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

I hated it. It’s hard on your back, not all clients are nice to you (some are rude and call you names), you have to change adult nappies and incontinence pads, wipe bottoms, empty and scrub commodes. Often while being shouted at by the client because you’re doing it wrong or not quick enough or they want to sit down. Then some carers also have to change colostomy bags, convenes, empty catheter bags, deal with vomit and blood as well as wee and poo. I’ll never forgot the poor client who used to regularly have diarrhoea all over her bathroom floor, the toilet and up the walls (and of course her clothes, the carpet, her chair) she was mortified, I felt awful for her but dreaded going to her house as the clean up took about 2 hours.

The positives: you get nice clients who are appreciative and happy to see you. It’s rewarding as you’re helping people.

I also think it’s great you’re looking forward to it. But you also need a dose of realism. Dementia patients can be very very difficult indeed, it’s not all sweet old ladies being forgetful. They can be rude, difficult, offensive, violent and very very unhygienic.

I know from ,my daughters short experience dementia patients and end of life were the hardest to deal with for her, but she was very young, she was nineteen when she did a summer of it. I recall her sitting outside crying at one point because she was so distressed by it. An elderly naked man had been throwing his faeces whilst shouting at her her tea making skills were crap. She was being made about eight pounds an hour. And she was abused every shift.

However some carers had done it a long time, and were fantastic, they took everything in their stride and took her under their wing. I think it’s a skill set that is hugely under valued as I’m not sure I could do it

I am a home carer and I love my job. It really is wonderful being able to care for your clients and make there lives easier in so many ways. BUT it is incredibly hard work and you dont really stop, its mentally draining and you need a strong stomach. The pay is rubbish but you dont do this job to get rich it's because you love what you do.

I have had carers and I am a young adults with special needs. I think it was fun because usually the person who was working with me only works with older people. I enjoy learning things, and one of the things we did was learn how to make Greek coffee together. And she ended up buying the machine and making drinks at home.

This was during the pandemic, so yes it can be hard work, but I think it depends on who you’re working with and what you do.

I'm a Care Worker and I absolutely adore my job. It's hard work but I really do love it. I expected to reallu not like it however, I love it so much that I'm going back to university next year to do a 3 year Nursing Degree! I can't believe I've never actually considered this job before. I love it and I'm really good at it.

@HikeForward. Genuine question but what did you think it was going to be like?

I’ve worked in care for 9 years. You need a thick skin and a strong stomach. And sometimes to be able to take a punch or a kick. It can be a really lovely job but don’t go in naively thinking that it will all be lovely caring people looking after sweet, grateful people. You’ll end up jaded very quickly. Be realistic, sometimes it’s lovely and rewarding and you can’t imagine doing anything else, other times it’s thankless, backbreaking work for very little pay. Good luck and hopefully you’ll find more of the first than the second.

@LazyFace, I was refering to care companies who organise dom care. They don't have big overheads, a room and a phone basically.

For the right person, it is the right job. You sound perfect for it. Remember you need to look for rewards other than financial and you get back what you put in in caring. Good luck and try not to let your colleagues drag you down as, weirdly, caring attracts some not very caring people!

I enjoy it, I’ve worked for the council doing home care, in a care home and also private home care.
I find it so rewarding after I’ve showered someone and they are all clean, comfortable and set up for the day.

I loved it. Used to get frustrated at the time restraints and it was devastating when they died but I loved it

@HikeForward. Genuine question but what did you think it was going to be like?

I had no idea, I was only 19 at the time and at uni!

Not RTFT but i found it horrible. I wanted to help people but was extremely limited in time (most of my slots were for 15 minutes so had to rush in, give meds, rush out again, or be late to my next appointment). Even the longer slots were only long enough to dash in, do the jobs that needed doing, and dash off again. I wasnt paid for any of the travel time, although was paid the bare minimhm for some petrol costs, so after an absolutely exhausting day my pay was so much lower than it should have been, as i was only paid for the time i was physically inside the houses. I also had a bit of an existential crisis because i felt so desperately sad for all of these people who had been such amazing people in their lifetimes but who were now lonely, unwell, bored, sometimes bedbound, and the fact that i didn't have time to spend quality time with them and keep them proper company or help them in any way other than the basic jobs listen on their care plan made me feel really depressed. I had a few patients with dementia and was not given proper training before starting to deal with them and so also found some of these patients to be quite frightening at times, if I'm honest. I was only young and maybe not ready for such a heavy experience. I think if I'd even had time to feel like i was making a real positive experience to their life it would have been bearable. But really i felt like i was just helping them to merely exist, not live. I feel quite emotional remembering that job - i couldn't do it again! But it is an admirable job and someone needs to do it - just someone tougher than me!

It's a lovely job.
But you're not just signing up for the job, your signing up for shitty shifts with not enough time off in between.
You're signing up for difficult patients who think you're a burglar and want to club you to death with the radio Times.
You're signing up to be constantly overworked, underpaid and underappreciated.
You're signing up for a constant lack of resources and time to complete the job.

Yes caring is lovely, but it's a very small part of what you'll be doing as a carer.

I went self employed. I can now get 20ph rather than the £9 the agency wanted to pay me. In short working for an agency is horrible but I adore care work. I absolutely love it.

Depends where you work! It can be starkly different- either doing nice things and looking after people in a nice home OR being run ragged with nasty management and people being in danger and all your fault, nothing you can do. All for peanuts.

I wish the best for you op!

It would be a lovely job if it was paid enough to support a basic standard of living and if there was the constant horrendous pressure not to provide care in the way you want to due to lack of time and resources.

I admire you greatly. But do look after your physical health. Hurting your back because you lifted singly - or hurt the person you're caring for because of the way you lifted - it all needs training.

I couldn't do it. I've had to deal with family with mental problems and it damn near put me in a psychiatric hospital.

Cleaning up shit is easy. Coping with people with dementia, psychosis, and so on would break me.

The industry is also notorious for poor pay and working conditions.

Self employed at top but hard between clients if they go into a home/pass away

Then care home over an agency home care.

@randomer

I was refering to care companies who organise dom care. They don't have big overheads, a room and a phone basically.

I work in finance for one of these care companies. The costs of insurance, CQC fees, Employer’s NI & Pension, Corporation Tax, salaries for office staff, advertising etc are huge. If they’re charging £20 per hour & paying the carers £10 then they’re unlikely to be a profitable business.

It's hard work. I'm a district nurse and we have a good working relationship with the domiciliary carers. They really graft and the clients can be challenging. However it is also rewarding in its own way and the relationships built can be very special.

[quote randomer]@LazyFace, I was refering to care companies who organise dom care. They don't have big overheads, a room and a phone basically.[/quote]
They still have to provide training, insurance and cover though.

And investigate issues and complaints. When I worked in social care I was on first name terms with some care managers and not because their carers were bad - they had some very challenging clients/situations that were no fault of theirs.

In all honesty, caring has brought out both the best and the worst in me at times. There are clients who I will always remember fondly, and there are two that left me traumatised to the point that I try not to remember them.

It's job that needs strong emotional boundaries, and mine probably aren't strong enough.