There are risk assesments done, and each resident has an individual care plan. We have one hoist, but as a rule, hoists are generally used only for lifting people who cannot support their weight at all, and we have none at present. Still, there are residents who support only about 10% of their weight, and they weigh more than 15st. They stand (with assistance) but then drop and we have to hold them up whilst assisting them with things. That's where the main problems seem to be. We do use handling belts, but they don't really help my back at all, as it still hurts when I have to lift. I have suggested using a hoist countless times, but I'm always told "we don't use it, it takes too long". I'm annoyed that even though I told this to the CSCI inspector, it seems that nothing was done/said. I wasn't given any proper training as such, I was just told what to do. It's difficult because we have a list of things that have to be completed each shift (don't get me started on that 'rule') and so if I refuse to do any lifting, there will be 21 very unhappy residents, 2 very overworked other staff and a very annoyed manager. She's not a very good manager. It seems as if she thinks that the care of the residents is secondary, as long as all the washing and washing up is done and everyone is ready for bed before night-staff come on :roll:.. It stinks, but I don't know what I can do. I'm leaving anyway. 4.25GBP an hour for all this is ridiculous. An letter to the relevant authorities will probably solve a lot of the problems after I'm gone.
-Danny.
