Private carer

[Shakeamaker]

I’m hoping to become a private home carer. Any tips or advice will be welcomed.

I'm a self employed carer and happy to help. Feel free to pm if you like. Few questions

Have you worked in care before?
Have you got a dbs?
Are you comfortable providing personal care?
Do you drive?
What demographic are you looking to work with?

@justgettingthroughtheday oooh could I pm you too? I'm doing domiciliary care at the moment and love it (never thought I would)!!

Was thinking of going SE as a carer as I've done 14 calls today and it's not sustainable to work like this surely! I'm fairy new to the role only 3 months in.

I have 15 years experience,
I have and enhanced dbs.
I’m fine with providing personal care.
I don’t drive but I’m looking at a local geographic area and have a bike.
I’d prefer to work with older clients in their homes.

I have an elderly parent who I care for and am a recent employer of self-employed carers.

My advice would be if you have experience but not training, get some training because I always feel more confident when I see CVs for people who have completed training in specific skills that my parent needs.

Can you work on getting a driving licence? A lack of a driving licence would bother me personally because I'd want to know the carer could drive either themselves or my parent in an emergency. I'm sure some clients won't care though but for me it would be an issue.

I'm not sure I'd be a huge amount of help as this is fairly new for me too but happy to answer any questions. I decided to use self-employed carers mainly because I wanted continuity of care and for my parent to have a "relationship" (in the general interaction sense of that word obviously) with the carer that they knew. The companies provide a carousel of changing staff which is no good. Another reason but less important than the continuity of care was that the care companies charge a fortune and then pay the actual worker a pittance which I find offensive. If I'm going to pay money, I'd rather the bulk of it went to the person doing a difficult job.

I have recent certified training in moving and handling, fire marshal, first aid, epilepsy, diabetes management and de escalation. One of the reasons I want to do this is to establish a good relationship and trust between myself and a small number of local clients.