10 top tips to fight fatigue this winter

1. Try eating smaller-portioned meals throughout the day

It’s not just what you eat that impacts your energy levels, but also when you eat. For instance, have you ever noticed how you feel sluggish after a big lunch or dinner? That’s because your body is using its energy to digest that big meal instead of powering the rest of your body. Start with a healthy, hearty breakfast to start your day right, and then try eating smaller-portioned meals throughout the rest of the day. This will keep your body fuelled regularly and may even help you lose weight.

2. Spice up your [...]

The variety of a day in care

People often ask, ‘what’s a typical day in the life of a carer?’ To be honest there is no such thing, and that is why the job role is so exciting, so varied and so interesting. There is a huge opportunity to positively impact the lives of the people that we’re caring for.

At Prestige Nursing + Care, our carers help people with a variety of needs, whether it be complex care needs, brain or spinal injury rehabilitation, dementia support (including ensuring that that their family and friends are also supported) all the way through to companionship.

Many of our carers choose [...]

What are the most common routes into a caring career

Care work can be a very rewarding career. While it is sometimes challenging, it is popular because no two days are the same, and you also know that you’re doing something worthwhile and having a positive impact on people’s lives.

If you are thinking about pursuing a career as a care worker yourself, there are various routes to it. Here are some of the most common to consider.

 

Caring for a Relative or Friend – the Accidental Carer

Many people decide to go into care work after first caring for someone they know. This may be your situation right now if you care [...]

Common concerns for an elderly relative

What are the Common Concerns for Those Caring for an Elderly Relative?

The UK population is ageing. According to the Office of National Statistics, the number of people aged 75 and over has risen by 89% since 1974. Health services are under a huge amount of strain and many families are now the primary carer for their loved ones. If you are caring for an elderly relative, here are some of the issues and decisions you may be facing.

The Financial Implications

Caring for elderly relatives has several implications, but the main one for many families is the financial challenge. If you have [...]

Brexit: The looming threat to social care

Brexit is the biggest issue on the agenda as election fever starts to take hold, and with good reason. The policy decisions that are made over the coming months and years will have a dramatic effect on people’s daily lives. Yet with the focus on trade deals and tactical voting, the continuing crisis in social care has dropped below the government’s radar lately, and with Brexit looming there is the potential for it to get a lot worse.

At present, non-British EU nationals account for approximately 7% of staff working in social care, rising to 12% in regions such as [...]

Care workers: Britain’s unsung heroes

Having worked overtime until the early hours of the morning, driving from house to house on snow-covered roads, Jessica Gentry, a care worker from Bury, decided to share her experience on Facebook in an open letter to the Prime Minister.

Within the letter she talks about the man with a suspected stroke and who she waited with for an ambulance. She talks also of the 15 lots of medicine she administered, the various patients with dementia that she reassured, and her frustration with having to do all this during twenty-minute visits while being paid the minimum wage.

Her post has since [...]

Social Care: A New Year but the Same Old Story

The New Year can often be a cause for optimism and a fresh start, unfortunately, the crisis in social care shows no signs of relenting. On New Year’s Day, the Daily Telegraph published a new investigation which revealed that huge numbers of expats living in popular resorts on the Spanish coast are being lured back to the UK by care agencies in desperate need of temporary home-care staff.

Many of those making the trip back home are builders, waitresses, and former businessmen who are still struggling with the financial consequences of the Spanish property slump and are in search of [...]

The inconvenient truth about social care

Years of inadequate funding for social care were inevitably going to have consequences. A combination of reduced funding and higher staff costs, following the ‘living wage’ increase have put profitability under severe strain across the care sector. As a result, care providers are beginning to hand back contracts, with 57% of local authorities experiencing this within the last six months.

The hard facts

A 2015 report predicted that the number of care homes would fall by 10% within the next four years. This is equivalent to 1,500 care homes, or 37,000 beds. As costs rise and funding levels reduce further, it is estimated [...]

The Autumn Statement: Time for action on social care

Warnings of a crisis in social care have become more frequent and more urgent in recent months. As we head towards winter, medical professionals, care workers, MPs, council leaders and charities alike have been telling us that we are on course for a disaster of untold proportions.

The government recently promised an additional £3.5 billion to add to the social care budget by 2020 and claim that they are “committed to ensuring older people throughout the country get affordable and dignified care.” However, research carried about by disability charity Leonard Cheshire shows that in England there has been an overall reduction of £4.6 billion [...]

Are you a carer?

There are more informal carers across the UK than you think; Are you a carer?

Today there are approximately 7 million unpaid, or ‘informal carers’ in the UK looking after sick, disabled or older people – more than 1 in 10.  These are everyday people who take on the unpaid responsibility of caring for a family member or friend and the numbers are rising.

Some key facts about informal carers are…

There are around seven million carers in the UK – that is one in ten people. This is rising. Three in five people will be carers at some point in their lives [...]