Where is everyone

[susiecol]

Hi 👋 does anyone else find it strange that hospitals and care homes have less staff at weekends and Bank Holidays,people need care every day,it being a Sunday doesn't mean people who are ill have a 'day off being poorly'....just saying......and I know staff need time off as they work so hard to care for our loved ones,but more staff surely would mean better care and make it better for the hard working staff too....

 

[jennifer1967]

Hi 👋 does anyone else find it strange that hospitals and care homes have less staff at weekends and Bank Holidays,people need care every day,it being a Sunday doesn't mean people who are ill have a 'day off being poorly'....just saying......and I know staff need time off as they work so hard to care for our loved ones,but more staff surely would mean better care and make it better for the hard working staff too....

Cost, for Sundays and Bank Holidays they usually earn more. Also staff may have other commitments such as family they need to look after eg. Childcare which is more expensive weekends and bank holidays so can't work. It's the same with hospitals where there are less staff.

 

[SeaSwallow]

I am sure that many of us on here would agree with you @susiecol. But the more staff that the care homes employ the more expensive the care, it is a hard one to resolve.

 

[Hours Away]

I think the care staff numbers in the home I visited varied according to time of day, rather than day of the week, but they'd be more likely to have to use bank/agency staff at weekends.

Do care home managers work weekends or different shifts across the working day or just M-F eg if there is a manager and a deputy manager does one work Monday-Friday and the other say Thursday-Monday so a relative visiting over the weekend could discuss any issues with them in person?

How many care homes have 5 rather than 7 day a week activity programmes? If the activity co-ordinator is M-F couldn't a carer be tasked to lead a simple weekend activity, perhaps as a personal development opportunity? Lots of visitors seem to retired and pop in during the week so I suspect weekends are very quiet.

 

[jennifer1967]

I think the care staff numbers in the home I visited varied according to time of day, rather than day of the week, but they'd be more likely to have to use bank/agency staff at weekends.

Do care home managers work weekends or different shifts across the working day or just M-F eg if there is a manager and a deputy manager does one work Monday-Friday and the other say Thursday-Monday so a relative visiting over the weekend could discuss any issues with them in person?

How many care homes have 5 rather than 7 day a week activity programmes? If the activity co-ordinator is M-F couldn't a carer be tasked to lead a simple weekend activity, perhaps as a personal development opportunity? Lots of visitors seem to retired and pop in during the week so I suspect weekends are very quiet.

Weekend can be very busy with families grandchildren etc. There would usually be a senior on each shift who runs the shift but maybe not manager. I know that carers will do activity or simply talk to the residents but really haven't the time to do much else.
They can always contact the manager of important. Seniors are highly trained and will try to rectify things

 

[StressedDaughter]

I agree - no activities at Mums as activities coordinator is M-F. No reception or manager. You can’t let yourself in during the week but you can at the weekend!