Care is possibly the only job where incompetence is consistently allowed.
I’ll explain what I mean.
If a cleaner is contracted for a thorough clean and doesn’t deliver, no second contract. Bad for business. Consequence is immediate.
If a carer rushes personal care, skips the care plan, treats a vulnerable person like an inconvenience, They come back tomorrow.

Now I want to be careful here because this is not about individual carers being bad people. Most carers I’ve known are not bad people. But I’ve seen care delivered reluctantly. Done as though it were a favour.

And I’ve sat with a question that makes me uncomfortable even to write:
Do carers themselves always respect the job?
Not the idea of it. The actual daily reality of being trusted with someone’s most vulnerable moments.
Because when I watch a carer go through the motions, eyes on the clock, answers short, touch rough, what I see is someone who hasn’t yet understood what they’re actually holding. They’re not just doing tasks. They’re holding someone’s dignity. And dignity handled without respect isn’t care.
It’s just presence.

I say this as someone who had to see the difference it makes in the life of someone who is vulnerable and learn to adapt to each clients needs was very important . It wasn’t always obvious to me either because my moral code is to treat people how i wanted to be treated, show respect how i wanted to be respected and care as i would want to be cared because i understand that life can be a full circle.
What changed it for me?
Someone saying how kind and thoughtful i was when all i did was treat them how i would treat my love ones and also someone showing me what it looked like when it was done properly.
That’s what training should do. That’s what leadership in care should do.
That’s what we’re not doing nearly enough of.

FromTheCareFloor -Esther Alaja Founder, AccessSphere CIC
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