Speaking as someone who relies on carers every day of the week (3.5 hours a day + additional overnights when needed) my findings are:
The split between good carers and bad carers (bad includes those that skip out early) is about 50-50.
When it comes to care companies though there are more bad ones than good ones.
The majority of companies want the carers in and out as quickly as possible and I've had 1 hour visits where the carer has left after 20 mins!! at their bosses behest.
The quality of care varies greatly but more and more I'm hearing of and seeing carers who have a whole list of things they won't do and to be honest such carers just make you feel self conscious and embarrassed.
I've had everything from carers that refused to wash me below the waist for 6 months leaving me with such a bad fungal infection that the district nurse cried when she saw the state I was in, I've had others who have left the toilet blocked, outside doors open, cookers on, served me food that was off because they never checked it (this includes green bread & cheese) left me without water and even blown out the electrics and instead of resetting the fuse box just walked out and left me without any power or heating!!, I've been verbally abused, shouted at, sworn at and threatened as well, Finally I've even had one who at 19 would just bang on about her sex life all the time and the drugs she took, even to the point of popping her tits out and boasting about the love bites on them she got from the 60 yr old pub landlord she sh.......d the night before.
Of course I reported her but what happened? she accused me of being sexually inappropriate in conversation and the care company ditched me and left me with no care!! (I hadn't done what she said btw)
The worst case I ever had was the owner of the care company turning up one morning asking me if I had any sleeping tablets she could have, crying and shouting about her relationship, I refused of course, she was found later that day collapsed on the street after having drunk a considerable amount as well as having taken an overdose of various tablets!!
I now have a very good care company and a good regular carer I can rely on who is a consumate professional, as I type she's sleeping in the spare room used for the carers who stay overnight (I'm having a bad patch at the mo)
other carers who come in are by and large pretty good as well and I will no longer suffer/tolerate bad care but I have one major advantage, I still have all my marbles (well I may have lost the odd one or two) and the ability to speak up that others especially the elderly don't have.
I can tell you this, as a fairly strapping 6ft er I have always felt safe and secure but living like this makes you feel totally vulnerable, your safety and the quality of your life & health depend completely on others and there is nothing you can do yourself to protect yourself in any way shape or form.
I feel so much for others in a worse position than myself and those who are older or have dementia who are even more vulnerable than I.
I've been reduced to a blubbering wreck by abusive carers & companies so how much worse must it be for them? it must be a living hell with them praying for death so they can escape it.
Whats the solution?
The whole industry needs to be put on a professional footing rather than its current one of minimum wage outfit's hiring from the shallow end of the gene pool.
Anyone can set up a care company/home, all they need to do is fill in the forms and pay the fee the CQC charges as well as pass the basic background check. It shouldn't be that easy, they should have to demonstrate a sound working knowledge of the business in all its aspects and preferably have the highest level of NVQ related to caring
.
Carers should receive proper training, not the training they get now where those examining them will allow them multiple chances to pass the modules they do and even on occasions give them the answers, I'm not joking when I say that no one ever fails these tests, ever, all are passed.
They not only need basic training but also specialist training, for instance I'm diabetic and need to inject, so you would expect a carer to understand how important it is that you eat at the right times but I've had carers leave me with no food because the bread was mouldy and they wouldn't go to the local shops for more!
ALL carers should have first aid training.
Carers should at least be allowed travelling time, they can't magically appear 3 miles away and start the next shift when the one with me finishes at the same time as the other starts!
For those of use like myself who qualify for help with out care costs, the help we get should be paid at the market rate, not well below as it currently is and care should be sourced by local authorities based on location and quality not on cost, that way we won't see people from one county being sent to another just because the residential care is cheaper at that place, removing the person from regular contact with family , friends and their often long serving GP who knows them well.
I personally dread the day they tell me I have to go into residential care, it terrifies me because I know I will be moved away from my family into the cheapest accommodation they can find staffed by minimum wage earners who just want to get their shift over and get home.
There should be a hierarchy - Doctors then nurses then carers, the profession needs to be viewed like that and to be staffed by professionals for whom its a vocation, not just something to do for 16 hours a week so they can still get their tax credits and have a few quid in their pockets.
Little known facts - a large portion of carers are part timers who don't work in the school holidays or weekends/evenings and will only do 16 hours a week so they can continue to receive their benefits/tax credits etc leaving the few full timers to cover the rest of the shifts. The same carers will fight tooth and nail to get public holiday shifts due to the double pay.
An increasing number of carers will refuse to do things such as wash a man below the waist, especially if he's a younger disabled man, i.e. under 70 ( I can't see what the difference is myself) others will state categorically "oh I don't do vomit, poo, etc etc)
Most younger carers (under 40) are incapable of cooking anything more than a basic microwave meal, I even had one who didn't know how to make a sandwich!!!
Care companies by and large take carers off the road and move them to the office instead of hiring professional office staff, hence rota's tend to get messed up regularly.
Most carers only receive very basic training and most will refuse to do any form of first aid other than calling an ambulance or doctor.
Finally on the subject of local authorities directly providing care - My local authority runs its own care company, its the most expensive care company in the county, charging well in excess of the rate we are allowed for our care by that same authority, yet its service is no better than most of the other care companies, cut short visits & minimum wage staff pressured to cover more clients than is reasonably possible.
Looking at this you may think I must be a nightmare to work with but the opposite is true, its a very easy gig here, I treat all my carers well, never tell anyone to do anything, I always ask and whatever pain or discomfort I may be in always try to have a smile on my face, I prefer them to leave my home happy and content with the work they've done no matter how bad their day has been.
