Employee with learning difficulties can’t cook for residents with learning disabilities

[Libertyy]

How would you feel about this as a manager or even a colleague? This is a role where you’re expected to cook meals for people supported in their own shared home

That’s a tough one.

I’m going to assume you are a peer? I think that if it’s impacting your work then it’s fair game to have discussion with your management team.

If I was wrong about being a coworker and you are in management then it’s up to you to decide if the cooking and medication is part of the core duties. It sounds like she can do neither and (not knowing the details of UK employment law) may not fall under the ‘reasonable adjustment’ requirement.

More info needed.

Our management just say well if there is 2 strong staff it shouldn’t matter so much, but there needs to be 3 strong staff on for it not to be so stressful. She definitely does have a lot of good qualities which I’m sure would help her thrive in an alternative setting within healthcare, one where she does not have to deal with meal prepping. I’m her senior so I have done her reviews previously but I’m not her manager, our manager is

What info is missing?

I agree with your manager. Meals and meds are a tiny fraction of the day, especially if it's scrambled egg on toast for 4 people. Just divvy up the work so she can succeed.

This employee would qualify for a support worker under the DWP Access to work scheme. DWP would pay the costs of hiring someone to do the bits of the job that the employee is unable to cope with. I know this because I qualify as a self employed disabled person, and have a part-time helper fully funded. Managers should apply asap as there is a wait-list. Access to work may also cover any additional equipment and training needs around her job.

In this case then. Not much you can do besides work around her/to her strengths. She gets lift assists and someone else cooks. She does personal care while someone else does meds.

Give her a picture of what done scrambled eggs look like… or better yet ask her what she can cook and let her go.

That would be awesome for her, I think I might pass this onto our manager to see what he says because hopefully he will be able to get this put in place for her or to see if we can switch her to a simpler service where the residents don’t have the same difficulties as her. However, when I say she has very limited life skills, she doesn’t cook for herself, she can’t iron her own clothes very well (when she was covering my night shift she took 4 hours to iron 5 pairs of clothing this is the extent of her disability), according to her she doesn’t do her own bedding, I genuinely don’t think this type of work environment is benefitting her I think it’s making her condition worse.

So who does those things for her? Can she manage food prep - breaking and beating eggs, putting bread in toaster, laying table etc- leaving cooking to the other.

I had this at my work felt like i had someone else to look after! Asked her to make pasta for dinner once and she tipped the sauce in with the pasta and a saucepan full of water! Management didnt care that it put a strain and put us behind.

Her own family members do it for her or she doesn’t eat. But in terms of food prep at work, she can crack an egg but she tends to have shells in the yolk and may even need to be promoted to remove shells from it if she hasn’t noticed, with her if you don’t tell her she doesn’t know to look for it. It is genuinely like she has a cognitive deficit. I don’t understand how management have let this happen

That is so similar to what ours did the other week, she didn’t know how to boil pasta or know when the water was boiled. What ended up happening with the lass you’re talking about? Has she been sacked? Or did she resign? Usually ours go really quickly

She resigned after months of it mangment didnt care as i think it made them better and look more inclusive having someone with a disability working for the company.

Surely if her role entails preparing food for residents, she should have gone on a food safety course by now?

If she isn't capable of passing - and it sounds like she wouldn't have the understanding necessary - that then she shouldn't be cooking anything for anyone.

Your organisation has a duty of care towards the vulnerable adults you're looking after, and giving them food poisoning would be spectacularly shit. If I was a relative of one of the residents, I'd be angry about the low standards of health and safety.