What does a carer job involve?

charlishae

Possibly a stupid question I know but I'm wondering if anyone has any experience in this role or can tell me about the job?


There seems to be loads of carer jobs available in my area and there was one that caught my eye which involved going to peoples houses. Its not a job Ive considered before but I'm wondering if I should, trouble is I'm not sure what it actually involves.

xapprenticex

ill be blunt, if you're not able to wipe someone's bum then maybe its not for you.

I personally am barely able to wipe my own. If you are able to do it then good on you.

hign10pines

AM - washing, dressing, making breakfast etc
Lunch time - making lunch
PM - washing, undressing, making dinner

There is also shopping and cleaning involved. You are generally paid ONLY for the time in the clients home so you could be out 7am - 5pm and getting paid for half that. You do usually get paid mileage though. There are better agencies than others. The hourly pay might sound great but you have to factor in how many hours a day in total you are actually 'caring' rather that the hours you are out the house.

Marktheshark

Usually it involves using the equity of your own car to subsidise the profits of the employer.
Until your car needs replacing or expensive repairs and as they only pay peanuts, you are goosed to put it mildly.

They get around £45 per visit from social services and expect the "employee" to do one an hour and travel to the job using their own car and fuel for around £6-7 an hour.
Netting themselves around £38 each job you do.

tomtontom

Marktheshark wrote: »

Usually it involves using the equity of your own car to subsidise the profits of the employer.
Until your car needs replacing or expensive repairs and as they only pay peanuts, you are goosed to put it mildly.

They get around £45 per visit from social services and expect the "employee" to do one an hour and travel to the job using their own car and fuel for around £6-7 an hour.
Netting themselves around £38 each job you do.

Where have you got that figure from? The true rate is closer to a quarter of that.

kingfisherblue

Care workers are required to do anything that a client needs. This can include changing adult nappies, giving medication, showering, washing hair, shaving, housework, shopping, taking client to appointments or leisure activities, cooking, feeding, dressing, and a whole list of other things.

In return, many clients are lovely, but there will be some who are not. Examples that I know of are care workers being accused of stealing shoes, tea bags and money (patient with dementia), being spat at, violence (usually a client with behavioural or mental health problems), and family members who treat the care worker badly.

Many clients do not like change, but there is often a high staff turnover.

It's not a job that I could do (although I care for my disabled son, including personal care, but it's different when it's your son). My daughter is a care worker and loves her job (most of the time!). She works in a retirement village, so no travelling around. All of the flats and bungalows ar on the same site. She earns a much better wage than other firms offer. An advert for a well known firm (in our local paper last year) was paying £1 an hour less for a team leader than my daughter earns as a care worker. However, this is very unusual. Care work is usually low paid, and community work requires you to use your own car (must be insured for business use).

TELLIT01

There are so many care worker jobs advertised because the high turnover of staff. Many care workers are on, or near, the minimum wage for a job I wouldn't be able to do for 10 x the money.
As you don't seem to have a clue what the job actually entails I would suggest investigating much further before applying. You will be required to have a criminal record check, and probably be expected to pay for it yourself too.

GwylimT

It depends greatly on the service user.

My wife employs two carers, they take it in turn to care for her at work, and through the night/evening as she works away from the home two days a week. While she doesn't need lots of help toiletong or showering, she needs to help to get on and off the loo and on and odd her shower wheelchair. She needs help dressing, making meals and making drinks.