To think carers are classed as unskilled but expected to be skilled when things go wrong.

[JonasBogeys]

Maybe it would be a good time to look at the skill set needed for care work and PAY THEM MORE MONEY.
Most carers I meet through my job seem exhausted by working the amount of hours needed to get by.
They receive inadequate training at times.
They get punched and abused (a lot!)
Is it any wonder things go wrong?

You're being slightly ridiculous here. Of course the people at the very top will be on a good wage as they have developed skills and abilities to command a certain salary, or are you saying they should work min wage out of the good of their heart?

Would you?

Could the government increase the tax allowance for carers and some other low paid but needed jobs?
As this could be an immediate increase and not reliant on individual agency’s, companies increasing wages which isn’t happening at the
moment anyway.

Social care is on its knees. Severely underfunded by local authorities and not a priority for the government. Care provider funding uplifts are less than the living wage uplifts year on year. Carers are worth more but the money just isn’t there.

Yes they should get paid more.

At the same time
some Carers are terrible. They are not caring.
no one trains or vets them. Some are abusive to the clients. Also why did the government let people get a visa for this unskilled job basically opening the door to people who are not really suited to being carers but just wanted the visa.

Job Centre pushes people into care jobs too.

Yes this I believe is true from my experience

Care work is easy to get, but not easy to do... hence why there are always lots of vacancies.

Where I work people either leave within weeks or stay for years. We have 2 new starters currently. One is really good and I think he will stay. Jury is out on the other one. She currently can only cope with working with one particular client . We have 7.

That's not true that no-one trains or vets them. They have to have DBS checks just like anyone else working with children/vulnerable adults.
They also have an induction process where they are trained on the job, and many have caring qualifications.
It's also not unskilled.
But yes, some are terrible. Just as some doctors, nurses, teachers etc are terrible

People are being really condescending about carers on here.

They absolutely are not able to bring home care in house. Thatcher and the conservatives made everything private over the last 30 years. In terms of residential, they dont have the buildings, they were forced to sell them by the government

If it was paid properly, they would not have to recruit from abroad

Some people are demanding saints: a vocation for the work, kindness, empathy, patience, sense of humour.. where are all these people even if the pay were £100k a year? And even then, you’d have to further eliminate those who were physically too small or slight to do the job. So you’re looking for strapping carers with all the soft skills too. I said on another thread that boys could be encouraged into care work, and posters were flapping about against it, but I think especially mental health care work could suit some lads.

The bottom line is though that these are not appealing jobs. In the pils’ nursing home were just people who had very advanced dementia. The work had little skill, really or reward. Just feeding and cleaning. There are a couple of secure mental homes near me: the staff seem to be (from the bus stop!) largely sub-Saharan men. I’m sure they’re not loving the job but they are large which is obviously a key requirement.

When I worked in mental health care here were lots of lads. Probably a 50/50 split. Maybe leaning slightly towards lads

But regardless, you don't have to be large, or particularly strong. The days of lifting are gone. You don't even help people stand. It's all strictly hoists and stand-aids and Sara Steadies.

It may be in some care homes; but some care homes are for working age adults with a particular medical condition.

We don’t want men delivering personal care, such as bathing and helping our daughter get dressed. She is in her thirties. We are more bothered about potential sex abuse, which we know happens sometimes. The risk assessment for her recognises that she is very vulnerable.

Well, not men delivering personal care to women - of course that is inappropriate - I was thinking more of dealing with unpredictable and/or strong people, eg the crocodile incident man.

You dont need physical strength for care work, they dont go around lifting people anymore

It's true, I was surprised at the difference between when I worked in care in 2008-2010ish and my friend's dad's home last year. We were still picking people up under their arms back then. Now it's stand-aids and sara steadies, and glide sheets and beds that actually come up to the carer's height. We never had anything like that 15 years ago. Maybe we should have done, but instead we just broke our backs!

No, not hoisting etc. Restraining or being able to stage an intervention if necessary, especially if out and about. I have witnessed several occasions when female carers were unable to stop male clients doing whatever. If you had more male carers then a) public would be safer and b) those being cared for might be able to go out more.

It's still physically wearing but yes, hoists should be being used in homes. I am a carer for a relative myself, they are quite overweight and even though I have someone to help me I would probably have terrible back injuries without a hoist.

A lot of elderly people are small and light from muscle wastage but lifting day in & day out would still take its toll.

This.
I've read of female care workers being sexually harassed or even assaulted by male patients with dementia, so male carers would also be good for this reason.

I wonder if part of the reason people resist male carers is that women are more likely to live longer so relatives in nursing homes are more likely to be female and thus they want female carers. Some elderly men might prefer female carers also especially as traditionally personal care was seen as a woman's role.

I am always covered in bruises and scratches.

• you sound like a very good person- but is there no way you could be protected from injuries? Could you not be given more robust clothing or similar to protect you?

Do you think more male carers would help as, as pp said, they would be stronger physically and better able to restrain patients?

It’s not deliberate tbh I don’t feel targeted. I wear clothes to cover my arms etc but sometimes it’s just too hot.

we don’t restrain our service users unless they are in danger or a danger to others. We have male staff but it really makes no difference to me if I am working with male or female residents

You cannot restrain patients unless there are extreme circumstances, even then it’s very rare. It opens the doors to abuse.

The conditions and treatment are shit too.
I did for three years for adults with learning disability and challenging behaviours and it was constant under staffing meaning I was doing work in often unsafe conditions, limited annual leave availability which coupled with unsocial hours meant missing birthday parties, Christmas parties, celebrations, etc., long shifts, and management who were completely out of touch with the realities of the job. And you're doing all this for basically minimum wage which means that the right people don't stay in the role.

I completely agree. They have to work long hours to make a decent salary. It is very physically demanding and sometimes mentally and emotionally demanding. Dealing with challenging behaviour, rolling very heavy people in bed, or pushing them in wheelchairs.. there is no device to ease the physical demands this places on the carer. Many have bad backs/knees etc Working 12 hour shifts with one half hour break. Caring for people at the end of their lives, finding a resident has passed away, preparing them for the undertaker …Carers carry out many tasks which a lot of people wouldn’t want to do especially when you can get the same money working in Asda. It’s time it was recognised as skilled work. Some of the care homes I have experienced with DPs have managers galore but the carers, at the coal face, are thin on the ground and run ragged which makes the job even harder.