10 Things You (possibly) Never Knew About Being a Care Worker

1. You don’t need to have particular formal qualifications to become a care worker.

It does help if you have some experience of caring, perhaps looking after a relative. But you don’t need qualifications to join our team.

 Attributes that will help you to be successful as a care worker include:

• An aptitude for practical tasks.
• Being good with hygiene.
• At least decent at cooking.
• Generally being organised.

You could be like Debbie, who successfully took the path with us from job seeker to care worker. Debbie described her experience of the induction and training as:

 “I was very surprised. I wasn’t the best at school and did not think I would be able to write, listen, and learn but I did! I was nervous but my trainer was very welcoming, down to earth, and never judged me when I was learning.”

2. You will receive comprehensive training.

In your first week with Care Outlook, we provide you with comprehensive training to enable you to be successful as a home care worker. The modules include

• Your personal development.
• Equality and diversity.
• Work in a person-centred way.
• Privacy and dignity.
• Fluid and nutrition.
• Safeguarding children.
• Basic life support.
• Health and safety.
• Handling information.
• Infection prevention and control.

The training features tutor delivery, group exercises, and role play and every effort is made to help you to gain a successful outcome.

3. You will have the opportunity to become a specialist carer.

As well as the general training modules, you can build specialist knowledge in key areas. For example, under the topic of “Awareness of mental health, dementia, and learning disabilities”, you will learn about:

• The needs and experiences of people with mental health conditions, dementia or learning disabilities.
• The importance of promoting positive health and wellbeing.
• Adjustments which may be necessary for care delivery.
• The importance of early detection of mental health conditions, dementia, and learning disabilities.
• Understanding relevant legal frameworks, policy, and guidelines.
• The meaning of mental capacity in relation to how care is provided.

After you begin day-to-day working, we will ensure your knowledge is further developed through career supervision, meetings, briefings, and additional training sessions.

4. You will adhere to standards expected from all health professionals, including doctors and nurses.

The outcomes, competencies, and standards of behaviour are known as the “6 Cs”. They are: 

• Care
  Having someone’s best interests at heart and doing what you can to maintain or improve their wellbeing.
• Compassion
  Being able to feel for someone, to understand them and their situation.
• CompetenceHave the ability to carry out your duties to a consistently high standard.
• Communication
  Using your language skills to communicate easily and effectively with people in your care and colleagues.
• Courage
  Being brave when required to face difficult situations and make important decisions.
• Commitment
  Keeping your focus on providing excellent care for the benefit of people you care for.

5. It’s not all about making cups of tea.

 Care workers do make a lot of cups of tea. And it’s often one of the best remedies in a variety of situations. But there’s an awful lot more to the role. On successful completion of the training, your knowledge will include how to:

• Assist people with personal care tasks such as bathing, feeding, toileting, dressing etc.
• Undertake household tasks such as housework, meal preparation, laundry, shopping etc.  
• Help people to manage their day-to-day finances as requested by the Care Coordinators.
• Support people to maintain contacts with relatives, friends, and other social contacts.
• Help to create a supportive homely environment where people can achieve maximum independence.
• Be aware of cultural and religious needs and how to facilitate them.
• Be aware of people’s mental health problems and physical disabilities and sensory loss.
• Offer as much choice as possible in promoting personal and physical independence in the activities of daily living.
• Maintain accurate and confidential records.
• Update care plans and relevant documents, maintaining confidentiality at all times both written and verbally.
• Maintain a safe working environment through awareness of health and safety regulations.

You will generally have all the knowledge you need and confidence to deliver safe, high-quality care and support to people in need.

6. You will consistently pass the “Mum and Me” test.

 When you successfully complete your training, you will be awarded a Care Certificate as a formal recognition of your competence. However, the “Mum and Me” test is also extremely important.

 Simply, whenever you are providing a service or care for someone, you must be able to answer “Yes” to the question:

• Would this be good enough for my Mum or Me if either of us was the person requiring support?

By consistently asking and positively answering the question, you will ensure the standard of your work remains at a high level. It will also boost your own feeling of satisfaction from a job done well.

7. You are not alone

 Sometimes life as a care worker can be stressful. But, with Care Outlook, you are never alone. We provide you with:

• An experienced point of contact to help when required.
• Support networks and forums.
• Members of an approachable HR team
• Counselling advice; for matters such as bereavement.

In addition, we support your learning to enable specialist expertise in your chosen area such as dementia or learning disabilities.

8. Your wellbeing is fully supported

 It’s extremely important you take care of yourself so you perform well in your job and have an enjoyable life. As well as the support described above, we regularly share and publish information to help you. This includes two e-books available for you to download: 

• A Guide to Wellbeing for Carers.
• A Care Worker’s Guide to Coping with Care Work.

9. Every day is different

One of the great things about being a care worker is no two days are the same. You meet and help a wide range of people and carry out a variety of duties.

 And in the words of our Care Worker Debbie when asked “What do you enjoy most about the role?”:

 “Meeting clients and challenges. Everyone is different and some days can be harder than others. It can be challenging but it is very rewarding to see a smile on their faces.”

10. You change lives

The care you provide changes lives in many ways. For some people, you are their only visitor and provide a cure for what would otherwise be a lonely existence.

 Also, one of the key areas is how you meet the needs of people with mental health conditions, dementia or learning disabilities.

 Some 850,000 people are estimated to be living with dementia in the UK, according to the Alzheimer’s Society. And, using what you learn during the training, you can make a huge difference to their well-being.

 Your presence can also prevent the onset of the condition as it has been found that people with a high degree of loneliness are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s.