Cheap Nurse

Abstract

At the end of the day, I think we are cheap nurses. If you ask me about fair pay for homecare, the pay is not fair. The homecare workers are out there on their own, doing their own workload and doing all the work by themselves. The morning calls is from seven. Getting people up; showering or personal care; incontinence care; emptying leg bags; getting them clean; putting on fresh clothes if they want it; breakfast, cup of tea; medication … all in under half an hour; and on to the next. It’s exhausting; sometimes there are nine service-users to do on a morning. If there are lunch calls, they might start at midday but in-between there might be a person’s shopping to do, there might be some laundry. At five o’clock it is tea calls. People also need pads changed or bags changed. We see some service-users four times a day … rush, rush, rush. From seven o’clock is night-time calls; obviously many of our people are bedridden but not everyone is necessarily going to bed so early, they might just have their pyjamas or nighties put on.