To think home care is an absolute nightmare?

[Stuffedcrustpizza1]

I’ve worked in a nursing home before but this is something else.
I’ve had one day of shadowing, and then that’s it, out on my own to calls.

I walk but calls are no more than 15 minutes walk apart. Even if I power walk, it’s an issue.

My first call was at 7am, that was supposed to be 30 minutes and then another call directly after for 30 minutes, even though it takes 10 minutes to walk there.

Both calls went over 30 minutes, I need to be more firm and just go, but one kept saying she was frightened then another lady kept asking me to do extra things, so it was more like 45 minutes for both.

Then a lady didn’t answer, so that delayed me. I then had to wait 2 hours at a 30 minute call for an ambulance to arrive for a lady that had fallen over, so that meant I had to phone on call and cancel 2 of my calls, I bet they and their families were not happy at all with me.

7 hours nearly without using the toilet. Hopefully I’ll get more used to it over time, you feel like each call is so rushed and that you can’t give the adequate care.

Anyone else done this job or had experience of home carers?

The lady I was shadowing seemed to find it quite chilled out and said she doesn’t follow the exact times, she does the houses first who are closest to each other, but this didn’t seem to work for me.

That doesn't sound sustainable to me. Without travel time, your company is cheating the carees, and putting you in an impossible situation on a daily basis. You need at least a bike or, more likely, a small car. And proper scheduling.

You also need proper breaks or your employer is breaking employment law (if you are an employee).

I don't have any experience but feel sorry for you, as it does sound stressful.

Hopefully, like any job, you will settle into it and learn the workarounds.

I'd get advice from your line manager though - they should be factoring in travel time surely.

I don’t understand why they schedule back to back appointments without even a 5 minute slot to get to them. Definitely going to get a bike if I’m doing this.

Plus a lot of the calls I went to the clients weren’t even awake yet or said it was too early for them.

I get a 2-3 hour break if doing split shifts, but they really need to sort this timetable out.

Thank you for doing that job and for trying to do the right thing.

It was about 15 years ago when my relative had home care and it was just awful. Never the same carer twice, visits cut far too short (arrived late, left early), or not turning up at all. It really was so much less than any person deserves. My experience was a private care company outsourced by social services. It seems like things haven't improved at all, and the system is still broken - not enough carers to cover when things go not as expected (like waiting for ambulance) and no time given for travel between appointments, which is a diss grace really.

I will have to ring them and find out about the scheduling.

Yep, this is why I went to work as an HAC in a hospital. We didn’t get paid for travel time (only a tiny amount for petrol) so ended up working about 1 hour a day for nothing.
It did get easier and I found if you act as if you have all the time in the world instead of rushing people, you actually get the jobs done quicker!
But it is awful when you don’t have enough time to give people and end up running late then all the next clients moan at you!

This sounds normal unfortunately from what I have been told by people who work in dom care, how they get away with it I have no idea.

The allocated time is also for us to sign into the system, complete care records and medication charts and sign out again.

I did it for a year. The day I handed my notice in involved a 30 minute rural drive to my 1st call which was 8am to 9am. 9am I was then supposed to be 40 miles away to relieve a live in carer, but I was an hour late due to friday morning rush hour and she bit my head off for ruining her day off. I was supposed to stay there until 2pm which left me an hour to get home for 3pm to get my DC from school, only the client said she'd be back at 3 as I was an hour late...... meaning DH had to leave work (own business) to get them and was fuming. My evening job was putting a quadraplegic person to bed with complex medical needs...... and they sent a new carer to join me who'd never done care before let alone for someone who needed bowel care/hoisting. I came home at 11pm in tears and said no more.

Most thankless job I've ever done.

Yeah I feel awful being late, especially if the clients are paying for this. Some were annoyed that they had sent me out alone after one day of shadowing.

Done it, you need to be firm with extra tasks, not down to you, work a logical route out.
My area was 6 miles from home, so with two calls a day, had to come home in the meantime, too expensive petrol wise
I never did many calls, and went residential after a while.

One of my clients more than certainly needs double carer support but is a single call only. I had to call the agency to ask them to send another carer, the lady is obese and I could not manage alone without damaging my back.

Yeah I’ll have to be firmer and make it clear to them that I only get allocated 30 minutes or 15 etc for them. Maybe some are trying it on with me being new.

It’s really tricky to enter a strange house, wake up the client and coax them into the shower, dry, dress into the sitting room and serve breakfast, maybe pills too, all within half an hour. SUCH an important job that isn’t given the time/ money it deserves.

I think you need to be firm that you can only do the essentials before considering anything else. Call times are often not the most convenient to the client but if you are not responsible for the scheduling just feed back their preference, likewise the need for a second carer. I'm confused about the timings though, you mention 15 minutes but also that they were back to back. Find out the protocol for emergencies, should you have stayed once someone else was present?

It’s probably hard for the clients too having a strange face in their home. They said I could go once the next of kin arrived but it took a while for them to get there.

I’m back this afternoon so I’ll try to be firmer.

Appointments are back to back but it can take 10-15 minutes to walk to them, so I had a lady 7-7:30 then was supposed to have another lady 7:30-8 who was 10 minutes walk away. There was no way I could get there for 7:30 as the first client needed washing, dressing, breakfast, medication etc.

This is an out there idea but makes better sense ( to me ). A lady I was a carer for received direct payments so she used this money to source and choose her own.
Wouldn't it be cheaper for SS to have a similar system instead of outsourcing to companies and having ridiculous situations like the PP??

Are customers trying to save money by booking one carer, or a 30 min slot for support that takes longer? Apologies if I'm showing appalling ignorance. No experience but interested.

@beinglikedisoverrated

This is an out there idea but makes better sense ( to me ). A lady I was a carer for received direct payments so she used this money to source and choose her own. Wouldn't it be cheaper for SS to have a similar system instead of outsourcing to companies and having ridiculous situations like the PP??

anybody in england who is entitled to get care support from social services is entitled to have money instead. Its called the direct payment scheme. www.gov.uk/apply-direct-payments. the downside is that many agencies charge individuals more per hour for care than they charge per hour on a block contract to social services. You get more choice but the money may not go as far.

@fourminutestosavetheworld

Are customers trying to save money by booking one carer, or a 30 min slot for support that takes longer? Apologies if I'm showing appalling ignorance. No experience but interested.

it does happen. Also it happens that some social services departments are "mean" in their assessment. The no travel costs and not travel time issues are down to the individual agency.

No way should a wash, dress and breakfast slot be less than 45-60 minutes. That is madness.

It shouldn’t be at all. The first client I had is over 100 years old, it took her half of that 30 minute slot to walk to the toilet, use it and then come back.

Yes, I watched a documentary about this a few years ago.. It was different in different areas, as in staffing problems, rules and regulations about time spent with those who needed care, those carers who had to walk to appointments, and those who drove to places. Not able to do all things for a person who needed care, because of time limits, and all sorts or problems that can arise. Those carers who really loved their jobs, were really upset and frustrated, that things were so bad at times.

In the home I used to work at, they sometimes had 3 carers on for 25 residents, and about 18 of them needed washing, dressing etc.