Look Who’s Talking: A Career in Care

Article | Sue Learner, Editor of carehome.co.uk and homecare.co.uk

Sue Learner, editor of carehome.co.uk and homecare.co.uk, talks to BSA Today about how the pandemic has led to a huge rise in the shortand long-term opportunities in the adult social care sector.

The pandemic has put care homes very much in the public eye. This has heightened awareness of care workers and the crucial role they have played during the past year, which has led to a huge rise in people wanting a job in care.

Applications have soared during the past 2 years, with the number quadrupling between March 2019 and March 2021, according to carehome.co.uk, the UK’s leading care-home jobs board.

Applications through carehome. co.uk rose from 5,347 in March 2019 to 21,436 in March 2021; meanwhile, homecare.co.uk, the leading homecare jobs site, has seen a similar rise with applications leaping from 419 in March 2019 to 3,581 in March 2021.

Kathryn Lewis, who manages the jobs board for carehome.co.uk and homecare.co.uk said:

One of the good things that has come out of the pandemic is that a spotlight has been shone on the incredible work that care workers do and people have been able to see the difference they make to older and disabled people. It is good news that we have this influx of people coming into the sector, as many care providers struggle with staff shortages and agency staff were seen as one of the contributary factors to COVID-19 spreading during the pandemic.

This will help the care sector stay sustainable in terms of staffing and ensure there are enough care workers to provide essential care to everyone who needs it.

Occupancy rates in care homes have fallen during the pandemic, but social care analysts Carterwood predict these will rise to prepandemic levels by the end of this year, as vaccinations start to make their impact felt, coupled with the demand of an ageing population.

Over the past year, the care sector has seen people applying for jobs from wide and diverse backgrounds. With most of last year spent in lockdown, the aviation industry lost thousands of employees, and this was echoed across the hospitality and retail sectors.

According to the Office for National Statistics, up to 1.7 million people have been made jobless due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nellsar Care Homes is one care provider that has been doing its utmost to make use of the skills that people have built up in other careers.

The provider has been helping to recruit people from different backgrounds to work in its 13 care homes based in Kent, Surrey and Essex.

Danielle Martin

Danielle Martin

Danielle Martin recently joined Nellsar as a recreation and wellbeing champion at The Old Downs Residential Care Centre, near Dartford, Kent.

A classical dancer and holder of seven Guinness World Records, Ms Martin went from sword swallowing and snake charming to caring for Nellsar’s older residents.

Ms Martin said: “The events of this year meant all my jobs were cancelled, so I was looking for new work. I actually didn’t even know this type of job existed until I found it online and as I read more about it, I realised how suited I would be for it.

My previous role and being a recreation and wellbeing champion are very different jobs in one sense, but there are similarities. In both, you want to make people smile, grab their attention and get them to come on a journey with you and offer some escapism.”

Hayley Bowles

Hayley Bowles

Hayley Bowles is a new employee at Nellsar’s Lukestone Care Centre, in Maidstone.

Having spent 15 years with British Airways as cabin crew on long-haul flights to destinations from Costa Rica to Peru, Ms Bowles, like many airline cabin crew, found herself jobless because of the pandemic.

Ms Bowles said: “As cabin crew, I was always keen to be on hand to assist older people on board, which is how I knew I would fit well into a care environment. Helping people comes naturally to me. My role was centred around communication and I was required to keep people safe and deal with every situation. People skills and emotional intelligence were key.”

Nicky Stevens

Nicky Stevens

Colten Care, which has 21 care homes in south-west England, has appointed Nicky Stevens from 1970s pop sensation Brotherhood of Man as a companionship team member. The band gained worldwide fame when they won Eurovision in 1976 with the song ‘Save Your Kisses for Me’. Like many other artists in the music industry, Brotherhood of Man had been looking forward to a year of gigs until the coronavirus pandemic brought the live music industry to a standstill.

She said: “Music is so therapeutic and uplifting. The residents tell me they really love it. Some join in straight away if they know the tune. One lady calls me her ‘little nightingale’. They know I can sing but some don’t know I won Eurovision. I would like to say they are in total awe but they just accept you are performing and appreciate it. As long as they enjoy what I’m doing with them, that’s the main thing.”

Erin Smith

Erin Smith

It is a similar story over in the home-care sector where professional footballer, Erin Smith, aged 18, last year joined Caremark as a care worker.

Ms Smith said: “I got myself a job as a care worker for the elderly in my area and I absolutely love the job. It gives me so much joy because all my clients are absolutely lush.”

Ms Smith has played football since she was 4-years-old, and she was part of the England Colleges squad at an under-18 level, playing for West Bromwich Albion and Coventry United, before she took time off to recover from an injury. The centre back was then forced to temporarily hang up her boots when all professional football was suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The government is helping boost the social care workforce and recently launched a new campaign - ‘Care for Others. Make a Difference’ - to encourage people to consider a job in the adult social care sector.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “I want to thank carers for all they do to look after our loved ones. Throughout this pandemic, they have gone above and beyond to protect our parents and grandparents, and to provide them with the support and care they need and we would be truly lost without them.

This exceptional career choice is tough but rewarding, and I would urge anyone who is thinking of a career in care to come forward and join this heroic workforce”

A career in social care can bring positivity and boost your self-esteem, and it is suitable for people from a diverse range of backgrounds. There are so many different roles out there. You can search for jobs at www.everydayisdifferent.com/home.aspx

The websites carehome.co.uk and homecare.co.uk also have thousands of jobs listed on their jobs boards: www.carehome.co.uk/jobs and www.homecare.co.uk/jobs

Sue Learner

Editor of carehome.co.uk and homecare.co.uk

Sue Learner is Editor of carehome. co.uk as well as homecare.co.uk and daynurseries.co.uk. She is a voice for the social care and childcare sector and regularly speaks on both radio and TV.

She is also a freelance journalist and has written for numerous publications, including The Guardian, The Telegraph, BMJ and Nursing Standard. She is host of the Let’s Talk About Care podcast.