM? Who probably felt she needed the respite and lacked the insight to see what really was needed?

Not the fault of the carer I imagine.

OP it completely depends on who you work for. LA domiciliary sounds pretty awful but working for a decent agency providing hour long visits can be very rewarding as can a well staffed and resourced care home. I have experienced several of them unfortunately and they can be light years apart.

As well dealing with death can be stressful at first but you can sadly get use to it.

It depends on who you're caring for and how you get on with the other care staff.

My dd lives in supported living for young adults with disabilities. Her home is the holy grail of care jobs, 3 adults who just need support with everyday tasks but don't require any lifting or a great deal of help with personal care. Behaviour wise they can have their moments but in general aren't that challenging.

The staff all get on and are friends outside of work too.

Now compare that to caring for someone who has vascular dementia or a horrific brain injury that causes aggression and they're two completely different jobs.

So, you think its a lovely job...without having actually done it yet

Depends where you work. I loved working in a residential placement. However, I’ve just finished doing domiciliary and it is no exaggeration to say it was making me depressed. Not the clients- they were great and I’ll genuinely miss seeing them. The terms/conditions, I just felt they were taking the piss.
Zero hour contract, but they expected availability at all times.
No travel time paid, meant my wage often had to be “topped up” to minimum wage despite me officially getting over £10 per hour. I’d be at work 6 hours but only get paid for 3.

Having to use my own phone, my own car etc, without financial compensation and then getting grief if there was a problem with either. No I don’t have a spare car.
Being expected to do too much in a short space of time, and not being paid for the extra time a visit inevitably took.
Having too little travel time between visits, so that I was pressurised to speed, as if I was late I, quite rightly, still had to spend the full visit time for my client and so lateness would accumulate up over the shift. I hate being late and it stressed me out.
Always finishing much later than I was meant to.
Going

Just say I found your post heartening. You’re positive, looking forward to it and find the company / management to be caring towards clients. We need so many more like them and you. I wish you every success and happiness in your new job.

@Shouldbeworkingnotreadingtalk

Thank you all so much for the comments, I was worried I was being naive, but would rather know at least.... I have been pleasantly surprised at the amount of good ones .... for me, the clients all have dementia in one form or another (some very mildly), but the minimum visit time is one hour with each client, and your travelling time between clients is paid for too. The money isn't the main driver for me, (but it will help), it's also just the getting out of the house / seeing people / feeling worthwhile as a human. Yes, the hourly rate isn't great, but I don't want a stressful job (commuted to London in a high pressure well paid role previously) .... I want to be able to get home and not have sleepless nights worrying about my job. (Although of course I'm sure you still think about the clients - I doubt it's so stressful you don't get any sleep). Off for more training today on giving medications, I don't think they let you loose for a few weeks yet, but I'll come back and update you all how it goes. Thank you all

You would be surprised re losing sleep - you do think of clients and patients and you do lose sleep . I think of one poor lass every single day, her story was so horrendous . There are things you hear, things you question and things you want to do but can’t and that does play on your mind a lot .

You should be offered counselling or a debrief, in theory ... if you find something or someone is playing on your mind it is worth seeking some sort of help .

I think it’s quite natural for some things and people to just hit home a bit more than others though .

I could not imagine doing anything else, but as a PP said, the enjoyment is really helped by working for a good company. Knowing you are supported and not overstretched or rushed is worth its weight in gold.

I have worked in the community and in units and supported living and I enjoy different bits of both. I have always worked in LD care, rather than older persons, so the community calls are different, and longer, and its much more about supporting an individual. I am hoping to go back out into the community once the pandemic is over and I am allowed to work across different services again.

I wouldn't be so sure about missing sleep. Quite often I have laid awake at night thinking about situations or things that have happened in the day.

IME it’s a job you have to love in order to do it well. It’s much, much harder than you might expect: managing people who have dementia and their relatives with a huge number of clients. Spotting when something isn’t right (eg client developing a UTI whose behaviour has changed), when you have a huge list of clients, planning your time so everyone gets what they need (and knowing who needs what support), stopping potential aggression toward you before it starts, keeping people’s dignity, dealing with personal comments that might be hurtful to you without showing it (eg homophobia, comments on weight, hair colour, race, whatever)....

I worked in care for 20 years and it wiped me out mentally and physically, yes it’s great if you work with nice clients but there is more people staying in their own homes now and their safety and needs are not being catered for.
It’s a thankless job but can be rewarding sometimes .

I think it depends as much on you as your clients and you sound like you have the right attitude and disposition.

Not all care jobs are equal! I couldn't do care in the community again. My care job is supporting one young lady in her own home with her own family. I'm there all day pre pandemic we'd always be out visiting places. I work 2-1 with another colleague. I adore the young lady I care for and it doesn't feel like work. Can't say the same when I did care in the community or a day centre.