Home care workers therefore play significant role within the community care. Although their services are often based on providing the most basic physiological needs (see below), the hopes on the receiving end (service users) are also directed towards the social aspect of the individuals’ lives. Service users will often value these hopes/expectations the most. They would often refer to a “good carer” as someone who offers some sort of sensitivity, competence, affection, time and continuity. (Unit 3, p. 163)2) One would say carers often provide some kind of befriending services on top of their “official” duties. But in reality home care services would normally include providing personal care and assistance with toileting, support with mobility, serving meals, medication supervision, reporting “changes” in service users’ health/needs and maintaining accurate records. We could say that majority of these tasks are related to common sense. Perhaps, this is why most home care workers are women who have already developed some sort of “experience” when caring for their own relatives including bringing up their children or caring for elderly/ill parents.
This is, however, extremely deceiving as the carers themselves have come to recognize. A great amount of specialist skills is highly essential when completing some of the tasks mentioned above. Many workers, who were employed only about ten years ago, would say “I was just thrown in and had to get on with it”. Community care is now going through an evolution. As the Code of Conduct for the Social Care Workers (2002) states: “The workers are accountable for the quality of their work and to take responsibility for maintaining and improving their knowledge and skills.” (Unit 3, p.162)3) Parallel to this is the Code of Conduct for Employers (2002) stating that employers have a duty to provide relevant training and development opportunities for their staff. Recent step up in training requirements for the National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) has offered some sort of a “training package” and provided systematic framework as well as the opportunity for the workers to reflect on their working practices. Unfortunately, financing this is becoming increasingly difficult as majority of the care providers come from voluntary sectors. Funding has therefore become a massive issue for all these providers that are expected to gradually take over the community care services from the NHS.
Over all the providers/employers are facing difficult dilemmas with regards to providing highest quality care standards for the lowest possible expenses. Majority of the home care workers are only paid the national legal minimum wages and work over 53 hours a week. However, as I mentioned earlier on, most of the home care workers are women. But minimum wages and excessive work hours don’t exactly fit in with the carers’/mothers’ own family lives. Clare Ungerson, a feminist sociologist, said: “The assumption is that nominally paid workers will provide better quality care, since they are doing the work for love rather than money.”(Ungerson, 1990, p. 20) (Unit 3, p. 164-5)4) As most of these women would agree with this statement many have been pushed to weight the “for and against” with regards to their own family lives, the cost of child care for example. This certainly narrows the number of the potential home care workers in the nearest future since the cost of bringing up a child is rising up significantly. Offering higher wages to home care workers on successful completion of the NVQ is one way out. But the cost of the training itself and the replacement of the worker while on the course related tutorials or study leave makes the reality much more difficult to deal with. It has already become apparent to many job seekers in the social care field that having the relevant NVQ (or equivalent) qualification is a usual requirement for majority of the job vacancies.
It is important to recognize that as social care workers we are playing an active role in our society. Together with the service users we are just a beginning of a one enormous wishes circle. And somewhere at the end of this circle there are people who make decisions. But shouldn’t the end meet the beginning at some point? It is a circle, after all.
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Reference:
1) Open University (2005) K100
Understanding Health and Social Care, Unit 3 ‘Social Care in the Community’, Section 1.3, Milton Keynes, The Open University
2) Open University (2005) K100
Understanding Health and Social Care, Unit 3 ‘Social Care in the Community’, Section 3.4, Milton Keynes, The Open University
3) Open University (2005) K100
Understanding Health and Social Care, Unit 3 ‘Social Care in the Community’, Section 3.3, Milton Keynes, The Open University
4) Open University (2005) K100
Understanding Health and Social Care, Unit 3 ‘Social Care in the Community’, Section 3.5, Milton Keynes, The Open University
