Become a carer? Why bother…

So, one trainee home-carer in Essex stole more than £1,000 off two vulnerable elderly clients, and another care worker in a Bolton home attempted to torch the place after being suspended.

And that’s just in the last two days.

Countless other examples exist of where those in a position of trust abuse their power, hurting or endangering the lives of our loved ones. These people, who probably account for less than one in a hundred care workers, succeed in tarnishing the good work that everyone else in the industry does.

So how can we protect our elderly from these rotten apples?

For starters, better employment procedures should be put in place, to stop these bad eggs getting jobs working with the elderly. Thorough police checks, in theory, are carried out on everyone who works with children, yet it would appear the elderly aren’t afforded the same luxury. But they both need protecting.

Moreover the image of the industry needs to change. It has a very lowly perception from almost every conceivable angle. The media rarely give it any credit, families struggle to praise the dedicated staff, and workers often feel undervalued and underappreciated by employers and PCTs. It’s one of the first areas to get hit by budget cuts, staff morale is often at rock bottom, and even dedicated overseas staff are in constant fear of being deported thanks to immigration laws.

And they wonder why they have trouble attracting decent candidates…

By tackling these issues – and looking at the pay rate of carers – this could make it more attractive to prospective employees, and attract a better class of person to care for our nation’s elderly. It won’t happen overnight, but something desperately needs to be done if we don’t want to read of abuse, arson and robbery on a daily basis…