[Misc] I’m giving up social care.. anyone else?

[Kinky Gerbil]

We all know that taxes rises will have to happen and they'll get spunked on ridiculous and totally irrelevant projects, wasted in over priced and ripp off charges from 'favoured' govt suppliers (owned by their mates or brother-in-laws) or in paying back the enormous debts (owed to mega rich bankers).

The only thing that's going to change it is a 'crises' like the truck drivers one. It could be predicted a long time before knowing there's not enough drivers, but until the country ground to a halt, the govt did SFA about it. Got a mate who's doing the HGV Class 1 training for free at the moment.

When the 'healthcare crises' hits, they'll be a mandatory min wage in the sector, lots of money spent on recruitment and training to solve it.

In the meantime you'll have over 600 council employees earning more than the Prime Minister, some earning 4x his wages.

It's all pretty f'd up.

That is insane, no wonder we get such a low standard of MPs, why would you do it?

Its by no means a poor wage, but if you are skilled you will be doing something else.

The whole system needs to be looked at, so much waste everywhere - problem is who would trust the Government to do it?

 

[BBassic]

That is insane, no wonder we get such a low standard of MPs, why would you do it?

Its by no means a poor wage, but if you are skilled you will be doing something else.

The whole system needs to be looked at, so much waste everywhere - problem is who would trust the Government to do it?

I wouldn't trust this Govt. to do it. Nor Truss' govt. Or Sunak's.

I wouldn't necessarily trust a Labour govt. to do it either.

An independent group would be the best bet. Like how failing businesses get in consultants to tell them where they're going wrong, where the waste is and how to clean it up.

I can't see any Govt. signing off on that though. Turkeys and Christmas spring to mind.

 

[Ludensian Gull]

Such a shame social care is driving good people away,I feel your frustration being a full time carer myself. I get less than £10 a day looking after my wife ( would obviously do it for nothing) but that's not the point . At times I wish I had a proper job in a reasonable wage where I could have a crack with work mates etc. Won't go on as it'll sound like I'm moaning about the care I give my wife ,which is anything but the truth. Hope you find another job soon mate.

 

[BN41Albion]

Exactly the situation my eldest daughter is in, she is a TA in a Brighton Primary school and regularly finds herself standing in for Teachers. The school has to take a percentage of children with special needs and my daughter spends nearly all her time with an Autistic child (who she loves) providing virtually one to one care. What with COVID and trying to get the school operating 'normally' all while earning minimum wage has put so much strain on her she is now suffering with mental and anxiety problems. Coupled with trying to live on her own in Brighton has now proved impossible and she is moving back in with Me and my wife, which means she will have to give up her TA job and try and find employment in the Worthing to Portslade area.

Sorry to hear that. It's such a shame as I'm sure your daughter was invaluable to the school - the problem being too invaluable for the pay she received and no doubt lack of thanks or recognition for how far beyond what she should be doing as a TA she worked.

The problem is SLT are all stretched/stressed too in most schools, and often have no option but to ask TAs to cover, all the while being under intense and unreasonable pressure for SATs results to be good for fear of f*cking ofsted, despite government making it impossible for schools to provide adequate staff/resources... it's such a mess. It's disgusting that government have the audacity to put so much pressure on schools to close the gap and raise standards all the while stripping them of the resources/staff needed to even begin to attempt to.

I hope your daughter finds employment at a school in your area with a reasonable and approachable/understanding SLT - they do exist which makes a very stressful job more manageable!

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

I wouldn't trust this Govt. to do it. Nor Truss' govt. Or Sunak's.

I wouldn't necessarily trust a Labour govt. to do it either.

An independent group would be the best bet. Like how failing businesses get in consultants to tell them where they're going wrong, where the waste is and how to clean it up.

I can't see any Govt. signing off on that though. Turkeys and Christmas spring to mind.

Agreed, you really would need a team of independents to look at it.

 

[The Oldman]

A bit late to this thread but I wish Clamp all the best for the future. The work situation you describe is horrendous. As ex NHS I am still in contact with friends still working in both hospital and social care settings. They describe similar work burnout through a system that is broken. Many, like Clamp have just had enough.

I am old enough to remember when so called market forces were introduced into Heath an Social Care. That was the beginning of the decline and I see no easy way out of the current mess. Anyway Clamp you deserve a better life.. I hope the change will bring you that and thank you for all you have given to those poor souls you looked after.

 

[Papak]

A very sad story. But until tax payers in the UK are willing to pay more in tax nothing will change with health care.

I think the govt collects enough in taxation already, I feel it is the use of the money which needs to be reviewed.

The welfare budget of £212 BILLION in 20/21 could be used much more wisely. Why should those scrimping and saving wherever they can and just about getting by and driving old cars subsidise others who get a raft of benefits including mobility vehicles?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Thanks all for your kind words and insights. As someone mentioned, it’s really not the work that gets to me. Although it can do at times.
There are too many incidents to recount but I recall one where a client was so drunk they lost their footing and went flying, smashing their chin on a door frame, cutting it down to the bone. I stopped the bleeding etc and then I waited for 6 hours for an ambulance. The numpty they had working nearby as my oppo didn’t answer the radio or phone for ages because he was having a fag outside. All the time I’m having to try and calm a woman who’s drunk 2 litres of neat vodka and still having to let her drink so she doesn’t seizure. She’s grabbing at my genitals, swinging between trying to kiss me and calling me a useless prick, all while lying on the floor, out of it.

The ambulance arrived, I got to go home and got deducted half an hour’s wages because in the roll of things I had left my phone at work and couldn’t clock out.

This sort of stuff happens all the time. CPR, cuts, self harm, attempts to take their own lives, abuse to staff, ex husbands, drug dealers, pimps turning up at the door, heroin overdoses, rape, kidnap, sex working/exploitation, bloody Albanian drug gangs at the door, males breaking in to get at the women, mental health, trauma, residents trying to stab me. It’s constant. And i don’t get paid enough for any of it.
It’s not the work, I signed up for that. It’s the way we are treated. I’m out and on to better things.

Christ. That's insane. Genuinely upset to read that .

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I think the govt collects enough in taxation already, I feel it is the use of the money which needs to be reviewed.

The welfare budget of £212 BILLION in 20/21 could be used much more wisely. Why should those scrimping and saving wherever they can and just about getting by and driving old cars subsidise others who get a raft of benefits including mobility vehicles?

I disagree. The healthcare system does not get anywhere the amount of money it needs; that's the main reason why it is so shit. And you last paragraph is an example of the point I was making.

 

[Lethargic]

A very sad story. But until tax payers in the UK are willing to pay more in tax nothing will change with health care.

Not completely true, the more money the government raise the more they swander, the management of the budgets within government departments is a bigger issue and absolutely dreadful they literal throw good money after bad.

They need to become more efficient and I don't mean by reducing wages or cutting the workforce but there's more chance of me chances of me walking to the moon than that happening, all very depressing.

To the OP, well done for lasting this long and good luck with whatever direction your future takes.

 

[Papak]

I disagree. The healthcare system does not get anywhere the amount of money it needs; that's the main reason why it is so shit. And you last paragraph is an example of the point I was making.

I was referring to welfare not healthcare which I believe are 2 different budgets. My point was that the govt is not spending the money it receives wisely in my opinion.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

The very first thing I would do to improve school systems would be to put more TAs in classrooms, raise the profile of the work they do and pay them their worth. These people are the key to improving education IMHO. Unfortunately what I see here in Australia is their skills being wasted with tasks such as cutting and laminating. Skilled people who are invaluable to both the children they help and the rest of the class.I hope your daughter gets the recognition she deserves.

My son worked as a TA in a special needs school. He was bullied into resigning (or 'face the sack and disciplinary investigations') on a trumped up charge of neglect of duty (when it was in fact the obnoxious young teacher who was at fault) a few years ago. He now earns a deal more money (but not much money in the great scheme of things) in an entirely different sector.

I echo the comment of [MENTION=442]The Oldman[/MENTION]. I've work in a London teaching hospital for most of the last 36 years and everything is now shinier but shitter, with Market Forces determining everything. A great deal of this is an entirely artificial internal market, with many essentials purchasable only through my institution (with it's notorious 'overheads', needed to pay the people . . administering the internal market).

I went into a cake shop in Budapest in the 80s, when Hungary was still communist. To buy a cake I had to tell one assistant what cake I wanted. She would then give me a ticket. I took the ticket to a second assistant who took my money and ticket and issued me with another ticket. I then took that and gave it to a third assistant who gave me the cake. Three people doing the job of one. This is now pretty much how I buy items for my research lab (except purchasing is even more complex where I work).

I know that the tories (the honest ones) always wanted to flog off the NHS but they have now made it so shit I doubt anyone would want to buy it (well, unless the buyer were free to rip up everyone's contract and pension arrangements which, so I gather, is still not yet legal in the UK. Give Truss time....)

 

[Live by the sea]

Anyone else moving out of nursing, social care etc?

5 years of low paid and high risk work in the social care sector, I’m getting out. Nothing changed after the pandemic, it got worse. I regularly work 72 hour weeks. I cannot survive without overtime. We work 12 hour shifts week nights and 15 hour shifts on weekends. Only got a pay rise when the min wage went up. I had to take some annual leave these last two months or lose it.
Meaning I couldn’t do much overtime. I literally cannot afford to take annual leave.
As a result I’ve had to borrow off a mate to pay for travel to work and buy food.

I became sick of being treated like a mug so last week I went and did my SIA license, I’ve been offered decent work already when my license clears.

Go into work night after night and get called every name under the sun by the people I’m helping for min wage or get paid 6 quid more an hour to go and sit in an empty office block overnight? No brainer.

Goodbye social care, I’d like to say it’s been good. It hasn’t. It’s been miserable.

Anyone else in this situation?

Fortunately no although I hugely respect people that do work in that industry. You may be better off looking to do an open university course and getting a degree . It opens up a world of possibilities . Ps that probably explains why you are a little grumpy at times !

It’s hard to live on £20 PH in Brighton .

 

[herecomesaregular]

Hat of to The Clamp, someone who has worked in a job 99% of people simply would not do for love or money. Much respect (but that doesn't pay the bills does it).

I'm still mostly out of adult social care after many years in it - took voluntary redundancy in 2019 (just statutory so pretty low amount but still something so not grumbling) from running a mental health care home. I say "running" because I was and was acknowledged to be doing so in every way except.... job title (only Deputy manager) and salary, only Deputy at £24k. Due to years of repeated "managerial restructure" I went from having a manager perm on site, to a manager covering two sites and not often present to a manager covering 3 sites and pretty much never there... so I dealt with everything from recruitment to moving on poor staff, CQC inspections, all managerial stuff.
I took planned time out at redundancy when this service closed (financially it had run at deficit for years) as after many years I did feel quite "burnt out". Stressful role, with some brilliant staff I'd managed to recruit but also many "problem" staff taking up all my time with their issues (very hard to recruit well in adult social care sometimes), and then clients whose meds often reduced and relapsed into psychosis. Since then, I have been living on the redundancy money, supplemented by some gambling (stupid and not a proper strategy I know but so far so good as I'm sensible) and on no benefits apart from 6 months around the full lockdown period. But planned time out has now become been 3 years due to covid issues and needing to look out and care for my old folks (physically and mentally). I decided after decades of supporting others as a job (mostly thankless, although met many great characters and the team did a lot of good work) I was going to focus on my own kin a bit more now they needed it.
I need to get back into more work now (I do a bit of PA here and there, terrible money, a very "low" job but it does bring some £ in). In the period of being off I applied for two jobs and got two jobs but walked out of both in a day. One was a deputy role in a LD care home that basically put me in a cupboard office with one tiny window (I mean literally a cupboard, it would have been funny but it wasn't a joke), expected to cover all s/worker absense aswell in my hours and expected to get the CQC rating up due to huge backlogs in paperwork. The previous deputy was now the manager so first obvs question was why was this work not done when you were in this role? No thanks, walked). 2nd role was £21k as a Deputy of a MH care home where again only a "floating" manager above, never there, the current person let on they were doing 70-80 hours pw to keep it afloat, including permanently being on call day and night and weekends (no payment) and then was told the £21k was a salaried role so no overtime for any hours above 38, "you just had to do what is needed". Now, I've always worked very hard in my life, done extra hours, gone the extra mile at work and done what is needed. It is indeed part of the job. But again, I walked on day one after the job was so misrepresented at interview. You may think bad of me but after decades working in MH I am no fool and won't be treated as one.

I may go for a lower role and just put 100% into that and accept shit money (the managerial roles I have always had have only paid a few grand more anyway and often all the staff below me earnt more because of overtime).

so yeah, The Clamp, I do somewhat understand (but your role sounds much tougher than anything I have done).

Warm regards to anyone in the social care sector.

 

[pearl]

Thanks all for your kind words and insights. As someone mentioned, it’s really not the work that gets to me. Although it can do at times.
There are too many incidents to recount but I recall one where a client was so drunk they lost their footing and went flying, smashing their chin on a door frame, cutting it down to the bone. I stopped the bleeding etc and then I waited for 6 hours for an ambulance. The numpty they had working nearby as my oppo didn’t answer the radio or phone for ages because he was having a fag outside. All the time I’m having to try and calm a woman who’s drunk 2 litres of neat vodka and still having to let her drink so she doesn’t seizure. She’s grabbing at my genitals, swinging between trying to kiss me and calling me a useless prick, all while lying on the floor, out of it.

The ambulance arrived, I got to go home and got deducted half an hour’s wages because in the roll of things I had left my phone at work and couldn’t clock out.

This sort of stuff happens all the time. CPR, cuts, self harm, attempts to take their own lives, abuse to staff, ex husbands, drug dealers, pimps turning up at the door, heroin overdoses, rape, kidnap, sex working/exploitation, bloody Albanian drug gangs at the door, males breaking in to get at the women, mental health, trauma, residents trying to stab me. It’s constant. And i don’t get paid enough for any of it.
It’s not the work, I signed up for that. It’s the way we are treated. I’m out and on to better things.

I don't know how the hell you bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep stuck it so long

Sincere best wishes for the future x

 

[vegster]

A very sad story. But until tax payers in the UK are willing to pay more in tax nothing will change with health care.

I'd like to think there are plenty of people willing to pay more in tax, if we all earned more we'd all pay more tax anyway.

Edit : just check my last pay advice and I'm paying £75.60 a month in Income Tax...I'd love to contribute more if my wage went up !


Edit #2 : they are taking £36 a month towards my Company Pension...... come 2027 when I retire I'm going to be rolling in it !

 

[The Clamp]

Thank you all for your posts today. It has genuinely given me a huge amount of confidence in changing my path. Some good news that I received today, I have been offered a role working on a police safeguarding project as a civilian. Working with vulnerable people but with much better working conditions/pay etc. There are some details to work out but in principle, I have accepted the offer.

Once again NSC has done what it does best. I won’t lie, I was at a low ebb. A day can make a huge difference.

I really appreciate all your posts today.

 

[Coldeanseagull]

I haven't read all the posts on here, but I can seriously say people who care for others deserve a medal or a place in that fictitious place in the sky.
My wife had her hip replaced two years ago(yeah, right at the start of lockdown) and after a week I wanted to put a pillow over her head! I'm not a caring person as you can gather, it's all about my welfare, so you couldn't pay me enough to do all that sympathy/empathy thing

 

[giveusfalmerplease]

Too complicated, subjective and unworkable. You have one view of a bin man doing 5 hours. I work in a cosy office for 8 hours. Who’s got it harder?

but again most office workers need some qualifications - A levels etc. my cousin fekked up school badly, left with no qualifications and works on the bins earning over 35k a year , doing basically 30 hours a week at most ,and that was 5 years ago.

Oh and i bumped (not lterally) into a guy "cleaning" brighton streets the other day and using his long stick and pidly little brooom picked up approximately 1/3 of the debri that was on the pavement, leaving coke cans and used chip wrappers which would be the easiest thing in the world to remove and were most unsightly but when i dared to question why he left them he snapped back "dont blame me its bloody health and safety, we are not allowed to bend down and the items are too big to be picked up by this useless brush the give us". With that he walked away. Slightly off subject but my pint being that seems like a damn easy risk free, stress free job for minimum wage. Seems their work isnt checked that often too so he can pretty much do as little as possible and nobody seems to care. That last bit obviously speculation but if he doesnt pick up cans or waste paper that doesnt leave a lot in some areas.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

but again most office workers need some qualifications - A levels etc. my cousin fekked up school badly, left with no qualifications and works on the bins earning over 35k a year , doing basically 30 hours a week at most ,and that was 5 years ago.

Most office workers need qualifications? I wouldn’t have thought you need A levels to work in a center work, sales, estate agents etc.

My point is that 30 hours a week working in all weathers on the bins seems far harder work than a cosy office…good luck to them if they earn 35k a year for 30 hours; they deserve it.