Any care assistants?

sapphireeye

If there are, I'm after your advice! I've been working for a couple of weeks as a home care assistant which means being given a schedule of service users to go and visit and driving between their houses for visits to do the usual care duties - getting out of bed, medication, showering, dressing etc. The work itself I find fine but I'm finding some of the realities of the job quite difficult to cope with - being given a schedule where I have half an hour with one person (say 7-7.30) and am then expected to be at the next person's house 5 miles away at 7.30-8 and so forth. I have no time to get to people's houses and I'm not paid for any time that I'm not at a person's house. On the other side of the coin, some days I work 15 minutes, then have a 45 minute gap, then work another 15 minutes and have an hour gap and so on - the gaps aren't enough time to get anything done but I'm also not getting paid for that time. This week I've worked 42 hours but am only being paid for 26. I'd quite like to be working (as in being paid for) 40 hours a week but I know if I work that much I could be out of the house 'at work' for 60+ hours a week.

I'm also finding the lack of support quite difficult, I'm out there on my own and I was told to ring the office for information every time I visit someone new but they can never tell me anything and the information I am given tends to be wrong which means that everything I do takes 10 times longer. The other day all my service users were moved around and I was told to do extra visits despite having no time between the ones that I had so I was running very late and it turned out there was a mix up with a lady who had asked to have her visit first as she had an appointment and they'd moved the wrong person so when I turned up hours late I had to deal with the consequences. There have also been several instances where service users have cancelled visits but I haven't been told or the main office have forgotten so I've traveled all the way there only to be told it was cancelled, so obviously I don't get paid for that.

I am sure this is nothing new for people that have worked in this type of role before but I was wondering if anyone's made the move from domiciliary care to working in a nursing/care home and whether they've found that better or whether there's a whole new set of issues to deal with?

Savvy_Sue

Sadly it is nothing new, as you surmise, but it is appalling and not all employers of home care assistants are as bad as this.

Mind you some are probably worse ...

There would be different issues working in a home, but in general I think you'd be messed around less.

ILW

I would see what other employers there are in your area. This lot sound rubbish and will probably be losing contracts soon.

kingfisherblue

My daughter is a care assistant and if her client cancels in the four hours before the visit, she still gets paid.

Regarding the travel time not being allowed for, I would suggest that you print out a map of the area and pinpoint the addresses that you have to visit. Using google maps, print a route from address A to address B (it will show the time it takes to get there). Once you have completed this for all of your regular clients, take it into your office and ask for advice on how to manage your time - I bet they haven't really thought about travel time and don't think about it taking time to get from one client to another. You may lose some clients from your list, but that will also mean that you lose pay.

Something you haven't mentioned - a union. If you're not in one, please consider joining. Hopefully you will never need them, but they will be there for you if you do need support or advice. You can't usually join to get help on a problem that already exists, so join before a problem starts - think of it as insurance. My daughter is in Unison and the monthly fee is on a sliding scale, according to average wages each month.

ILW

kingfisherblue wrote: »

My daughter is a care assistant and if her client cancels in the four hours before the visit, she still gets paid.

Regarding the travel time not being allowed for, I would suggest that you print out a map of the area and pinpoint the addresses that you have to visit. Using google maps, print a route from address A to address B (it will show the time it takes to get there). Once you have completed this for all of your regular clients, take it into your office and ask for advice on how to manage your time - I bet they haven't really thought about travel time and don't think about it taking time to get from one client to another. You may lose some clients from your list, but that will also mean that you lose pay.

Something you haven't mentioned - a union. If you're not in one, please consider joining. Hopefully you will never need them, but they will be there for you if you do need support or advice. You can't usually join to get help on a problem that already exists, so join before a problem starts - think of it as insurance. My daughter is in Unison and the monthly fee is on a sliding scale, according to average wages each month.

My partner works in care and is a member of Unison. They do give the impression that they are only interested in public sector employees though.

KoalaBear_2

sapphireeye wrote: »

If there are, I'm after your advice! I've been working for a couple of weeks as a home care assistant which means being given a schedule of service users to go and visit and driving between their houses for visits to do the usual care duties - getting out of bed, medication, showering, dressing etc. The work itself I find fine but I'm finding some of the realities of the job quite difficult to cope with - being given a schedule where I have half an hour with one person (say 7-7.30) and am then expected to be at the next person's house 5 miles away at 7.30-8 and so forth. I have no time to get to people's houses and I'm not paid for any time that I'm not at a person's house. On the other side of the coin, some days I work 15 minutes, then have a 45 minute gap, then work another 15 minutes and have an hour gap and so on - the gaps aren't enough time to get anything done but I'm also not getting paid for that time. This week I've worked 42 hours but am only being paid for 26. I'd quite like to be working (as in being paid for) 40 hours a week but I know if I work that much I could be out of the house 'at work' for 60+ hours a week.

I'm also finding the lack of support quite difficult, I'm out there on my own and I was told to ring the office for information every time I visit someone new but they can never tell me anything and the information I am given tends to be wrong which means that everything I do takes 10 times longer. The other day all my service users were moved around and I was told to do extra visits despite having no time between the ones that I had so I was running very late and it turned out there was a mix up with a lady who had asked to have her visit first as she had an appointment and they'd moved the wrong person so when I turned up hours late I had to deal with the consequences. There have also been several instances where service users have cancelled visits but I haven't been told or the main office have forgotten so I've traveled all the way there only to be told it was cancelled, so obviously I don't get paid for that.

I am sure this is nothing new for people that have worked in this type of role before but I was wondering if anyone's made the move from domiciliary care to working in a nursing/care home and whether they've found that better or whether there's a whole new set of issues to deal with?

I was in the same sitution and to be honest I'm going back into it On Monday EEK!

Although the company doesn't pay for mileage allowance you can claim it back off the tax man at the end of each year. I think it works out as 23p per mile.. but don't quote me on that.

Mileage is calculated from leaving your first call onwards .... you don't get paid to travel to your first call and home from your last call. I don't know if this helps but I empathise with this situation, as I'm in it myself I know it's not nice.

KoalaBear_2

This week I've worked 42 hours but am only being paid for 26. I'd quite like to be working (as in being paid for) 40 hours a week but I know if I work that much I could be out of the house 'at work' for 60+ hours a week

Do you not keep time sheets and get the clients to sign for or "unable to sign".. This should be a record of where you are, when and for how long then you should be paid accordingly.

Beckyy

Some care providers do not treat their staff as they should. Have you tried your local council for vacancies?

My local council pays their home carers transit time, does not ask them to work split shifts throughout the day, and pays them mileage.


To be honest, I don't think it's any different between care homes or home care if you work for an employer who doesn't respect their staff - it depends on who your employer is. I know home carers who worked in a care home and would never go back because they said that it's the complete opposite and instead of having no support they have people breathing down their necks.

Koala bear, I think the OP means that has time sheets for service users, but she's spending the other hours travelling between people and travelling to/from home between split shifts.

KoalaBear_2

Beckyy wrote: »

Some care providers do not treat their staff as they should. Have you tried your local council for vacancies?

My local council pays their home carers transit time, does not ask them to work split shifts throughout the day, and pays them mileage.


To be honest, I don't think it's any different between care homes or home care if you work for an employer who doesn't respect their staff - it depends on who your employer is. I know home carers who worked in a care home and would never go back because they said that it's the complete opposite and instead of having no support they have people breathing down their necks.

Koala bear, I think the OP means that has time sheets for service users, but she's spending the other hours travelling between people and travelling to/from home between split shifts.

I mis-read. My bad:o

sapphireeye

Thanks for all the advice so far. I believe that the travel time has been brought up with them many times before and I myself brought it up at interview as I made sure to do my research before I applied and a lot of people had mentioned lack of travel time as a gripe so I asked them if they allowed traveling time and they said yes, which has now turned out to not be the case. It leaves me in a position where I have to make the choice between starting early and finishing late in order to see everyone and give them the time they've paid for or cutting their visits short, and I refuse to do the latter because they're paying for me to be there for a set length of time and they shouldn't have to be penalised, especially when most of the time there is barely enough time to do everything that's needed as it is. I just feel at the moment like I can't give the high standard of care that I want to give under these limitations. The company I work for are meant to be quite good and they are good when it comes to health and safety, moving and handling and things like that and I know that organising and coordinating all those service users and carers must be hard work and there'll always be mistakes which is why I was wondering whether a home might be more structured and organised.

Beckyy, I have heard that councils are better than private companies but I can't find any vacancies with my local council. I may try and do some more research into what other companies there are in my area and do more research into working in a residential setting.

baybeebug

Welcome to the badly run Domicilliary Care company!!
This is a mixture of the co-ordinator not knowing where clients are and probably short staffing!!
It drives me mad it's such a simple thing to rectify but alot of companies seem incapable of doing it.
As for mileage allowance you can actual top it up to 45p now at the end of the year so keep a track of your mileage.