The Social Work Blog
News and views on the social care workforce
‘I’m left with five minutes to get her washed and dressed and make her breakfast’
Week in the life of a home care worker – day one
It was a struggle to get out of bed today; my fifteenth day working without a break. I have to work extra days to be able to afford essential repairs to my car; without the car, the amount of work I can do is limited.
My first call today is to assist a lady to get out of bed. It takes two carers, as she is very disabled. When I arrive there is an awful smell. I notice that her commode was not emptied the night before and has been placed right next to her bed.
Once that is taken care of and she is safely seated, I leave the other carer to assist with her breakfast and tidying up, as my next call often takes much more time than is allocated.
Mrs M is fast asleep when I arrive. She likes a lie in, but they regularly give her a 9am call. After 10 minutes, she is ready to go to the bathroom. Mrs M has difficulty with her bowels so I leave her alone to use the toilet.
Fifteen minutes later she is ready to get washed. As this is a half hour call, I am left with five minutes to get her washed and dressed, to prompt her to take her medication and to make her breakfast.
I have reported my concerns, but social services say this is an adequate time scale. I would never leave a client just because their time has elapsed, so I carry out all the required tasks – if a little rushed – and leave 20 minutes late.
My next client lives several miles away, so I arrive almost half an hour late. Luckily she lives with a family member. Today is her trip to the day centre, so her family has given her breakfast and started to get her dressed. As most of the work was carried out before I arrive, I can condense a 45-minute call into 20 minutes.
Mrs C has dementia and often requires more assistance that is currently in place. I offer her breakfast and a cup of tea and check the house is safe.
She has no family nearby and suffers from agoraphobia, so the three calls she receives a day are her only social contact.
I make an effort to sit and chat while she has her breakfast. Reading through her file I notice that, yesterday evening, the carer was here for only 10 minutes.
As we are very short staffed in a different area, I have been given some new calls to cover 15 miles away. It takes 25 minutes to get there.
I am running behind, so, after preparing a microwave meal and a cup of tea for the service user, I run out without having time for a conversation. It makes me feel so guilty, but there is always someone else waiting.
By the time I arrive at my next call, it is 1:45pm and the lady is unhappy. I apologise and explain how far I have come, but she is very angry.
I can feel my head pounding, knowing that I’m going to be late for a sit I have to do next. I sit with the lady while her daughter goes shopping, but as I am half an hour late she will come back half an hour later, which means I have child care issues.
Again. I phone around and get my 76-year-old neighbour to agree to sit with my children so my husband can go to work.
It’s nice to get home and see the kids – they were still in bed when I left this morning – but I haven’t seen my husband at all.
Miles travelled: 42
Unpaid travel time: 1 hour 45 minutes.
Related articles:
Non-payment of travel time for care workers ‘breaks minimum wage laws’
Picture credit: Voisin/Phanie/Rex Features (posed by models)
This is the Reality of Home Care the Elderly know it the Family and Carers Know it.
Social Services are ignoring it
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