Steven King hasn’t had a hot meal for as long as he can remember. He hasn’t had lunch for years, and hasn’t even been out of the house for three years, he said.
In 2019, the disabled former retail worker said he was left entirely on his own, with just a sandwich and two glasses of drink for 60 hours. He was unable to visit the toilet or take his medication and said he was told to contact 999 if he needed a drink. This was an experience that left him contemplating taking his own life.
Steven lives on his own and needs the support of carers to support him with the most crucial tasks, which include personal care, preparing food and taking his medication. However, the lack of care staff is appalling, and that deficiency is being experienced by millions across the country. One which has left Steven dangerously isolated.
He said, not knowing if people will turn up and who it will be, and that the whole care system was broken.
He said that there aren’t enough carers and there aren’t enough people wanting to do the job and that even on good days, he said that he has to survive on a sandwich or Weetabix for breakfast until someone comes along eventually to make him his tea.
Anne Pridmore, 83, who has cerebral palsy said that the crisis in care was terrifying. That it wasn’t getting any better, and that it made you feel extremely vulnerable, and that a lot of people who are disabled have to rely on help from carers because they don’t have any relations or friends they can call on, but she said it wasn’t always like this.
She said that she’s seen things change for the worse. It’s been happening for a long time, and it used to be extremely easy to get people to work as a carer, but now it’s just a nightmare.
Carers are not rewarded or paid the correct wages, in fact, you’d likely get paid much more walking someone’s dogs.
Age UK said that 2.6 million people in England aged over 50 are unable to get vital care, including hundreds of thousands stuck on waiting lists, and that at Age UK they’re extremely concerned about the plight of all the older people with an unmet need for care, particularly if they’re living alone.
There are some extremely good carers out there who put their best into their job, but in the end, they just burn out because clients die, and they’re manipulated by the company they work for.
These carers are just human beings who have to listen to everyone’s problems, and if that carer is compassionate, they try to make their clients’ lives better and go above and beyond what is needed of them.
Care work can be heartbreaking and soul-destroying, and it’s not a job that everyone can do. You really have to be a certain kind of person to do the job.
Being a carer can be an extremely rewarding career looking after vulnerable people, but the wages make it extremely hard if you’re a sole earner, and if you want to make more money, then you would have to work extremely long hours, working seven days a week, and also over the Christmas period.
Domiciliary care has always been a badly paid job, with those care workers only being paid for the time they spend with the client, with no payment for travelling time or fuel or bus fares.
It takes a certain kind of person to do domiciliary care. You’re essentially on your own with the client and their needs may be complex. You may also find yourself getting covered in their bodily waste or find them dead in bed when you go and get them up in the morning.
This is not a menial job, and these carers should be paid much more than they do now. The problem is our Government don’t care about the elderly, they’d probably rather they die so that they don’t have to be supported because in their eyes they’re a burden to society.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 