Hey! Is there any carers in care homes for the elderly here who could answer a couple of questions please?

[Worriedgall]

Hi, I’m thinking of getting into care work in a care home in the future as I love elderly people and I think this would be such a fulfilling job and I’ve been told the job would be perfect for me but there just one thing, I’ve had health anxiety for as long as I can remember and my anxieties are centred around getting ill and I’ve been doing some Googling which I know you shouldn’t do as there’s a lot of scare mongering out there but I was wondering if people who have experience in this area could maybe give me some pros and cons of the job and I also read that this job comes with a risk of hepatitis which for someone with health anxiety really freaked me out, is this true? And if so what other things would I be at risk of? I feel so silly reading that all back but they’re just the kind of things that make my mind get carried away haha thanks everyone.

I've never caught any thing working in a care home, other than a cold maybe.

I loved working in a care home, it really feels like you're making a difference to someone's life.

But unless you're in a very well staffed one you wont get to spend much time chatting/relaxing with the residents.

I think you would love it - it is hard work but very rewarding. Regards hepatitis - when I worked with the elderly it was with the NHS and part of my contract was to have the hepatitis vaccine and regular boosters. Not sure if this is the case in other areas of care such as private. Maybe find somewhere with vacancies and ask to have a little visit so you can get a feel of the work involved

Will you manage dealing with things like vomit, phlegm, infected faeces eg C.diff?

You might be more suited to being an activity coordinator in a care home. Have you thought of that role?

My advice is to stop reading about these kind of things on the internet OP. I did domiciliary and care home work for 8 years, and have now worked in an NHS hospital for over 15 years. I’ve never caught anything off a patient (or colleague!), not even during the height of Covid.

Maybe have a chat with a local care home manager and see if you can do some shadowing, just to see if it’s a role you’d enjoy. Care work is not for the faint hearted. It’s very rewarding, but comes with a lot of challenging times.

Yes I think I’d be fine dealing with those things because I thought wearing the correct ppe whilst maintaining proper hygiene like hand washing would protect me is this correct?

thanks for your reply.

Thank you I think shadowing sounds like a great idea.

Would you consider children's homes? I loved it when I worked in one- much more than the care home I worked in. Both were brief end of working life roles though so not sure how it would feel for years.