Work and all that!

Well so much for work forgetting about the Laptop had a call last week to remind me to return that and the phone that they gave me which i have never used anyway! Anyway gave me licence to buy a Mac Pro! have become a bit of an Apple girl now so it made sense then everything links up. I have had great delight in buying a laptop for two of the boys and a desktop for the other. Now i have to reign it in apart from finding a holiday for us all!
I have also been informed by the last team that i managed that a leaving do has been planned for the 25th May. As i  was taken ill suddenly i disappeared from my previous post, went on holiday for a week and never came  back! I then moved on to another home to manage.
Anyway it will be nice say a proper goodbye below is the e mail that i sent to the whole organisation.....we provide or rather they! provide care for people with learning disabilities.

Dear ALL

Well! This is an email that I guess I didn’t think I would be writing so soon but here it is!

On Monday I will be leaving  Odyssey taking early retirement. I was diagnosed with Bowel Cancer near enough 5 years ago and unfortunately it spread so that it is very unlikely that I will get better, but still good to live in hope. I have been having chemo for the last month or so which explains why I haven’t been around.

Now! The one thing I can do is encourage you all to read this next bit, memorise it and hopefully never have to use it......

Bowel cancer is 90% curable IF CAUGHT EARLY! but the second biggest cancer killer of both men and women if not.

So the symptoms are......

Change in bowel habit that lasts longer than 3 weeks

Blood in Stools

Anaemia

Pain in the abdomen

Unexplained weight loss

See your doctor and don’t be shy if you recognise any of these symptoms, as you can see I am now quite comfortable talking about bowels!

Finally and most importantly,  I would like to thank everyone that I have worked with, and known during my time with Southwark and then with Odyssey. I have loved working with people with learning disabilities so much so, I did it for over 30 years! I will miss all the Service users that I have supported at Dover Lodge, Notley Street and More recently At the two Frierns , I travelled full circle as I started working at Gibson in 1993 who now live at 164a Friern Road. I aim to keep in contact and visit occasionally.

The word is enjoy!! And I hope all of you throughout this really difficult time with the harmonisation process remember who is at the heart of what we do and how much we get from working in this field.

To be honest i couldn't have left at a better time, all the support staff have had their wages reduced and new contracts put in place, it was due to happen to me in July. Social Care is going to the wall, in all the years i have  worked i have never known there to be less money to support people.
I used to work for the local authority firstly in Lewisham and then Southwark, about 8 years ago we were privatised and  i started working for a not for profit organisation in the same house as before. Working in a competitive market in social care doesn't work, it drives down cost and with that inevitably quality. Wages are being reduced because the company can't afford to compete with other providers. Pay peanuts get monkeys! the calibre of staff isn't improving, to work in social  care you have to 'care' invest something of yourself in providing support for other people. Support workers get less than 7  pounds an hour now, they are expected to provide personal care, work with challenging people, write complex reports, carry out key worker duties, liaise with other professionals social workers, speech therapists etc, recognise forms of abuse subtle and more pronounced, manage in an emergency, support people to attend hospital  and general health appointments, deal with feedback from family good and bad, comply with health and safety, ensure that they report any maintenance issues, be computer literate, work weekends and unsocial hours..... why not just go and work in Tesco's!? I loved to see small improvements in people and enjoy their company everyone has something to give even if they can't communicated verbally i have worked with some  fantastic characters over the years, not everyone appreciates this and just see it as a way of making money, we don't do it for nothing but you have to engage part of yourself in this kind of  work.
Hey ho behind me now, thankfully  Beating bowel Cancer has already set up a health in the workplace session for me to do so it feels like i still have something to offer, i think that is the hardest thing to manage when you are not working anymore.