any home carers to advise me?

asparagus1968

hi,

trying to cut a long story short, am debating whether to give up my nursing job and become a home carer .i have been offered the job after interview today,am just unsure.
any of you out there to tell me what it's like?
I'll be giving up £5 per hour, but can work 5.5 hours x 4/5 days a week,instead of 17 over 3 days.
it fits in with school,( have asd child) less responsibility than my current role.so hoping stress levels will lower.
no sick pay, will have to sort out a pension.

is it an enjoyable, rewarding job? or rushing from pillar to post, feeling like you are rushing people and not doing a proper job?

thanks in advance

[Deleted User]

Yes hugely rewarding but never in terms of wages, you must be prepared to devote your life as my senior once told me, though from what I remember Mum's were treated ok with getting work to fit around school
I dealt with largely dementia to younger clients with multiple sclerosis at home, don't bash me for saying this I really feel the older, more mature person is suitable

Also can I say must be financially stable - are they guaranteeing you hours?

My last job to leaving care was one of those homecare companies that didn't deal with the 15 minute visits, had select clients and that did make a difference I think, though one thing I found was what was on rota for call time often wasn't what the service user (may now be called customers) wanted

xx

asparagus1968

thanks for taking the time to reply.

its an employed role but zero hour contract . Manager says this is as sometimes it is hard to guarantee over 35/40 hours to people.she said there will be no problem with the hours I want (25 ish) especially as I can cover different areas.
-I love being a nurse, just my child needs me more/want less responsibility/don't want the unsociable hours.

its elderly clients, and I am more "mature" 45!!

will have to review the old SOA again, luckily I've no debt except the mortgage,which i'll be paying until i'm 65.

asparagus1968

Deleted%20User wrote: »

though one thing I found was what was on rota for call time often wasn't what the service user (may now be called customers) wanted

xx

meaning they wanted you to stay longer? mmm, I am a proper softee so would find that hard.

Maz

If you want a certain amount of financial security from a role a zero hours contract may not be for you. Some weeks you may get 10 hours, others nothing. I've done care work out in the community and some agencies will tell you anything to get you on their books as a carer, be aware it doesn't always work out as they say it will.

Research the company and their pay policies before you make a commitment.

asparagus1968

Maz wrote: »

If you want a certain amount of financial security from a role a zero hours contract may not be for you. Some weeks you may get 10 hours, others nothing. I've done care work out in the community and some agencies will tell you anything to get you on their books as a carer, be aware it doesn't always work out as they say it will.

Research the company and their pay policies before you make a commitment.

yes, there is a lot to think about. have looked at the companys website, they are a national firm. there offices today seemed calm, organised from what I could tell.lots of training available etc.

what do you mean by "pay policies" ?

thanks for your time

dawyldthing

Maz wrote: »

If you want a certain amount of financial security from a role a zero hours contract may not be for you. Some weeks you may get 10 hours, others nothing. I've done care work out in the community and some agencies will tell you anything to get you on their books as a carer, be aware it doesn't always work out as they say it will.

Research the company and their pay policies before you make a commitment.

I'd second this as I work as a support worker for a national company. The hours can be varied and mixed, but I would be careful on a no contract hours as it literally can be all or nothing (we have had people on no hour contracts and they have done as hours all over the place) and although you may ask for x hours on x days they will probably still ask you to work evenings and weekends as it is generally where a lot of the hours are for cooking evening meals, sorting tablets out and the like. The other thing is with a contract you should still get sick pay if needed as I know we do as I had 2 weeks off sick a year ago and still got paid most of my wages.

As for the job itself it does depend who you work for but for me I really enjoy it. We have really nice service users and we are there to do whatever they want - from baking to day trips to seeing family, cinema, hairdressers, organising and attending appointments - you name it we do it. You sometimes feel like you have to know it all as everyone will ask and assume you know it, but after a few months its sound as you settle in. Its been the longest i've stayed in a job and can see myself doing it for the forseeable future too.

I would possibly look into other jobs in the area as there is a huge outcry at the moment for carers and support workers as there is a huge lack of people wanting to do the job and I think if they aren't willing to offer you a contracted hours then it won't be guaranteed that they have the work. Some jobs do have fixed hours too so you may well be able to pick up the middle shifts like we have for one service user so it is possible

Maz

Firstly, if you need financial regularity from your work you really need to look more deeply into working as a domiclilary carer on a zero hours contract.

What I mean by this is, that if they have indicated that you will get say, 16 hours per week, those 16 hours could be spread over 7 days and include starting at 7 a.m. for an hour or so, then nothing til lunchtime, then nothing until 'putting to bed time' i.e. later in the evening. your working hours could well be that scattered over the course of any or all days.

Secondly, most agencies only pay you for the time you spend with a client. So, you could be driving for half an hour to spend 30 minutes wth a client then having to drive another half an hour to get to your next client and you don't get paid for your travelling time. In this, not untypical scenario, you are 'at work' for and hour and a half but only getting paid for the half hour you are with the client. There are some agencies that pay your normal hourly rate for travelling time, like Guiness Care, so do shop around the agencies.

I made sure that I was quite firm about the times I was available and never worked outside of those. Do not tell them you are available anytime (unless you are of course!) whatever you do or they will have you working from early morning until late in the evening. There is a lot of emotional blackmail which they employ as well so if you are a softie, look out because they will take unashamed advantage!

There are probably lots more things you should be aware of and if you want to know any more as I think of them, just let me know!

I must say though, despite all of the not inconsiderable downsides, I found domiciliary work very rewarding but also emotionally and physically exhausting.

[Deleted User]

Could you not work for agency and/or on the NHS bank as a nurse?

Working for agency you do not have to accept shifts that are unsuitable, and you would not loose your hourly rate? (so hypothetically you could work less hours?)

Maz

dawyldthing wrote: »

I'd second this as I work as a support worker for a national company. The hours can be varied and mixed, but I would be careful on a no contract hours as it literally can be all or nothing (we have had people on no hour contracts and they have done as hours all over the place) and although you may ask for x hours on x days they will probably still ask you to work evenings and weekends as it is generally where a lot of the hours are for cooking evening meals, sorting tablets out and the like. The other thing is with a contract you should still get sick pay if needed as I know we do as I had 2 weeks off sick a year ago and still got paid most of my wages.

As for the job itself it does depend who you work for but for me I really enjoy it. We have really nice service users and we are there to do whatever they want - from baking to day trips to seeing family, cinema, hairdressers, organising and attending appointments - you name it we do it. You sometimes feel like you have to know it all as everyone will ask and assume you know it, but after a few months its sound as you settle in. Its been the longest i've stayed in a job and can see myself doing it for the forseeable future too.

I would possibly look into other jobs in the area as there is a huge outcry at the moment for carers and support workers as there is a huge lack of people wanting to do the job and I think if they aren't willing to offer you a contracted hours then it won't be guaranteed that they have the work. Some jobs do have fixed hours too so you may well be able to pick up the middle shifts like we have for one service user so it is possible

Being a support worker is very different to care work though. Care work generally involves, personal care (toileting, washing and bathing, dressing etc), getting service users up in the morning, putting them to bed at night, so it's more geared to early mornings and late evenings.

I have done support work and found it is more practical assistance with everyday tasks like shopping, hospital visits etc most of which are done during the daytime. I know there are variations on this dependent on the service users needs but it is different to care work where you can be visiting a client at 7 in the morning to get them up and then visiting them again at 10 at night to put them to bed.

Makes for a very long day as a carer when you have several clients to attend to. You can easily be on the go for 7 in the morning and not get home until well after 10 at night.

Maz

Btw, support work might seem like a better option but,as an example, if you have a fully grown adult with learning difficulties, throwing a full-blown temper tantrum in the middle of a busy supermarket because they don't stock their preferred flavour of crisps, you have to know how to deal with it.