Care workers should feel respected and rewarded for their compassion

Channel 4’s Undercover Boss gave care workers a chance to speak on their own behalf – and we need to listen to them, by John Kennedy

Channel 4’s Undercover Boss was not just another undercover exposé of a failing care home. It was much more powerful and shocking than that: it gave a rare public glimpse into the often dysfunctional world of social care.

It gave a chance for the care workers involved, albeit under false pretences, to speak a little on their own behalf. The programme offered a hint of the pressures and challenges facing the people who work 24/7, 365 days a year, to provide care for the approximately 500,000 people living in care homes in Britain.

You could see the flicker of guilt in the eyes of the care worker, challenged on why she had not offered a woman the choice of bedtime. The viewer, in his or her condemnation, may have missed the apologetic response. “After 8 o’clock, the night shift starts and we only have four staff”, said one worker.

There were 47 residents in this home; many would require two people to assist them getting into bed. It turns out that this worker often offers her time free for outings and activities. Others spoke of coming in on days off to complete paperwork so they could spend more time with people while on shift. Rarely did they receive praise or reward, more often they got criticism and rebuke.

Why do they do it? It’s not for the money. A care worker is typically on the absolute bottom of the pay scale, below refuse collectors and supermarket checkout staff; no disrespect to these workers but I feel that they don’t face the responsibility and nakedness that care workers face. A carer’s mistake doesn’t just result in an angry shopper, it can result in accusations of neglect and abuse.

In my view, they do it because they are overwhelming good, kind, caring and often heroic – doing their very best – but slowly being crushed by our reflected guilt and shame. This is not right.

We are constantly reminded by commentators and successive governments that how we care for the old and frail is a mark of how civilised we are as a society. That’s fine by me, but let us also look at how we treat and cherish those whose job it is to care for you, me and our relatives.

I’m a care home boss and yes, sometimes we make mistakes; things can go badly wrong. But we are genuinely trying to care well. This is about relationships, about respect and reciprocity between fellow humans.

When and if, I end up in a care home, I would like the people caring for me to have the time and space to be themselves and to care. I don’t want to have to constantly ring for help, while they sit in an office neurotically filling in forms, audits and daily reports whose main purpose is to protect them from me.

I want to trust them, and for them to trust me. I want them to be allowed the time and space to have patience with me on my bad days. I want them to be able to have a relationship with me. I know from the hundreds of care workers I’ve worked with that’s what they want too.

Above all I will feel much safer and cared for if they feel respected and rewarded for their compassion.

John Kennedy is director of care services at Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust.