What a wonderful thing on handover day to arrive at your placement to find that the house is clean, rubbish buns are emptied, fridge is stocked and clean, and your room is ready for you.
A nice thought, and while it happens most of the time, most live-in carers have arrived at a placement to find out of date food, laundry piled up and beds not made.
How do we handle this?
If this is the one and only time you have arrived at your placement, then before you say anything, you should at least find out why the outgoing carer has not left things in a good way. There may be an issue which you are not aware of.
However, if it happens more than once then you may want to take the matter further.
Approach the carer
You will need to be tactful here and try to keep things light when you suggest that next time you would like to see things differently.
Contact the agency
If you do not get any satisfaction, or the house is a mess when you arrive again, you should contact your agency.
There are certain things which an incoming carer can expect to see on arrival, one of them being a clean fridge with food which is not going bad, or out-of-date.
Another thing is to find your bedroom neat and tidy. While the bed may not be made up, the clean bedding should be available to you.
Contact the family
If you get no satisfaction from your agency you may think about approaching the family and letting them know that you are not happy with the state of the house when you arrive.
While there is no guarantee that this will achieve anything, they may say something as no one likes being told that their loved one’s house is dirty, and food is bad in the fridge.
Final thought
So, if you have suggested to the outgoing carer, contacted your agency, and mentioned things to the family, and still do not have any change, what should you do?
It is up to you to decide whether you want to continue working in such conditions or rather move on to a better placement. If you do not get any satisfaction then it may be that family are happy with things as they are, and if you are unhappy there, then perhaps a move elsewhere is the next route you should follow.
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