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?

You have to learn just to bolt about and rush people though which is what I hated the most. So you had to chivvy someone into the bath, run down to empty the commode, put their breakfast in the microwave, run back up to chivvy them out of the bath, dry and dress them in the quickest and least dignified/relaxing way possible, bolt back downstairs, get the breakfast out and go. It’s a horrible experience.

Your company isn't short-staffed, it's over cliented. Everyone who wants a job in care has got a job in care - there are no "spare carers" hanging around waiting for your company to recruit them. Therefore, companies have to work with the staff they already have. The problem however, is that greedy business owners take on more clients than they have staff to accommodate them.

Also, ring your manager and tell her that your call finishes at 8am and it takes you 15 minutes to walk to your next call but that she has put your next call down as 8am. Ring her and tell her.

My DH and I used to run a small home care agency and honestly, it nearly killed us. In his case, almost literally, as he had a stress related cardiac arrest. Our marriage only just survived.
The home care system has been broken for years because no one wants to fund it. As a small agency, we didn't have the economies of scale and there were huge expensive regulatory pressures from the government whilst at the same time the local authorities were running Dutch auctions for contracts - eg the lowest priced provider won.
A lot of what people have said, re travel times I recognise. Split shifts are a problem in older people's care because most people want a call around 8am, no one is wanting visits at 3pm for example. We were under pressure to take 15 minute calls which just seemed inhumane. Literally enough time to check the client hadn't died since the last call. And doing the rotas was a complete nightmare - so many factors to take into account to try and make things work as smoothly as possible, trying to keep familiar faces for the clients.
We offered some excellent care but honestly. the day we sold it was the biggest relief ever and contrary to popular opinion, it wasn't particularly well paid as there were always so many associated costs to keep everything running. This was in return for calls 24 hours a day sometimes, even when on holiday with our small children.
Until we recognise that good safe care needs proper funding, nothing much will change and the staff bear much of the burden.

I dont envy people who work in home care. My nan had home care in the last week of her life. She would have done better in a home but thats another thread. I could see how people were late, had to cut short visits and I never blamed them. They were massively overstretched.

The poor lady that found my Nan in the end has a special place in my heart for how much she cared. Hats off to anyone that works in this field

Dobby
Well done for breaking free from the rip off agencies and for providing a good service.

@PennineWayinSlingbacks I'm sorry about your dh. I know of 3 home care/care home managers who have had heart attacks/strokes THIS YEAR alone.

I've worked in the care industry for years and years and was always being asked to set up in a home care business with someone but i was never ever convinced there was much money to be made. As you've pointed out, the regulatory expenses alone swallow up most of the money.

I left at the beginning of lockdown and do private care for self funders now. 3 or 4 clients on the go and totallly stress free.

Definitely speak with your agency about the scheduling of your calls and especially if calls are taking longer than they have given and/or more than one carer is needed. Often times social services request the least amount of care possible for the individual and it’s often not until the assessment or even first call is completed before you have a full picture of what is needed.

If you can’t get to a call let the agency know first so they can arrange cover and also liaise with the individual or family. Always let the agency communicate those issues with the individual and not you so you don’t put yourself in an awkward position.

The problem I’ve had is that a lot of clients are given 7-8am morning calls and I get there and they say oh this is far too early for me. Same at bedtime, who wants to be put to bed at 7pm really?
So I try to accommodate them and say I will come at x time instead, but when I’ve got other clients too it’s hard to fit them in.

The problem I’ve had is that a lot of clients are given 7-8am morning calls and I get there and they say oh this is far too early for me. Same at bedtime, who wants to be put to bed at 7pm really?

The clients agreed to the times when they signed the contract with the agency.

@Stuffedcrustpizza1

The problem I’ve had is that a lot of clients are given 7-8am morning calls and I get there and they say oh this is far too early for me. Same at bedtime, who wants to be put to bed at 7pm really? So I try to accommodate them and say I will come at x time instead, but when I’ve got other clients too it’s hard to fit them in.

It's not up to you too change the times , there are limited resources, how many carers would it take to assist everyone to bed at 10pm?

You don't do 30 mins generally. Catch up where you can and most of the calls I did were 30 mins but you do 20-25 and save the 5 mins for travel time
It's hard, I had days where I was running so behind
You do have to be tough, if they're complaining it's too early or too late, that's for office staff to deal with. Report calls that run over their allocated time, every time

It is appalling that elderly and vulnerable people are left to exist with such minimal levels of support.
Domiciliary Care is not very for eith service user orcsyaff - but it’s cheaper, of course.

Yes the company who provided my carer never passed on messages to her if I had to take my DC somewhere or whatever, also I told her to come half an hour later so I'd be home. She ended up giving me her number so I could let her know of any change of plan.

I can’t be doing with early morning calls- I tell my agency I have an early start with job number 2, then tell job number 2 that have an early start with my care job! The best jobs with my new agency are ones that are respite for live in carers, so 2-4 hours in length.
Another thing in the care industry I still can’t get my head around- as pps have already mentioned- is the unpaid travel time. In the past I’ve done 12 hour days but paid only for contact hours ie 8.5 hours, then all that time driving unpaid except for a paltry contribution towards petrol. If a midwife is working say, from 8-5 and has 8 appointments with 2.5 hours driving in between, she’ll get paid for the full 8-5 shift. Madness (regarding carers’ working conditions).

I used to manage 3 teams for local authority 20 years ago. It was nothing like this. Staff had a three week induction, training, ongoing support and supervision, team meetings, input into their own weekly schedule, oncall support, travel time paid, full time contracts, and I used to work in a lunch break. And at the time it was a guaranteed 37hr week, it was my job to ensure that no one staff member was short of calls/hrs otherwise it was a waste of resources. But it wasn't unusual to work 35hrs some weeks and get paid for 37!

The LAs have been instrumental in driving 'efficiency' they require the agency to provide accurate call logs. So now carers need to log in and log out. LA will not accept the word of the agency. They instead want to pay for care by the minute. This means carers increasingly cannot make up time to compensate for lack of travel time allocation.

Ultimately though much of the problem is down to coordinators who couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery. Last job I did in Dom care was as a coordinator, but even that is poor pay.

Approximately 20 years ago there was a huge restructuring and funding cuts, with most available resources moving to services for younger people. LAs closed their own dept, closed their own homes and contracted out to the private sector.

I'd never go back to it. I saw first hand the attitude of the carpet walkers in the office towards the care staff.

A 30 min double call for me was
Client undressed, pad change/wash, catheter, medication, drink, hoist to bed, teeth cleaned, clothes to wash bin, pad disposal, sign in/out/fill care book in. Plus the little things like hoist on charge, key safe secured, TV switched off, lights on... all the small things
With a carer who also knew the client well, we would be 20 mins

15 min single call could be prepare food, wash up, drink, meds, sign in/out/fill care book in

You do find you get calls that take less time, or cancellations which help you stay on time but it's not easy. You get quicker though as well

Thing is as I understood homecare the carers don't get paid for 'travel' time, essentially they are only paid for the 'slots' they do. That means someone can have been out of their home for 12 hours yet only earned about 6-ish hours worth of work. And that's not taking into account all the things that can and do go wrong i.e. not being able to find all the meds, clients not being cooperative, etc etc.

If I were you and wanted to stay in that industry I'd find a residential or nursing home.

It's a thankless job, carers are paid next to nothing for the sheer amount of work they do. If you can leave the industry altogether then do that with immediacy!

Thankyou to everyone who does this job

My calls so far today have all been on time bar one. It’s a lady that takes 20 minutes just to get out of the bed, her son helped me out which was nice of him, and did some of my jobs so I could leave earlier. It’s tough though, the company isn’t open today but tomorrow I’m going to have to tell them that her calls are taking longer and always going over time.

What’s also depressing is that a 15 minute time slot isn’t always enough to cook them a fresh meal as well as do medication etc. So a lot of them live on frozen meals or sandwiches.

Just walked into a lunchtime call and the lady’s niece was there, never met her before, she didn’t even say hi or introduce herself just barked at me. “You didn’t do X job this morning “. It wasn’t something I knew I had to do but it was my mistake, it was something minor though. I know people are protective of their families and maybe wary of carers but a bit of politeness wouldn’t go amiss

How do you know it was her niece? Was what she said she didn't do part of the care plan? You need to explain to twatty niece that you can't discuss her aunts care with her.

My mum has private carers. We pay quite a lot (!) but I'm aware a lot of it goes to to care co (and to the owners snotty daughter! - rest of admin staff are nice) Your low pay is not reflected in the amount the client pays. We just want my mum fed and pay for a half hour slot twice a week just to give us a couple of days off. The problem is that everyone wants carers at mealtimes and my mum likes to eat by 12. So some companies schedule more in around those times to earn more, even though they don't have sufficient carers to service those pinch times. Same reason for sending you earlier in the morning than people wanting to get up.

Can I thank you so much for what you do. You are absolutely vital to so many people's lives. It is often said that carers are not valued. I promise you that you are by the people you care for and their families.

She didn’t say she was the niece but the lady I shadowed had told me the niece visits daily and is very particular about things.

I think a lot depends on who you work for.

My mum did home care when us kids were young and she loved it. However, she worked for a private company that paid travel time and gave adequate time to do the calls. She could drive and had a regular run so she got to know her clients and families really well.

I tried it when I took a year out from uni but jacked it in after 3 months. Not because of the clients but because the company were shit to work for. No paid travel time, insufficient time to actually do the calls and often sent to clients where I simply couldn't do the job. For example, they once sent me to a gentleman who had had both legs amputated. The task? Assist him to have a bath! I was sent alone Thankfully, the man was absolutely lovely and assured me it wasn't my fault but I felt really bad for him

I was only 19 when I did it so maybe I was also a bit too young.