The Weekly Gripe

Residential home care staff over worked and under paid
Care assistant staff need more help

Residential care home

When the needs of the clients aren't met, the staff on the front line usually have to shoulder the responsibility and at a time when they are only doing the best they can in a very difficult situation.



Why are care assistants and nurses always blamed for poor care in residential care homes, when most of the time the bad care is delivered because the owners of these private homes do not provide enough staff.

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Posted Comment Visitor
14-2-2010 the above article is a reflection of the aged care crisis in australia . . .the frustration I feel as an aged care worker is sometimes over whelming. There is little or no support from management and as mentioned above abuse of staff by residents "is part of the job" and as nurses we ...moreshel
24-1-2010 I have read all the info on this site and am in total agreement with most of it. I will be going to London very soon to discuss, with a large care agency, the whole issue of staff levels and abuse in care homes and would be interested to get a group together to campaign on this issue. If it takes...moreCatherine
14-10-2009 As a care assistant in a home for the elderly I entirely agree with the above comments. I feel so sorry for many of the residents where I work, despite claims that the home has activities, outings etc. most of the old people are left to vegetate because the owners do not employ people to carry out...moreCare assistant
18-9-2009 My husband and I own a 15 bed residential care home in suffolk and we are finding it diffcult to recruit new staff, we have always paid over the minimum wage yet still we have this problem. Our existing staff are quite rightly getting fed up of covering long hours and the manager and myself are ha...moresuffolk folk
11-9-2009 I work in a 50 room nursing home, and lately staff numbers have fallen due to being over worked, under paid, having no support from managers. So to compensate that the rest of the staff have to work 13-15 hour shifts, often working through our half-hour non-paid break, standards there are slipping...moresarah
15-7-2009I have no idea what kind of places the people below have seen. I run a small 16 bed residential care home in northern england. I have had 1 holiday in 7 years, unlike my staff who go on holiday every year. they get 5.6 weeks break every year, paid, I am unlucky if I get more than 7 days off in an en...morecare home owner
18-2-2009The manager described in your post deserves to be sacked for such an appalling attitude. Any creep who believes that physical abuse is "all part of the job" is not fit to run any undertaking, let alone one dealing with some of the most vunerable members of society. However, private ente...moreCongo
18-2-2009I run a small training company providing English language classes for overseas care stazff in homes and domiciliary care, so I know how much these staff give and how little reward they get. It is not just in financial terms either; if managers would only give more in the way of appreciation and als...moreGill
12-2-2009Well, it just goes to show that with only 8 comments, where homes for the elderly rate in society doesn't it? Nothing will ever change because no no one really cares about it, despite what they may say, as long as the people who need the care aren't seen then society can assume that they do...moreAnon
04-1-2009P.S, I do or shall I say did start working here as a temporary job till I qualified in a trade and I did love it. I give and used to give as much of my time to a patient as possible. With staff cuts taking effect around the NHS, staff and visitors being charged extortionate amounts to park, staf...moreChris.
04-1-2009Finally, I would never be able to word a gripe very well at all. I'm a male support worker for one of the newest, biggest and supposedly best hospitals in the midlands. Staff are forever moaning to one another and higher management, but nothing is done. I work on a ward with 48 beds, split into ...moreChris.
29-12-2008Until the governments agree to minimum staffing levels..nothing will change for both the carers and their clients. I worked in an aged care hostel where it was the norm to try to look after 20 clients, plus more if another carer or other staff were away. In the facility at one time, we had five sta...moreLynne



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