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Job Description

Female live in carer for 85 year old Lady in Canary Wharf - London with immediate Effect

We require a dedicated and conscientious care assistant to live with my mum and provide care for her. We're seeking a caring and compassionate individual who enjoys interacting with more mature people and assisting them with their daily living activities. Candidates must be warm and friendly, with a strong work ethic, a positive attitude and a genuine passion for providing high
quality care and support. The successful candidate will be self-motivated, well-organized and have flexibility and empathy in dealing with an elderly person with mild dementia. The ideal candidate must be physically strong and patient.

Proven experience in working with seniors, in either a paid or voluntary capacity, is essential for this role.

Although this is a Full Time Role, it is extremely important to understand that the main reason it is Full Time is because we do not want Mum to be alone on her own. Apart from regular showering and personal hygiene, mum needs attention during meal and drug times and encouraging her to stay out of bed, making daily calls to her daughters and weekly calls to her granddaughter. She spends probably half the day in bed and this needs to be minimized to improve her mobility that has been affected recently. More recently she has some periods of incontinence, although every effort is being made to help her use the commode and/or the toilet, certainly during the day.

There is a backup carer who will attend when the Live in carer is out for errands and for time off.

Therefore, the live in carer will have quite a lot of free time at home, and, depending on the pattern and number of hours of wanting time away from home, when the Backup carer can attend, also free time away from the home.

The current carer will be at hand for handover and most other times for any advice/assistance, especially when daughters are out of the country.

Responsibilities:

• Assist with personal care tasks, such as going to the toilet, washing and dressing
• Changing nappies (mainly for overnight)
• Perform housekeeping tasks, such as dusting, vacuuming and changing bed linens
• Do the laundry and ironing
• Assist in the safe lifting, transferring, repositioning and movement
• Accompany to medical appointments (NHS and private facilities) , either getting an Ambulance for NHS appointments , taxis or assisting family with taking her to appointments
• Accompany her to Emergency visits to the hospital and stay with her (it is allowed during the pandemic as she has dementia
• Observe, monitor and record physical and emotional well-being, and promptly report any changes to family and GP
• Encourage her not to stay in bed and carry out light movement and exercises, to support the Physiotherapists, ensure she does some walking every day and watch TV
• Take Fasting Blood Sugar every morning prior to breakfast ,recording for monthly review with Diabetic Nurse and family
• Administer drugs ,including Insulin if possible(see below under Diabetes)
• Liaise with GP, hospital, specialists (particularly when daughters are out of the country)
• Take her food Shopping with a Taxi (not often)
• Take her for walks in front of the building
• Cook healthy meals (family will provide detailed guidance if necessary and recipes for favourite meals)
• Do Food Shopping when daughter(s) out of the country
• Provide companionship especially during meal times, and, in particular, when daughters and granddaughter out of the country
• Comfort her during the night, if she has disturbed sleep (very rare)
• Based on Mum’s health, travel to Spain for holiday with family
• Keep daughters fully informed of any important changes
• Help with communicating with her family (using Facetime/phone) outside the country
• Deal with correspondence addressed to her and update daughters
• Help with Feeding at the table (although not all the time)

Health issues :

• Type 2 Diabetes and is insulin dependant. It is desirable that the carer administers the Insulin, however, if that is an issue, community nurses can provide this service,although, it is much more desirable, especially during the pandemic not to have more people enter the flat

• Vascular dementia – brought on due to her Diabetes. She recognizes everyone, and is not at all aggressive. The main symptom of her Dementia are:
  • forgetfulness
  • significant difficulty with motor neuron (MN) functions ,such as walking, cooking, dialing telephone numbers. She uses a walker to assist with walking and walks very slowly, due to the MN damage. Although more recently she uses a wheelchair, but it is of utmost importance for her to walk a little during the day, to not completelybecome wheelchair bound - it is essential she moves as much as possible

• Heart Failure (more recently) – She has narrowing of her mitral valve and also has aPacemaker – it is important that close monitoring of this takes place for any symptoms of chest and/or discomfort, as that could be symptomatic of fluid retention in her lungs which is dangerous and requires Emergency Hospital treatment

• Mobility & Balance –she requires full assistance with showering, and going to the toilet as she can not stand without help

Please note that there is currently help from the council 4 times a day, 30 minutes each for showering and if necessary helping her to dress and go to bed at night and changing, to support the Live In Carer.

Details of Living arrangements

The Live in carer will have her own room and her own bathroom in a spacious 2 bedroom/2 bathroom flat in a secure building with concierge in Canary Wharf London. The flat overlooks the river with own gardens. High speed internet (fiber) available. All utility and council tax bills are paid for.

Salary & Time off

Salary - This will include approximately 4.5 weeks paid Holiday, and Pension. Weekly Salary: £525 - £600 depending on experience and amount of time when the Backup carer will be needed.

Time off – One day (8 hours) or 2 half days. Additional time must be agreed in advance with the family and the backup carer, and will be reflected in the carer's salary. There will be a backup carer who can attend on a regular basis. Apart from the holiday period, the live in carer is expected to be there every night during the night.

Job Details