Problems I have faced since becoming a Working Carer:
1. Difficulty getting the carer support during the hours the elderly persons needs to get up and get ready for their days activities. From the agencies point of view, there is a high demand during 7am-9am hours, and not enough work for their workers after those hours.
2. These elderly come from a generation that like to rise early. Mother said “I’m not waiting around all day for them!” when the agency offered 10:30am as the only consistent time to get a regular support worker. Sometimes mother is up at 4:30am!
3. Mother (as do all dementia sufferers) needs consistency and routine for stability and security. She needs regular support-carers that she can get to know and feel comfortable with. They also need to know, accept and understand her fluctuating symptoms. Mother, as dementia sufferers do, gets disorientated and confused with unexpected changes.
4. Consistency falls down when arranged support carers do not turn up as expected (especially if I am at work). The Agency expects to send any number of different persons with no warning or even a preparatory introduction! How much dignity is in that?
5. The needs of the elderly with dementia appears to conflict with the operational needs of the support agency. There are a limited few agencies to choose from in the provincial parts of NZ. To my knowledge, no specialist agency for dementia (outside of residential care) exists that provides trained carer support workers for the elderly at home.
6. Most agency support appears to be set up by 9am-5pm managers based on the normal hours of a working week, while I work shifts in the 24 hour health-care industry. I would like to find an answer to this, as I'm sure many other shift workers face the same issue.
7. Employers, while sympathetic, say they are not able to give me priority on the roster, as everyone wants those hours and it is not fair to them.
8. NASC also require regular working hours to enable adequate support. The structure doesn't account for ever changing rostered shift work.
9. Respite care cannot be booked in advance. Right up until the day I take my holiday or the day I plan to leave an overseas trip, I do not know if mother will have a place to be cared for. That makes it practically impossible to commit or make arrangements.
10. If I do not use my respite hours, they will be lost and not replaced.
