A Day in the Life of a Dementia Carer: A carer’s perspective by our PPI member Lynsey

I swill the last mouthful of my coffee and ready myself to start the day. I have my comfiest shoes on as I head to handover, quietly whispering to myself “you got this”. My soul sinks and I’m filled with dread as soon as I walk in. I don’t “got this”. We’re saturated with agency staff again. This is going to be a hard shift. I’ve only got one regular staff member and a full house of 48 residents. The instant those keys land in my hand, these people are my responsibility. The reality weighs heavily on me. How am I going to keep them safe? How am I going to make today a good day for them?  How am I going to oversee everything and make sure they’re well cared for? I’ve done countless courses on person centred care, meaningful engagement and maintaining dignity, but nobody ever said how hard it would be to put it all into practice in the real world. I seem to need 10 pairs of hands and 84 eyes. It feels impossible. I give myself a little nudge and remind myself to try and stay positive, but it’s hard.

I consider how it must feel for the agency staff members. They’re walking into a strange new place, they don’t know anybody, they don’t know the needs of the residents, they don’t know where anything is or any of our procedures.

I put myself in the shoes of the regular staff member. They must be fed up. They know I’m going to rely heavily on them today, and it’s not a one off. It will probably be the same on the next shift too.

It’s always like this. We can never seem to get enough staff. Even when they do a recruitment drive, we’re fine for a month, then one by one they start to disappear. It’s a hard job, both physically and mentally. It’s not for everybody. You’re probably going to be assaulted. You’re going to have to deal with urine and faeces. You’re often picking up the slack of not enough staff on duty. It’s classed as unskilled, but the first time you have to de-escalate a hostile situation, you know for a fact it isn’t unskilled. You feel under appreciated. Moreover, the pay leaves a lot to be desired. There is no magic staff finding fairy who can swoop down and fix this, so for now, we must just get on with it.

How am I going to get the agency staff up to speed with so much to do myself? I need to be in two places at once. One of me needs to give the residents their medications. The other one of me needs to spend an hour with the agency staff explaining each residents’ strengths and needs. I can’t do both, so I have to prioritise and get the medications out. I know that this means the residents won’t get the care they deserve today. The agency staff, without proper direction from me, will either do too much for them, taking away their independence and dignity…. or not enough. I can’t decide which is worse.

This day isn’t unique. It’s just an average day. Sure, there were better days. There were worse days too. Throw an emergency into the mix on one of these days and it quickly turns into a total nightmare.

This is why the Cognitive Daisy research is so important. One thing we have in common as carers is that we just want the best for the people we look after. We want them to live well with Dementia. We want every day to be as fulfilling as it possibly can be. I’ve heard it said from countless carers that they just want to deliver the care that they’d want their own parents to receive.

What is the Cognitive Daisy project?

The cognitive daisy is a tool kit that has been created to help staff working in care homes to support people living with dementia. A resident’s strengths and difficulties are displayed as a daisy with petals that show what someone might need help with. It’s a quick and easy way to help staff understand what support a person might need. So simple, yet so beneficial. The daisy can be adapted as the person’s needs change, so that the whole staff team is kept up to date. Having this information to hand means that staff can deliver person centric care every time. They maintain the dignity and independence of the person they’re caring for, whilst being able to offer help and encouragement where it’s really needed.

Granted, it wouldn’t fix everything, but it’s a lifeline when you need it most. I imagine how different my bad days would have been if each resident had a daisy on their bedroom wall. How easy it would be for the agency staff to walk in and see instantly what the person’s strengths and weaknesses are. How effortless it would be to keep my staff up to date with cognitive changes as and when they happen. All these benefits appear to revolve around making my job easier….. but that’s not what it’s about. It means I’ll be able to offer better quality care. It means my staff team can offer better quality care. Most importantly of all, it means the people I care for live better.