A day in the life of a Home Carer.

The reason I chose to work in Homecare to start off with was because of the flexible working hours which allowed me to work around my other commitments. I started with only a few evenings a week and then was able to increase or decrease when I wanted to.

I can honestly say that no 2 days are the same when you work in the home care sector. On an average day you can be helping with personal care, medication administration, meal preparation and also taking clients out on shopping trips or to appointments, everyday can vary. I remember one day the power going out and needing to locate the fuse box and getting power back on, that day I was the electrician as well!

I have learnt that you need to think on your feet as sometimes you can be confronted with emergency situations, clients being poorly or having fallen and you need to be able to remain calm and compassionate, speak to the relevant people, such as family members whilst also dealing with emergency services, doctors or nurses as well. I feel I get plenty of support from my supervisor and co-ordinators and there is always someone on hand to help at the end of the phone.

Being a good carer involves building professional relationships with service users, having a good sense of humor and just being a listening ear; sometimes you could be the only person a service user will see all day and they need that time to feel happy and supported.