In depth: My experiences of providing care
"My dad was living with us during his final four years, and we ended up caring for him. At that point, we were in the position of caring both for our son and for my father. It was… I'll use the word ‘interesting’, dealing with both of those at the at the same time."
"The Covid pandemic, for some areas of the NHS – like my department – has actually made work life better. Because you actually have more time allocated for patients. Because you've got additional time for your decontamination between patients and things like that. And just have a second in between...read more
"I'm a care manager. I don't get paid. And it's not about being paid because my boy gets the life that he does as a result of me being his manager. But there's no recognition, there's no appreciation... If I was in a paid position, you know, I would have...read more
"[For] health care assistants in the health service, there's no way that they can progress and become nurses. Like, you used to have auxiliary nurses. There should be a way that they can progress and learn on the job and start to progress to become a nurse if they want to."
"Working in the NHS and not being clinical, I hear all the time [how] the clinical staff perceive it compared to how the actual patients perceive it. And because as a clinical person, you do it day in, day out, sometimes we forget that it isn't a day in day...read more
"Over the years, you should have had six weeks [of respite care] a year from social services. I don't think you ever had more than three a year. And that's over 28 years. So, you know, I'm under no illusions."
"“So it's quite a new role in that I'm supporting a family member. You know, I sometimes struggle and wonder where to turn to really. I think that there are gaps for somebody just to listen to your own personal story and direct you a little bit. Because everyone's different."
"They need to respect us [unpaid carers] as professionals. Respect and value us."
"During the pandemic, it has become apparent that there is no support for us as parents... I personally haven't reached out for help simply because I don't have the time to. You're just too wrapped up with what [you're] dealing with on a daily basis. "
"For me, for social care, I think people should be paying more. Because it's a really tough job. And it's so poorly paid. And until it's well paid, you will get some staff that are fantastic. But you will get a lot of staff who are just there as a...read more
"People are going into nurse training. [Now], if you take out the people who don't complete their training, you get the people who don't pass their exams. And then people who come out of their training process exams and decide not to stay in the NHS, you're probably talking 50...read more
"In care homes, I think [things] are a lot worse because they're so understaffed. And all of their patients are very highly dependent on the staff. And you do get a lot of grief...you can get very difficult patients that are very rude to staff [or][ are very demanding. And...read more