why does the care industry...

[gina32]

...pay such rubbish wages

[stokemaveric]

this is a true story..a friend of ours worked in a cafe she applied to a company to work as a ''carer in the community'' after 1 weeks ''training'' and 1 weeks ''shadowing'' and when her crb check was cleared she was out ''caring''..even she was shocked as to how quick she was out on her own...all for the princely sum of £6.50 an hour and 20p a mile petrol money..these companies need to be under strict guidelines as the govt want more and more people to be in their homes rather than taking up hospital beds...

[RATTER15]

Stokemaverick, A weeks training is unusual, mostly it is just a few days shadowing and training at the same time. Many agency staff dont even have the very basics of training!

[LoftyLottie]

^ and it is pretty obvious they don't!!

[Carakeel]

Thing is, ratter has completed a large number of courses to do with his line of work, many in-depth and lengthy. So, he is well aware of how the people in his care should be looked after. He is always standing up for their rights and their well-being. But, he has to work with many carers who have not got this amount of training and are not interested in how things need to be done to make life the best it can be for the residents. And to be honest, they really don't care! They just want to get in, do as little as they can to get paid and get out again. They have no sense of pride in their work and no love for the elderly people they "look after". ratter has always done far more than his work called for. In fact we have both given a lot of our free time to improving things at his workplace, but this has been taken for granted and no appreciation shown. It makes me sick! The residents all love him, as do many of the staff. But all his extra work leads to nothing!

[rov1100]

I have a relative who works in the care industry. She happened to see the invoice charged by the agency. For every £ she earned the agency charged 3 times the amount

[4getmenot]

Our staff start minimum wage, they do an induction week before they go out and then after they have filled in their induction books their wage goes up, then goes up when they get NVQs

[rabbitygirl]

How about this scenario. A friends unemployed son was interviewed for training as a carer by a very well known age charity. He was taken on, trained on site in a care home and told that he must work about 2 weeks for no pay and see how things went with probably a proper job offer at the end of it.
He has just found out, by accident, that they have said he must work several months before they MAY offer a permanent job.
A bit much. Unlike the pay. Which is zero. No typo here. Zero!
Because he is receiving unemployment benefit he would lose that by working over 16 hours. Leaving him receiving no money at all. And because he already does voluntary work elsewhere, included in his 16 hours allowance, it's not worth while going to the care home.
So a capable young guy, with basic care training, is at home looking for his next move.....

[RATTER15]

rabbit girl that is shocking, I have never heard anything like it!!.

[LoftyLottie]

Carakeel. I sympathise. There are other carers like Ratter who I have the greatest respect for, but I agree absolutely with you on this:

"But, he has to work with many carers who have not got this amount of training and are not interested in how things need to be done to make life the best it can be for the residents. And to be honest, they really don't care! They just want to get in, do as little as they can to get paid and get out again. They have no sense of pride in their work and no love for the elderly people they "look after". ratter has always done far more than his work called for."

It's what happens when you pay minimum wage, you get what you pay for.

What I have experienced is care homes that are run almost entirely with agency staff because the turnround on permanent staff is so high. Elderly infirm patients get no consistency of care.

The final home my mum was in had virtually no turnround of staff and refused to employ agency workers. It was owned privately by a doctor and her husband who were absolutely dedicated and the care was first class. It was not more expensive than others.

[emmie]

Well considering the truly awful experience i had getting my mum help at home, with home helps, NHS nurses, safety equipment and so forth i can safely say it was a living nightmare. Nothing prepared me for the inertia, incompetence, expense, and sheer idiocy of getting care in the home implemented.

[missnemesis]

I totally sympathise with you em10. When my Dad was ill getting anything done was a complete nightmare. Lots of visits from so-called 'occupational therapists' who were great at asking questions and filling in forms but actually trying to get them to do / provide anything productive was hopeless.

All of my Dad's needs were left to be met, at home, by family members, particularly my Mum.

[LoftyLottie]

I had the same problems Em. And then further problems when she had to go into a care home. One long nightmare lasting for 4 years!! It was one long battle.