Becoming a care assistant

[Kknightxx]

I'm currently 7 months pregnant and on maternity leave from my administration job. Im thinking that once maternity is up id like to work doing community care in my area for 2 evenings and 1 day a week. My mum works for the company so she says im gaurenteed a job and I can do my NVQ lvl 2.

Any other people who find this a good part time job while being a mum ? And fitting around partners hours. Ive got a GCSE in Health and social care and a BTECH lvl 3 so its something ive already been interested in , i just decided i wanted a 9-5 job so thats why I went into admin.

I would avoid like the plague. Sad because there are lots of elderly that need home care, but having done that job I would have to be absolutely desperate to go back and do it

Your earnings are never the same. If somebody goes in hospital you’ll be out of pocket until they’re home. If you’re running late at a clients house then you’re playing catch up for the rest of your shift. You then have managers calling you wanting to know how long you’ll be, why you’re late etc

Your car will suffer. Trust me, it will. Doesn’t matter what car you have.

If you go in to do a bed call but the client doesn’t wish to go to bed then you’re screwed. I couldn’t leave until the clients were each put into bed as they were unable to do it themselves. You can’t physically force them to, either. You may think you’ll be home by 9 for example but you’re probably looking at 10/10:30.

I was out the house 16 hours but was only getting paid between 10 and 13 of those.

What about bank work at the hospital?

@Kennycalmit agree with PP.

I was a care assistant for 2.5 years. Never, ever would I go back and do it again. As much as I get on with the elderly people, you do get some nasty ones as well and not only that, staffing and management is appalling. You are always short staffed, they always ask you to do overtime and people who are above you treat you like shit.

You are guaranteed to get a care job anywhere. So many places are in desperate for care assistants!

@TimeToRevolutionize

You made a point that I completely forgot about! I think a lot of people do this job thinking they’ll be sat chatting to a lovely little old man/lady about their lives and how life has changed since they were young etc.

The sad reality is - there’s rarely any time to do that. On the rare occasion I could sit and have a chat with my nice clients but I could count on one hand how often that happened

Home care isn’t like that at all. I have never been abused so much as I have whilst working around the elderly - physical and verbal abuse. Often the clients homes are absolutely filthy. I had a client who knew we were short of time, his bed call lasted half hour and was at 8:30. If he went to bed before 9:30 it was a good night. He knew what he was doing, he knew I couldn’t leave until he went to bed and he would sit laughing when I explained I needed to get home as I was up at 5 the next morning to do it all over again.

I now work in a hospital and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. Financially I am much much much better off, I start and finish at the same time each shift. Of course I still get physically and verbally abused but it’s not so bad because you aren’t alone.

I've just returned to homecare after a break and am shocked at the changes. The mileage paid doesn't cover your costs. Yes, it pays for petrol, but cars need more than just petrol for their upkeep.

Have also noticed a huge increase in the number of filthy houses, presumably because they haven't been coping for quite some time. Furthermore, service users used to be pleasant and grateful to see you but now they are entitled and ungrateful and unpleasant, especially people who get full local authority funding!!!!! They wouldn't talk to the district nurses the way they talk to us.

Avoid, avoid avoid. Better to go work in a care home.

Care work definitely isn't what it was. That said, your best bet would be to ask your mum, as they can differ widely between the best and the worst.

You would be better off in a local hospital, the pay is better, you get sick pay, holiday pay and free training.

@Kennycalmit It is a joke isn't it! I was a home care worker and I also worked in a care home. Both of them was terrible. I was out the house at 6 in the morning and didn't return home until gone 10, sometimes 11pm. I worked every single weekend too!

When I worked in the care home, although the pay and hours was better, I still got spoken to like shit and that was mainly by the team leaders. They really did shit on you in the place I worked at! I had one shout at me and told me to stay out of a lady's room all because this lady didn't want her to be in there... long story but it was crap!

Another one shouted at me because I quickly turned somebody's buzzer off so I could turn someone else's off then go back to this lady as you had to answer the call bells within 10 minutes, and she "did you just walk out of that room without speaking to her" I wish I had told her why didn't she help with answering the call buzzers then I wouldn't have to rush around.

My typical day consisted of this:
Care home was 1 care worker to 12 residents.... so we start on a unit. 7am start, they all had to be up washed and dressed by 8.30am in time for breakfast. We had to get them all out into the dining room. Then we had to serve breakfast to them, make tea/toast etc. as well as people in their rooms who didn't want to get up and also answer call bells and take them to the toilet.

Take them back to their rooms. Toilet people (everyone else is pressing their call bell at this point wanting to go back to their room or go toilet), so we get shouted at by them for not getting there soon enough.

Refill everyones water jugs. Do care plans. The team leaders just did medication then went back into their office for a "break". Made teas and biscuits. Got the dining tables ready for lunch. Answered more call bells.... no break at this point. Got tables ready for lunch, so again, we had to get them all out for lunch, serve lunch. Again while answering call bells and bringing lunch into the rooms.

Bring them back to their rooms. By this point, it is almost 1.30pm and I was due to go home at 2pm. I wouldn't leave until 3 as I still had care plans to do. Once a week, there was bed changes so on top of everything we had to do above, we also had bed changes on top! We had someone who could help but there was always short staffed we hardly had anyone who was on shift anyway and even if we did, they always knew someone so they'd take themselves off and sit with them and laze about instead of helping.

Sorry for the long post but that's the reality of it where I was. It was honestly the worse place I've ever worked in. It had made me so ill and depressed. When I managed to get a job out of care work, my last day I literally couldn't get out fast enough. In fact I actually left at 2pm on the dot that day! I had a massive fire in my belly I was really going for it because I knew that was my last time I'd ever see that place

There's a big difference between care companies, some are ok, some really really are not. On the whole I think community care is better than working in a care home.

I have done it for many many years while my kids were young. It's been great, flexible and I've always had as much work as I wanted. I am now full, time and it's hard work, but part time it does work very well around the children.

That said, it's really not what it was. The company I work for used to be a really good company to be a part of. Sadly over the last year or so that has changed dramatically with changes in management. We used to be a great team, and I suppose us carers still are, supervisors are alright too, but management are shocking. Really couldn't care less about their staff anymore, which is a shame and I won't be there much longer.

We are lucky in as far as we are really well trained, carers come from other companies and you can certainly tell the difference in the level of training they receive.

Carers in the community have an awful lot of responsibility heaped on us for very little money. We have to give medication, deal with life and death situations etc on our own for only just over minimum wage. I recently attended a training course at the local hospital and the nursing staff their were shocked at just how much rested on our shoulders. It really isnt just tea and sympathy (which I'm sure you're already fully aware of) and it makes me mad that it's regarded as an unskilled job.

I've gone a bit off topic here, but the crux of it is. I like my job. I feel like I am making a difference to people's lives, which is wonderful. I also feel I have gained many valuable skills from it and certainly wouldn't swap to work in retail for a similar wage. That said, I am disappointed in my company, I feel like they've sold out and it's no longer about providing a really good service for vulnerable people and more about trying to turn a profit. As I said, it's not what it was.