What is day like in the life of our care assistants/support workers?

You may ask yourself, what is it like to be a care assistant/support worker? Well, I can give you some insight but please remember that each person is different, and each day is different.

You may ask yourself, what is it like to be a care assistant/support worker?

Well, I can give you some insight but please remember that each person is different, and each day is different.

Let us start at the beginning . . .

The start of my day – my alarm goes off – sometimes as early as 6am (this depends on my rota that I will check the night before) and I wake up and start to get ready for work. Attending to my own personal care, tying my hair up and putting on my work uniform before heading downstairs for some breakfast and hot drink.

Whilst eating my breakfast I check my Pass App to double check my rota – this lets me know who I will be supporting today, the length of my visits and the address’ for my customers. It also lets me look at previous care notes from my colleagues for the person in question and gives me access to their care plan, allowing me to read about them and the tasks i need to complete with them during their visit.

Once I have finished my breakfast. I tidy up my pots and head out to work.

My morning – I drive to my first customers’ house. This is normally a call to assist someone to have their breakfast typically with a hot drink of their choice. They may want some assistance their personal care and dressing too.

It is great going to see the customers in the morning. Normally they are delighted to see you, enjoy having a conversation with you and have usually been looking forward to that hot drink if they have not already made one before you arrive.

I log into the Pass app when I arrive at the customers house and at the end of my visit, I log my notes ready for family, my colleagues, and senior staff to view should they need or wish to. I wish my customer a good day and head off to my next visit.

My next customer – when I arrive at my next customer, I may be meeting a colleague, as sometimes we have ‘double up’ calls. This is where we see one customer with two staff members, this is normally due to a customer’s limited mobility and needing more assistance that a single person cannot do safely on their own. This is always good as we can support the customer to be supported at home rather than a care home. The customers enjoy this as they get to converse with two staff members and often feel spoilt having two carers fussing over them.

Both care assistants will log into their Pass app at the beginning of the call and at the end both will write notes as to what they have done and how the customer is for family, colleagues, and senior staff to read should they wish to.

The course of my day – my day then consists of driving from customer to customer to assist them with their daily tasks. Such as personal care, meal preparation, medication assistance and so much more. Mostly working on my own but other times meeting with a colleague to assist on a ‘double up’ call. Continuing to log in and out of my Pass app for each customer and uploading their notes.

I find the app helpful as I do not have to carry lots of paperwork with me and pens to be able to complete the paperwork. However, I do have to make sure I have an in-car phone charger, to keep my phone charged up during the day. So that I can continue to log in and upload the notes for each customer. Sometimes I will use my phone as a sat Nav to navigate me to a customer’s home if I am unsure of the way or want to see the best way to avoid traffic.

Problem solving – I may come across some minor problems during my day. Where possible I will try to resolve these on my own. But where not possible I will call the care team in the office for more support to find a resolve to the problem in hand.

The course of my morning into the afternoon – during the course of my morning, the needs of my customers will change. As late morning hits, I will complete less personal care and will support more with helping my customers make lunch and a general tidy up of the kitchen and/or living room area before more conversations and note logging. I tend to cover one area. However, this can vary and some days I may travel short distances between customers and other days the distance may be longer. But this is not an issue, as I know each customer needs my support and relies on me attending their calls to support their needs. I love working in the care sector as the conversations I have with my customers are amazing. Some have lived amazing lives, and it is great to hear all about. But we also talk about the weather, what they have planned for the day or week, their family and so much more.

More customers – with each customer I see, the conversation can differ so much depending on their mood, likes and dislikes and their personality among other factors. Some people enjoy a conversation and find a great joy in this. others are more reserved and enjoy have quiet and reflective time instead. As a care assistant you must adapt to each situation and customer, as we know each person is unique.

Changes – Sometimes things change from the usual pattern that I have. This is okay as we know things can change from time to time. If a customer’s needs have changed then I need to inform my senior (supervisor) who will visit the customer and reassess their needs. They will change the care plan and tasks and inform all the care team that attend to this customer of the changes.

My evening – I see a variety of customers throughout my day for varying lengths of time. For some its 30 minutes and for others its longer. Even as long as 4-6 hours. Each visit is unique to my customer and their needs. Towards the evening, I tend to do more teatime visits where I am making meals and then this changes around 6:30pm-7pm where I start to assist with personal care and helping people get ready for bed. Making sure I am using my Pass app to log in and out of all my visits and leaving detailed notes as I go. I enjoy my busy day but also enjoy my more relaxed days when I have 4–6-hour visits with a customer as we can have different conversations, help them with tasks and support them in different ways.

The end of my day – I find my days can be quite tiring being out and about, on the round going to customers houses. I ensure I am attentive to each persona and their needs. But that last trip home I am counting down the minutes to a nice shower, my evening meal and putting my feet up to relax, knowing I have made a difference to at least one person’s life today . . . however I do hope it is more than one.

Hopefully, this have given you a great insight into a care assistants life and what it may entail. Always remember in care that no two days are alike, as people’s needs are everchanging.

If you think you would like to join us working in the care sector, then why not visit our website for a full list of our vacancies and the requirements of the role.