Home is Where The Care is.
The care industry often struggles to recruit and retain staff and the industry can sometimes get a bad press. However, we want to showcase our amazing team and they work they do. As in our previous blog, we are very aware that many of our staff go over and above to support their service users – without realising this is what they are even doing.
Throughout the industry, staff turnover can be high due to the demands of the job; it isn’t easy and many people know they just ‘couldn’t work’ in the care industry. However, Aster Care can unashamedly state that many of its staff have worked in the service for 5 years or more. Earlier in the year, over a third of our workforce had completed over 10 years of service before the death of a long-standing service user saw the disbanding of the team, who decided to go into other industries. It is no coincidence that these longer-serving staff are often the ones who go over and above in their role, which naturally satisfies a need for both them and their clients.
In this blog, we will provide further examples of what going above and beyond looks like and include a Good News Story about one of our staff members that Skills for Care published during #celebratingsocialcare (April 2024).
Going the extra mile
Many of our care workers carry out fantastic work and ask for no other recognition than the wages they are paid. When we reflect on the service we have provided over the past 13 years, it is full of examples of staff, past and present, who have always gone the extra mile and just not realised that this is what they are doing.
Examples include:
- Turning up early for a shift to take the service user’s dog out for a walk
- Going back in their own time to take them to get their nails painted, or to the hairdressers.
- Using their own hairdressing background to cut a service user’s hair who is housebound.
- We have even known staff to wallpaper, paint, shop for new soft furnishings and then rehang new curtains for them.
- Escorting service users to the cinema, theatre and concerts.
Service users, their friends and families are incredibly grateful and many of the staff who may have moved on to further their careers have often remained in contact with the service user following this.
Showcasing Sandra!
There are many care staff who we could have highlighted, both past and present, but we have chosen to showcase Sandra because at 76 years old, she is now one of the oldest and longest serving staff members yet still operates with a boundless energy to support clients, colleagues, and the management team.
One of Sandra’s most notable achievements is her instrumental role in supporting a person with frontal-lobe dementia to return home after multiple failed hospital discharges. Nearly a decade later, this supported person continues to live at home to exceptionally high standards. Sandra has led the team of staff for this client for nine years, working with the management team and this person’s family to ensure that care is relevant throughout the ever-changing care needs. It has been a tough challenge for various reasons, but we have always found solutions to issues that have arisen.
Sandra’s impact extends beyond her care.
As an on-call coordinator, she provides invaluable support to the office team, offering her expertise and guidance to ensure the smooth operation of services outside regular office hours. She goes above and beyond for everyone she supports, encourages the team to contact her anytime with any queries, and communicates well with families. At 76, her energy, flexibility, and focus are nothing short of inspiring. She serves as both a Dysphagia Champion and a Pressure Ulcer Champion, sharing her knowledge and expertise with her colleagues to ensure the highest standards of care are upheld.
What makes this all the more remarkable is that Sandra is the last person to recognise that anything she does goes over and above; it just comes naturally to her and is her ‘norm’!
If you would like to read the full story on Skills For Care Good News Friday, please click on the link https://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/
How do we support our staff?
Aster Care has created a nurturing and supportive workplace where every team member feels valued and empowered to make a difference. From celebrating birthdays to offering incentives for extra work, Aster Care goes above and beyond to ensure its staff feel appreciated and supported.
Our ethos is to train and support staff rather than criticise and punish. We believe that our staff should be able to approach us with any issue, personal or professional. We aim to support and produce confident employees! As such, our training programmes not only include a comprehensive induction consisting of a mix of classroom training and modules, but we also follow up with one-to-one training with each service user before working alone. This not only improves client/staff confidence but also ensures no client ever has a stranger step over the threshold to deliver care.
Want to find out more?
To find out more about our training: How to Become a Home Carer
To view our vacancies: Click to take a look at our care careers
find out about more about some of the services Aster Care provide:
