What comes with being a Care Support Worker? The Role and Responsibility of Caring

You may wonder “why do I need to acquire or know about the care support worker position and role?” I mean, is it really as complicated as it is made out to be?

As an individual who has worked within the industry for four years, this piece is based on my personal subjective, experience and understanding. There is in no way any external research used, only information I have looked into a while back for my own knowledge. I understand we may not all share the same experience, but it is important that the role of the care support worker is offered with sufficient information for others out there, who may be like me; or may simply just want to know and understand more about being a care support worker.

The current social climate is met with so many different kinds of jobs; jobs that give to you and fulfil you in many different ways. Jobs that inform you and also expose you to reality in so many respects. Some may actually question and deeply desire to understand what pushed me to go into this job role, at what time and how much real understanding of the role did I have that influenced my choice and decision of being a care support worker.  And to be honest, its very simple.

Below are basic questions and my answers in reaching a step closer to becoming educated on what the role is about.

What are care support worker’s known as? Are there different titles for the role, and do they mean the same thing?

I can understand why many can get confused on the job role. A support worker is differentiated by where they work and what service they deliver. A support worker can be known in many ways like a care assistant, carer, care worker, domiciliary worker, personal assistant and nursing assistant. Regardless of that the line of work is similar.

What is care work?

Care is an occupation that provides acts of services towards vulnerable and differently abled individuals. This type of care is sought to develop the capabilities of others and to improve their quality of life.  Individuals involved in this field of work need to be motivated in order to pursue care for others. Care work involves the personal, physical, financial, medical and mental care of others through various tasks.  Care workers are able to support individual’s in their homes or care homes.

What does a care support worker do?

The role of a care support worker plays a vital role for vulnerable people who are unable to support themselves and live independently. People who are not educated in this line of work, need to acknowledge that a care support worker’s job role consists of so many tasks, and in order to accomplish these tasks in a sufficient matter, knowledge and experience is much needed.

From experience, seeing a happy and fulfilled individual because of your acts and services is truly a rewarding feeling. As this makes you aware that you are needed to someone.  It’s important to remember that this job role can be personal and emotional for a carer.

What qualities do you need to possess in order to be a support worker?

My fellow support workers can agree with me that there are many qualities that you need to have in order to be a support worker and a good one at that. If I was to list down each quality and explain why, you would be reading forever.  Below I will list the qualities I believe are most vital. Many will agree, many will argue the order but each point mentioned is a vital asset to have in order to be the right support worker.

• Motivation – Each day you have to wake up to be and feel motivated and positive otherwise you will struggle to complete your tasks, a carers job is a long and stressful one, so motivation is a key quality to have.
• Empathy –   You as an individual need to have the ability to sense other peoples emotions. Putting yourself in their shoes on how they might be thinking or feeling makes you empathetic. With this ability you are able to better manage difficult situations, while understanding that it is not clients’ fault that they are unable to do things or act like how you would.
• Negotiation- There is no doubt that you will come across a challenging or uncooperative client.  This is where you need good negotiating skills in order to tackle these scenarios. For instance if a client refuses to take medication, your non aggressive negotiating skills will determine whether they will accept to take the medication or not.
• Punctuality– Every job expects you to be punctual, that’s a norm. But if we are talking care support work, then the ability to be on time is vitally important, as clients have set time to take medication, to eat, to get to appointments etc, all within the call time you have been given. If you are late, it will delay you with other clients calls throughout the day.
• Interpersonal skills – Your demeanour and tactics on how you interact with others is important and effective in any job role. You have to have the ability to work well with others ranging from communication and listening to attitude. It is easier said than done, believe me! As a care support worker I have worked with few impolite people whom you have tried to cooperate with but always seem to end up irritating more . If you have this quality then that’s great.
• Patience– Working with vulnerable and disabled, you need to be patient and consider that there are those who aren’t as quick as you, and who are not capable of controlling there body. Remembering that these people did not choose to be the way they are will allow you to remain understanding.
• Leadership –  It is useful to have control in organising the clients to reach their goals, and in successfully motivating your clients to complete tasks, like ones that revolve around their interest or hobbies.

What experience/qualification is required? 

As I am a UK citizen living in the UK, this is information that can be useful to the UK population.  As a student I did not study anything related to health and social care.  In my experience I did not have to acquire specific qualifications within a school setting (even though this is an option as well), but I did have to undergo training to study and learn important information alongside shadowing, which in the end allowed me to qualify.  Not to say that all health care organisations will allow individuals to join their company without a specific qualification. There are various health care roles which will require different types of qualifications.  If you sustain a minimum level 2 NVQ or BTEC National in any Health or Social care study, that will put you in a better situation with a higher chance of being accepted in any other health care job roles.

Is being a support worker hard?

People need to understand that this job involves being in an individual’s personal space. These people rely on you for achieving their day to day living and the tasks associated with that. Since they are unable to do it independently, your support makes the job inherently personal and trust based. There are so many tasks, so many variations of what’s needed, and often times decisions are left to you, so it’s definitely hard to juggle. What’s more, unlike a usual 9-5 your day can start as early as 6am and finish as late as 9pm (this doesn’t take into account over night shifts as well). As you can imagine it takes a lot of motivation and involvement in order to accomplish this, as someone’s needs depends on you.  It can be extremely stressful tending to someone’s personal life on a daily basis and having to tend to your own as well.

How is it that someone who truly increases the quality of life and cares for your elderly & vulnerable loved ones, is generally underappreciated and underpaid? This doesn’t seem right, but it’s been the case here and the rest of the world for the most part. Considering carers are the front line and backbone of the care system, shouldn’t they get a little more respect and a higher wage? There are a few root causes that are clearly obvious to me as a carer when it comes to the question of why carers are under appreciated and why we’re also under paid:

• Lack of respect from authorities & generally being referred to as “unskilled”.
• Lack of funding in adult social care.
• Focus on nurses as health & wellness support professionals, meanwhile carer roles are subpar and not seen as equal.
• “Hard skills” are more valuable on paper in the healthcare sector than “soft skills”. Being empathetic or patient aren’t seen as skills that are worth reflecting in compensation, meanwhile these are the key skills a carer needs to excel at, while also being quite difficult to master.
• Employers are also on a budget so they cut costs where they can. Unfortunately carers are the other end of the cost savings and they experience low wages and consistent short staffed shifts because of this.

Unless you work within the health and social care sector, you are not aware of the importance, difficulty, and skills need to be an accomplished carer. Instead, carers are made out to be unskilled, and for someone without knowledge of the sector, it’s easy to assume that this is true. With the government and media consistently undercutting the industry, it feels like all the odds are stacked against us, like those in power have ranked us care workers as the least important within the health sector. How can the job role be appreciated if the public are not aware of the struggles and the calibre of work that is done, especially in how much we have helped to save peoples’ lives during this Covid-19 pandemic (with minimal PPE or government support of course).

There’s also the trickle down effect caused by lack of funding from the government when it comes to social care. This isn’t a new thing during Covid-19. In reality, the care sector has been struggling with this broken system for a very long time and this pandemic has just helped to shine a light on how bad it really is. With care homes, care companies, and agencies all looking to stay profitable, the carers become nothing more than a workforce source of revenue. Taking commission on wages, offering minimum pay, and short staffing are all results of the broken system at its finest.

How do we change the perception of care work as “unskilled”?

Educating the wider public about care work will establish greater understanding towards the carer roles and responsibilities, and will be central in the developing appreciation of this job field. The job is difficult physically, emotionally and mentally, and it’s also an essential life line for our most vulnerable people. Once people understand this, they will also begin to truly appreciate health care assistants and support workers.

I will argue in particular through personal experience having worked in this field as a carer;  workers are underpaid due to the lack of investment and information available for the job role due to the higher regards provided to nurses and district nurses. Carers and support workers also come under the same field and work bracket as nurses, so why is it that they get significantly less compensation than their nurse counterparts, even though the job they do is just as mentally and physically demanding, and even more emotionally straining. I’m not saying get the exact same amount, but when you’re doing a similar job as a nurse, with an equally tiring and responsibility ridden workload, but are getting paid less than the local retail clothing store associate, it’s frankly pathetic. When the public’s perception of the carer becomes held within the same regard as that of a nurse, I believe that we’ll move towards a better place within the industry.

Why carers love what they do

Carers work hard until their joints hurt in return for little money and not enough appreciation from society.  We feed, bathe, clean, reassure, provide medication and protect the most vulnerable people. These are loved ones, elders, and vibrant members of the community that deserve the best care and support. People day to day, seem to forget that these vulnerable people could be their loved one, or even them one day. Studies show that one of the main reasons for carers leaving the sector is due to the difficult working conditions and low pay. Any carer or former carers, or even you would will hear stories, of difficult shifts, stressful situations and examples of being treated like nothing more than a source of revenue. Yet, among the horrible experiences and consistently bad working conditions, somehow there are amazing carers that stay in the role for decades. Carer’s love what they do, because it’s in the core of who they are as a person. Their calling in life is to be a carer, so they do it regardless of the sacrifices.

How Flourish is fixing the broken system

Many care companies take commission from the carer and the client, resulting in hefty fees that make the service difficult to provide. Care homes and individual clients are left with little to no option for care shift cover other than something obscenely expensive, and carer’s are left with a lack of motivation and drive to excel.

This blog was purely my personal experience in being in the health care industry. It is to shed light on the job and what we actually go through. I know many that have been in the same job role as me can relate and understand. It is high time that care support workers get the recognition they deserve. Until next time. Stay safe out there! 

Written by Roxanne Ray