New job problems. Help.

The whole situation is a mess.

Firstly I'm not even sure if I'm employed by them?

I am two weeks into a six month probationary term.

I have not signed any contract of employment which specifies terms and conditions of employment.

I have not been paid a penny.

Contact with them has been by phone ( voice and text message). Asking me to start work at this address on this time and day.

I can cope with the work.  It's the politics, personal agendas and  management bullying that gets me down.

It started to go wrong on the first day.  I was shadowing a senior support worker, when the task was to bathe one of the female clients.  

She is wheelchair bound with physical/mental problems and on a cocktail of drugs.  Two care workers are always needed to move her using mechanised hoists and supports from the wheelchair to the bath etc.  It's all move this loop to this hook etc etc etc.  Some loops are colour coded, some different lengths.....  This goes here, that goes there.  I can't remember it all.  

When they started to wash her, I walked out of the bathroom to give her some privacy, thinking that it must be awful for her to have some complete stranger standing there watching her being bathed.  I knew that personal care that includes bathing and toileting is part of the job.

But the mistake I made was walking out of the bathroom.  I should have offered to join in the bathing/washing.

At the review this was the big issue.  Why did I walk out of the bathroom?  That I am not a hands on person!  What was my motivation for applying for this job?

I could almost see the humour and double meaning in this questioning. ( Hands on!!!!!!!  Washing a naked woman!!!!!)       I was being told off for not joining in the washing of a naked woman, two hours into a new job.  As for my motivation.  ( It's money).  If my motivation had been anything else!!!  I should have been sacked on the spot!!!!

A week later I was involved in bathing her with a different support worker.  This again worried me.  The written instructions in her customer care plan explicitly stated that she needed two workers to move and hoist her in and out of bed and bath and wheelchair.  There was only one worker and me shadowing.  And I was left alone in the bathroom to bathe her.  This included everything, groin, breasts etc.

Then there other trivial complaints.

Robert124 said:

It started to go wrong on the first day.  I was shadowing a senior support worker, when the task was to bathe one of the female clients.  

She is wheelchair bound with physical/mental problems and on a cocktail of drugs.  Two care workers are always needed to move her using mechanised hoists and supports from the wheelchair to the bath etc.  It's all move this loop to this hook etc etc etc.  Some loops are colour coded, some different lengths.....  This goes here, that goes there.  I can't remember it all.  

When they started to wash her, I walked out of the bathroom to give her some privacy, thinking that it must be awful for her to have some complete stranger standing there watching her being bathed.  I knew that personal care that includes bathing and toileting is part of the job.

But the mistake I made was walking out of the bathroom.  I should have offered to join in the bathing/washing.

At the review this was the big issue.  Why did I walk out of the bathroom?

Okay... everything about this is wrong and smacks of institutional incompetence and negligence.  Firstly, if you are on a two-hander and you're on a shadow shift, you aren't properly qualified to take one of the roles - especially if you haven't received the proper training.  Shadow shifts are just that: you're observing and learning.  You need to have been given a proper training course in the use of hoists, and issued with a certificate to show that you've completed the training.  This is mandatory.  Secondly, you should have been given access to care plans so that you can at least glean basic information about the clients you're working with.  You should also have been given full information about that client by the senior before you even entered the bathroom.  You're quite right about privacy - but it's perfectly acceptable for male members of staff to administer personal care to females, providing it stipulates as such in their care plan.  It isn't your responsibility to offer to join in.  You should be directed by the senior, and told and shown what to do before you do it.  You cannot be relied upon to take actions on your own initiative in this circumstance.  Your employer, at this point, is fully responsible.  You have that on your side: if you haven't done certified training, you shouldn't be expected to do that task. We had a situation in my current job where a new employee was assigned to shadow shift with a more experienced member of staff.  The client they had required two staff members to attend him if he went out into the community.  The 'experienced' member of staff took him out with the shadow shift guy, assuming this equaled a 'two-hander'.  It didn't - and the senior member of staff was sacked.  It's an Adult Safeguarding issue. Trainees do not count as full staff members in this situation.  You should have refused to even touch the hoist (not that you knew that, so it isn't your fault) and there isn't a thing they could have done about it.  You can't be sacked for refusing to do a task that you aren't trained and certified for.

You have no contract, either.  I mean, what the hell are these people playing at?  You need to write all of this down, Robert, and use it all as evidence in a report.  You must inform CQC of this practice, because it is not just out of order, it's against statutory requirements.  It's illegal.

It's also, unfortunately, common in care - even in good homes and establishments.  They're often desperate for staff, and people just get expected to flout the rules in order to get things done.  I was taken for a ride that way myself in my first care job - because I knew nothing, so didn't know any better.  They're taking advantage of your inexperience.

One other thing - I can't remember if you mentioned it... have you got your valid DBS certificate through yet?  If not, then you shouldn't be doing any hands-on tasks at all.  It's not enough for your employer to say that it's been applied for.  In my current job, I wasn't even allowed to start until I had the certificate.  Establishments differ in this requirement, though.  It should all be in your employer's Policies and Procedures, which you should also have been given access to.  During most of the first few days in a new care job, you should be given time to do reading like this.  Most of the more reputable care providers give all new staff a week's induction training before they start, and things like P and Ps will be covered during this.

I have been given their policies and procedures to read between shifts.

But they seem to be ignoring the very procedures that they describe.

Everywhere it mentions training and being properly certified before one is allowed to do anything.

But in reality this is ignored.

Starting with the photo ID badges.  The policy states that everyone on duty must wear a photo ID badge so they can be identified by other staff members, the customers, customer's families and the general public.  I don't have an ID badge and I haven't seen anyone wearing one.

I do have a DBS certificate.

Every flat has a customer care plan with risk assessments.  And the paperwork is updated every day.  Although the accuracy of some of the information is suspect.  All medication is included and colour coded for time of day.  And signed when given.

No-one has asked my to give medication since I've not been trained.

Where I've spotted mistakes such as inconsistencies in doses on different pages.  Such as one dose of a particular drug being written in milligrams and on another page in micrograms.  I have informed them.  These mistakes could prove fatal.  

Robert124 said:

For instance the constant repetition in their policies that if we see something that impacts on the care or safety of clients or staff, then,  we should speak up immediately.  But whenever I say something I get verbally told off for saying it.

You have my sympathies. Such a situation is obviously going to peeve an individual who takes things at face value and uses logic.

I once worked somewhere where the legal staff drummed into the workers what they must/must not do. If everyone did what legal said, there would not be a workable company. Eventually it became clear to me that it was all a giant game. Even legal didn't really want people following their instructions - the company and legal were just covering themselves in case anything went wrong, at which time, the staff who had been forced to sign documents acknowledging the instructions they had been given would no doubt be hung out to dry whilst the company distanced itself from the actions of "isolated individuals who failed to follow established company processes".

Lots of people left not long after.

Hi Robert123, I'm sorry you had such a bad experience and I went through something similar when I worked in the NHS.  I would see elderly patients who hadn't been visited for hours and had no access to water.  I mentioned this to a matron and this was relayed back to my supervisor who then proceeded to give me a verbal warning for telling a matron how to do her job.  I was also bullied and lined up to fail, as well as made to do procedures that I wasn't trained to do.  I was young, naive and very quiet back then, so didn't speak up, but looking back now, they did anything but what was stated in the manuals on how a department should be run.  This put me off working in the medical or care sector for life.

Saying that, it is obviously something you are good at and care about, so I wouldn't give up on it.

Care seems to be a neglected sector, so it might be worth doing some background reading on local companies and then send your CV in with a good cover letter.

When I start a new job, I take a notebook and write myself a series of notes as otherwise it's just information overload and I won't remember any of it.

Don't be afraid to ask questions.  The incident when the woman was being bathed, I would have done the same (and have experience with a similar situation) out of respecting the patient's decency.  However; I have come to realise others don't think like this, so I always ask questions.  "Would you like me to assist with the bathing or shall I wait outside/tend to other tasks".  This way I would rather be criticized of asking too many questions, rather than taking the wrong actions.  If anyone complains, at least I can say I asked what the right thing to do was beforehand and was only following orders.

Work can feel like treading on eggshells, but it's important to build some strategies to protect yourself from office politics and general sloppy workplace conduct.

They are.  They give a good grounding.  So I really fail to understand why you're being told off for following what the care plans and policies and procedures say.

Back to why I took this job.

I can sympathize and emphasize with their thoughts and behaviour.

They also have a version of the STAR system in their care plans.

Situation

Triggers

Action

Results.

I find the care plans and risk assessments very interesting reading.

I really don't understand where these people are coming from.

What you read in the care plans is, of course, no substitute for actually working with the people.  They're good guidelines.  They tell you about history, conditions, medications, diet, likes and dislikes, risk assessments, and so on.  They should also give strategies for handling challenging behaviour.  Often, though, you will find - through working with the individuals (and especially if you have your own insights through related conditions like ASC, mental health problems, sensory problems, etc) - many other things can help to create a fuller picture than that given in just those words.

I think your suggestions are salient, and should actually be taken full account of.  Maybe it's because you're new, and they're construing it as someone new telling them how to do their job.  But that's often the case: fresh eyes can see things that others miss.  You have your defence there.  Why are you making such comments and suggestions?  Because the care plans state that you should.  It's part of your overall responsibility as a carer.

Because I work solely with low-functioning autistic people, the plans follow a standard format.  If there's challenging behaviour, and I have to complete an Incident Report, the report asks standard questions: What do I think might have been the antecedent for the behaviour?  What was the actual trigger?  What can be done, reactively, to deal with the behaviour?  What can be done, proactively, to prevent the behaviour from occurring in the future?  And so on.  Things like loud noises, lots of people passing through, etc - these are all relevant.  But there are also variables.  Sometimes, it's almost impossible to identify a cause.  If you're dealing with someone who cannot communicate via the channel of speech (or even gesture), then the behaviour often has to be guessed at.  Maybe something has happened to them that affects their mood and sends their anxiety levels up (mood changes can often be a sign of abuse).  Maybe they're not feeling well.  Challenging behaviour (it's 'bad' behaviour only in the sense that it isn't something that fully-communicative people would use) is a form of communication.  They can't tell you that they don't like the noise, so they'll scream instead.

It's this gap of understanding that always gets me.  This 'normalising' tendency that people have.  And the response is often aversive in such circumstances.  'Stop screaming or you won't go out later,' etc.  In my first care job, I had a Down's Syndrome lad I worked with.  He was also autistic.  At the day centre, he used to spend all day happily playing with dominoes on his own - lining them up one way, then lining them up another way.  It kept him occupied, and it gave him the sense of focus, routine and order that he needed.  One day, one of the other 'carers' decided that he needed to have a bit more variety in his activities, and that he should no longer 'hog the dominoes'.  So they were taken away from him.  Result?  Mayhem.  He screamed, smashed things, etc.  So they punished him by refusing to let him go on an outing he'd been looking forward to as part of his structured routine.  Absolute idiocy.  But the old justification was trotted out.  'He needs to learn he can't always have his own way.'  It sounds like the type of regime you're working under.

The more I read about what you say, the more I think that you're actually in tune with things properly, and the others just put up with it and resent anyone 'rocking the boat'.  It really needs to be reported.  I agree that you would definitely be best off getting out of there as soon as you can.  You aren't going to change anything - there's an institutional mentality at work here - and you'll only end up getting worse.  I feel for you in that situation, because you feel trapped.  That's why, when it came to it for me, I went sick.  And I stayed sick until they decided they could no longer hold my job open for me, and let me go.  The problem then is... you're back to where you were.  It's very difficult.  I just worry that if you leave, then they might penalise you.  The best advice I'd give is to talk to someone at your Job Centre, if you can, to discuss the situation.  You could also contact Acas:

Pay and Work Rights - Acas helpline

Try to keep your spirits up.  You're still, as I see it, doing exactly what a good and responsible care worker should do.

It sounds crazy but I remember a friend of mine, years ago, working for a care agency where none of the rules were followed, including her starting without her DBS coming through!!! She didn’t seem to mind and was herself doing things which I thought were outrageous, so maybe it takes a certain type of person to work at these crazy places. Not that there is anything wrong with the people who work there, I’m not saying anything like that, just that some of us wouldn’t be suited to that type of set up, I know I wouldn’t be, but then again, I’m not the type of person to do care work full stop. 

I think you’re well out of there, it certainly doesn’t seem like the type of environment that is suitable to you. 

I have been reading the care plans and policies during official working hours.

But reading them makes me feel worse because reading them makes me realise that reality is very different from what they are saying in print.

For instance the constant repetition in their policies that if we see something that impacts on the care or safety of clients or staff, then,  we should speak up immediately.  But whenever I say something I get verbally told off for saying it.

For example the volume of buzzers and people coming and going.  

We were in a flat of a disabled girl who has a reputation for  bad behaviour.   The care plan had a section for identifying triggers that cause that behaviour which is usually very load continuous shouting and screaming.  And I was wondering if the buzzer volume and the constant visitors were somehow responsible for upsetting her.  I expressed my opinion with the support worker that I was shadowing.

A couple of days later I was called into the general managers office and she DEMANDED to know what I meant by these comments?  And I got a severe scalding for saying such things!!!!!

Robert124 said:

I have been given their policies and procedures to read between shifts.

They should be allocating you time during your shift for this.  Same with the care plans.

Well done you for that.  You're doing the job properly.  Sorry... I know it isn't a good time to say this now, but this must be reported.  As you say, these are vital safeguarding issues.  It's appalling.

I would also contact you MP about it as soon as you can.

Well done you for that.  You're doing the job properly.  Sorry... I know it isn't a good time to say this now, but this must be reported.  As you say, these are vital safeguarding issues.  It's appalling.

I would also contact you MP about it as soon as you can.