Anyone done home help/caregiver work with Comfort Keepers/Bluebird/Home Instead?

fro9etb8j5qsl2

I've seen a good few job ads from these agencies and was wondering what are they like to work for? I know what the work entails and have done a bit of elderly care in the past for a relative so am used to the good and bad sides of it. Just a bit suspicious that these crowds always seem to be looking for staff. The flexible part time hours would really suit me and I like getting out and about meeting and chatting with people.

Millem

Mrspostman I know a few people who did that type of work whole they were in college they loved it and worked at weekends.

fro9etb8j5qsl2

Thanks Millem I've an interview with cc this week and I'm a but curious because I've read some dodgy things about them online. And I've an interview with bluebird next week so hoping someone will be able to tell me which one is better to work for!

Millem

Chana Tinkling Ointment wrote: »

Thanks Millem I've an interview with cc this week and I'm a but curious because I've read some dodgy things about them online. And I've an interview with bluebird next week so hoping someone will be able to tell me which one is better to work for!

I think it was home instead, it was the one near nutgrove. Another girl worked in a nursing home as a care assistant. The money was great on a Sunday

Lotsafish

Chana Tinkling Ointment wrote: »

Thanks Millem I've an interview with cc this week and I'm a but curious because I've read some dodgy things about them online. And I've an interview with bluebird next week so hoping someone will be able to tell me which one is better to work for!

Chana Tinkling Ointment - I was wondering how things went and how you are finding the job, because I am looking into working for them soon too.

PMBC

Chana Tinkling Ointment wrote: »

Thanks Millem I've an interview with cc this week and I'm a but curious because I've read some dodgy things about them online. And I've an interview with bluebird next week so hoping someone will be able to tell me which one is better to work for!

Are these type of jobs difficult to get? What about my age and gender - are they issues?
Thanks and best of luck.

readyletsgo

I don't know about working for CC, but we did have two home help people from them fir a few months before my dad went into a home last year.

Must say, staff were so nice, did so much for my dad. And the staff on the phone were brilliant. So as a customer, I think they are great, and seemed to be very flexible with their staff at the time once it was OK with me.

So yeah, thumbs up from me.

Lotsafish

PMBC wrote: »

Are these type of jobs difficult to get? What about my age and gender - are they issues?
Thanks and best of luck.

You need to be pursuing a QQI award in healthcare or community care (Fetac) but many of the companies will part fund your doing so.

For the home care jobs they like to take someone who already has experience but they may make exceptions if they need staff (at least thats what I'm hoping).

I imagine they would expect you to be at least over 18. Your own transport will increase the amount of clients you could get to.

Regarding your gender - some clients will demand only a male or only a female and you have to respect that. For yourself - you may be assigned a client of the opposite sex so you'd need to be comfortable with that. You'll be providing intimate care so you'd need to be comfortable with that aspect of things.

This is all just theory based on doing my course and the month I did doing work experience with it.

Ruby31

I used to work for one of these companies and I have to say, I left feeling pretty resentful for a few reasons.

Firstly, the clients are paying through the nose (unless they qualify for free care) for the service. It's an hourly rate. I was given several clients per day, but they were, for example 9-10am, next client 10-11am, next client 11am-12pm. I was lucky to get to clients by 10 passed the hour as I obviously had to travel between houses, not to mention getting delayed because, at the end of the day, you're looking after an elderly person who might need assistance getting around, suffers anxiety (very common) and doesn't want you to leave, making it difficult to just leg it when your time is up.

The co-ordinators who matched the carers with the clients were on such a power-trip and talked down to the carers. We were always told, if we had any issues or problems, or even if we felt we didn't get on well with our client and wanted to change then there would be no problem and we should always contact the office to discuss. I had no issues with clients for my first year, but when I rang them to report a client for intimidating behaviour, I was stone-walled. All of a sudden, I was causing them problems and they let it be known, it wasn't appreciated.

The clients complained regularly about the delays. They also complained about some of the carers because the company hired absolutely anyone. Guarda clearance takes months, but the company allows you to start working with clients straight away! One client told me that her carer was helping herself to the food in the fridge every time she visited. Another said her carer sat and watched tv the whole time she was there.

When clients died, the company would ring saying it would be very much appreciated by the family if you attended the funeral. It was purely PR for the company! I was asked to attend funerals for clients I hadn't worked with for months.

I used to think about my parents when I was working with this company. It's very hit-and-miss regarding the carer you get and I really felt like they didn't give a sh*t. It was all about the money.

You'll earn approx. €10 per hour. A lot of the work I did was cleaning. I spoke with a lot of other carers at training sessions and they said the same.

Don't forget, you're also dealing with the clients family. Some are lovely, some are not!

fro9etb8j5qsl2

Yeah you have to be working towards a qqi but they do provide the training (that you pay for). I didn't interview with Bluebird in the end because they wanted me to do a course provided by them that I would have to pay for upfront before even giving me an interview. The company I did interview with seemed happy enough to offer me work on the basis of my interview but they wanted me to do a patient handling course first, which I would have to pay them for upfront. That set alarm bells ringing.

Also, I wasn't very happy with the attitude of the person who interviewed me, he seemed a bit smarmy and condescending towards the clients. And he told me that they are interviewing constantly and they recruit loads of people directly from colleges that run the qqis so I did wonder just how much work would be available, as they don't offer a set amount of hours. When I got home, I looked up the name of the co-ordinator online and suspiciously couldn't find anything about him bar a LinkedIn profile with no picture and scant information. So all in all, I wasn't really happy with the setup and I didn't take up working with them.

SparklesBlood

I was wondering about these too, saw some jobs today I was tempted to apply for, but they just always seem to advertise and it makes me uneasy, glad I had a look here first, I'll skip those now. Thanks for all the info.

PMBC

Lotsafish wrote: »

You need to be pursuing a QQI award in healthcare or community care (Fetac) but many of the companies will part fund your doing so.

For the home care jobs they like to take someone who already has experience but they may make exceptions if they need staff (at least thats what I'm hoping).

I imagine they would expect you to be at least over 18. Your own transport will increase the amount of clients you could get to.

Regarding your gender - some clients will demand only a male or only a female and you have to respect that. For yourself - you may be assigned a client of the opposite sex so you'd need to be comfortable with that. You'll be providing intimate care so you'd need to be comfortable with that aspect of things.

This is all just theory based on doing my course and the month I did doing work experience with it.

Thanks for the info posed, Lotsafish. I'm still considering whether to try it or not.

PMBC

Chana Tinkling Ointment wrote: »

Yeah you have to be working towards a qqi but they do provide the training (that you pay for). I didn't interview with Bluebird in the end because they wanted me to do a course provided by them that I would have to pay for upfront before even giving me an interview. The company I did interview with seemed happy enough to offer me work on the basis of my interview but they wanted me to do a patient handling course first, which I would have to pay them for upfront. That set alarm bells ringing.

Also, I wasn't very happy with the attitude of the person who interviewed me, he seemed a bit smarmy and condescending towards the clients. And he told me that they are interviewing constantly and they recruit loads of people directly from colleges that run the qqis so I did wonder just how much work would be available, as they don't offer a set amount of hours. When I got home, I looked up the name of the co-ordinator online and suspiciously couldn't find anything about him bar a LinkedIn profile with no picture and scant information. So all in all, I wasn't really happy with the setup and I didn't take up working with them.

It looks as if there are good and bad agencies/companies. Would people be happy to recommend 'good ones' or would the board allow that or might it just attract spammers?

fro9etb8j5qsl2

I think the problem isn't that there are good agencies/companies but that a lot of companies seem to be franchises, so whoever is running the branch of a company for the West may not be as diligent as the person running the branch in the east if you see what I mean? I personally know someone who works for a different branch of the company I interviewed with and she couldn't praise her branch, bosses and colleagues highly enough. I couldn't see any evidence of that at all with the person who interviewed me. A few offhand comments he made really got my heckles up.

PMBC

Thanks for that info Mrspostman

justchecking83

Hi,

I am just looking for some information regarding healthcare assistant jobs! would people recommend working as a HCA in a Hospital or in a nursing home or with an agencies?

any info/opinion would be appreciated

celligraphy

Sorry jump in guys but doing a care skills course soon and hoping to get work in elderly care are the hours good ?Like would you be doing much work in the week

fro9etb8j5qsl2

The fella who interviewed me told me that most people do it as an add on to their normal jobs, or else they register with a number of agencies and build their hours around it. You start off with only a few hours a week and then increase bit by bit but he told me that generally, people don't do it as a full time thing. If you're looking for regular hours you're probably better off looking at nursing homes etc.

celligraphy

Thanks might give a few nursing agencies a call and ask what's requirement for hiring

Lotsafish

So I have some fresh insights on the whole area after having interviewed around a bit.

I think I might be breaking some rules by naming names, so I wont (pm me if you want details)

Company #1 I interviewed with them and they seemed really nice. Really nice. But then the truth slowly came out. Firstly they required I do a two day induction, which is fine, but this would include a manual handling course ran by them. When I told them I already had an up to date patient moving and handling cert they said I still had to do theirs. And this would cost me €100! (this would be taken from my salary) Then they required a "fit to work assessment" to be done by my GP - this would cost me a further rake of money. They went on to explain that they would pay no mileage (something they almost seemed proud of) and their salary would range from €9 an hour to €11 at its highest. This company does not differentiate between clients in terms of dependency - meaning you would be paid the same amount for sitting keeping someone company for a few hours as you would for waking, washing, toileting and so on. They have shifts as short as 30 minutes at a time. I wont be accepting their job offer - I'm not going into the field for the money, but I wont undervalue my work either. Also their motivation seemed to be money-driven, not only from their clients but their new employees too!

Company #2 I interviewed with them and was offered a job. They seemed less nice but more professional in that there was no talk of redoing certs I already held, and their interview process was less of a chat and more about finding out if you'll actually be any good at the job. These too said outright that they would not be paying for any kind of mileage. The reasoning for this was "no other employers pay their employees to drive to work do they?", never mind the fact that you could spend half your day driving from appointment to appointment (which incidentally could technically put you under minimum wage). These too do short visits of 30 minutes. This lots starting salary was higher, €12 an hour and they do differentiate between clients in terms of dependency - the higher the dependency the higher the pay. However they did not seem to have much work going - they asked me if I was willing to go as far as Roscommon (I'm in Galway), daily, to assist someone there. Madness. I didn't take their offer 1 because they dont pay mileage and 2 because they didn't give me the impression they could fill even part time hours.

Company #3 These lot are a bit more than home care, they are a bit more active with the clients. I met with them and they seemed less professional than the previous two (wasnt a fancy office. They had papers strewn all about and not a huge amount of staff). But after a little bit it was clear they cared a lot more about the clients then the previous lot and after examining my certs decided I needed no additional training of theirs (except of course for a general induction - cost free) They assured me they would have no issues filling the hours I wanted to work and started filing paperwork for me the very same day. Their salary starts at €11 something, goes up each year and changes according to dependency. They pay mileage.

TLDR: There's a few companies out there, some are out for pure profit from anyone who they can get it from. Other companies seem to have the clients best interests in mind and pay half-decent.

Shop around, find out the ins and outs of what each company is like and dont take the first job offered to you.

majado

I have an interview soon with bluebird care.any advice would be appreciated.

Lotsafish

I haven't interviewed with them myself but a friend recently did.

It seems like they want you to do 12 HOURS of unpaid shadowing before you start getting paid work with them!

IMO thats a bit extreme and perhaps representative of a larger money-focused approach thats only going to get worse as you work for them.

I can only imagine that approach would soon impact the level of care they'll allow you give the clients. But as I said I didn't interview with them and my friend didn't take their offer so I cant say any more with any certainty.

majado

Lotsafish wrote: »

I haven't interviewed with them myself but a friend recently did.

It seems like they want you to do 12 HOURS of unpaid shadowing before you start getting paid work with them!

IMO thats a bit extreme and perhaps representative of a larger money-focused approach thats only going to get worse as you work for them.

I can only imagine that approach would soon impact the level of care they'll allow you give the clients. But as I said I didn't interview with them and my friend didn't take their offer so I cant say any more with any certainty.

Thanks for letting me know I can hold back on my shocked face when they explain that lol.... I will go with an open mind and obviously take everything into account. Thanks 😀

Lotsafish

majado wrote: »

Thanks for letting me know I can hold back on my shocked face when they explain that lol.... I will go with an open mind and obviously take everything into account. Thanks 😀

How did it go with them?

majado

Yea went ok. They don't expect 12 hours unpaid shadowing but they did mention an induction training day. 10 per hour. Also they can't guarantee a certain amount of hours when starting off..

celligraphy

Have an interview soon with these guys any more information ?

majado

celligraphy wrote: »

Have an interview soon with these guys any more information ?

They didn't ask about skills/qualities none of that stuff. They talked about past experience and gave a few scenarios about the kind of work. Best of luck

icecreamcoen

Hi Ruby31,

Which company did you work with? Can you DM me if you don't want to post it here?

OMM 0000

My cousin is thinking of applying for their positions in Wicklow. I can see two jobs: https://wicklowjobs.ie/index.php?keywords=company:comfort%20keepers

Question:

It says they will pay "€8 per 30 minute visit". Does that include travel costs?

So let's say the person is 30 minutes away, so really a 30 minute visit is 90 minutes of work.

Am I understanding correctly?

Ruby31

OMM 0000, the company I worked for did not pay for travel and they could send you a good distance away to visit clients.

You do however get paid mileage if the client needs to be driven somewhere.