I’ve just started working nights at a new residential care home. I worked nights at the previous care home for 5 years and have previously worked in another care home doing mixed shifts.
The workload in this new care home is much, much more than I am used to. Not only there are more residents here, which I don’t mind, but our cleaning duties is crazy here compared to the other care homes I worked in. On top of the other typical night care work duties (caring for residents as needed, toileting, putting to bed, hourly checks and getting some up in the morning, medication rounds etc.)
Our shift typically looks like - starting at 8pm. 2 carers do medication for 30 residents. 1 carer does the tea round and putting some residents to bed. Then all 3 of us are putting residents to bed until around 11pm. 4 residents will already be in bed, either independently or with assistance by day staff, the rest we are assisting to bed. We sit down to start the paper work with a cup of tea. Answering bells in the meantime as well of course (there are lots of bells going often). At midnight we will begin cleaning our own unit which involves 2 lounges and 2 bathrooms. So we will wipe everything with antibacterial, dust, empty bins, brush and mop. Set the table ready for breakfast. Replenish toilet roll, soap etc. whilst checking on residents every hour, answering call bells, toileting, then we will sit down around 3.30/4 depending. Update paperwork. Then at 5.30am we start toileting some residents and getting 6 of them up (who actually want to get up that time, so by choice). And we will do this until around 7.30am. Take all the bins out and recycling and finish at 8am.
It is always us who empty all the bins and recycling. The yellow bins that have been there since morning since day staff aren’t expected to empty them. As well as keep all the laundry that has accumulated all day because again, day staff aren’t expected to keep it. It’s already exhausting as it is, and the workload of night staff being much more than day staff, and there are 5 or 6 day staff in.
Now the manager has decided that we are also expected to deep clean a different communal area each night and sign that we have. A deep clean involves cleaning windows, wiping skirtings, moving all chairs and wiping down completely top to bottom,
Are we not cleaning enough already? Or am I BU to think that? The other places I worked wasn’t this physical with cleaning. And we were paid more because it was unsociable, not because we were cleaning more than day staff! We just feel like the manager is treating night staff a bit unfairly and we’re all getting a bit tired and wondering how safe this is with having to be on the ball with getting residents up in the morning using hoists etc.
Please share your experiences of where you work fellow night care workers 😊