When frailty, advancing age and vulnerability begin to become a part of everyday life, it can be a difficult time for families.Often, someone who has been independent, strong and healthy discovers that living alone is increasingly challenging. They nevertheless wish to remain in the home they love, surrounded by the things they hold dear, like a favourite chair, family photographs, and often a much-loved pet.
That’s where care-worker is needed, however home care is a very unique job and for this reason it is not suited to everybody. For those that are suited to the job it can be very rewarding because you get the chance to make a real difference to someone’s life when they need it the most.
Live-In care offers a wide range of varying shift patterns so there is a good chance that you can find something to suit you. However, you must be realistic because our services are delivered 24/7 everyday of the year, this includes all bank holidays. The role of a Live in care carer is probably not suited to someone with a young family, unless you have flexible childcare, due to the evening and weekend work that is required, but simply point it out during the interview and we can arrange something that suits your time.
Due to the nature of our services it is absolutely vital that our staff are reliable. We work with people that have varying needs but they all depend on us to provide the service that we have promised. Many of the clients we visit have need for medication that must be taken at certain times so it is important we can provide reliable staff. A lot of organisation goes into the delivery of our service and visits are arranged well in advance to ensure we can accommodate the needs of all our clients. It is important that our staff attend all allocated shifts and that they are not prone to high levels of last minute sickness.
Our services are delivered to our clients within their own homes and for this reason there is obviously some travel involved. Having your own vehicle is a strong preference for the job, however some of our more urban based offices may employ staff with no vehicle. A high volume of work mileage can result in some “wear and tear” on your vehicle but our staff are paid a mileage allowance to cover this alongside fuel costs. As previously stated we are required to deliver services everyday of the year. This means at times during winter you could face difficult road conditions but where possible this must be overcome. If you are uncomfortable driving in wet or icy conditions this job would not be suitable for you.
Please carefully consider the above information before making a decision about a career in home care. You must ensure you can be flexible, reliable and willing to travel. If you feel you can offer these things home care would be a great starting point for a strong career because the change you can make to someone’s life is remarkable and there are very few things that can make you feel better in yourself.