the return2

Dear Blog - after all you do seem to have become an entity to me - I returned to work to find that nothing had changed and the work load was heavier than ever. Now, before you tell me off for moaning, where else can I whinge, legitimately, if not here. One of the residents, now deceased, used to say it was alright living longer and being well cared for but it was at the cost of wearing the carers out in the process!
Nothing runs to schedule when there are four of us and twentyfour of them and a significant proportion of them need intensive care from all hands. Monday to Friday there are five on care but, for some obscure reason, there is this idea that everything eases up at the weekend so we can do with less staff. The truth is that we have exactly the same work load and extras like marketing to fit in. The official answer is that "this is how it always is in care and no one works with a full staff quota at weekends" - yet, the expectation is that standards will not be compromised and we will plough on regardless. It's damned hard work and not difficult to understand why recruitment and retention is such an ongoing issue.

However, I have now been at home for a little while and had chance to defuse myself so ought to have a more positive outlook even if there is precious little energy. I have fought the desire to go and have a nap as something that wastes time and is inefficient but having checked my emails, my ebay and facebook I am running out of excuses. The time of chopping and slicing approaches and then getting into bed with a crossword and something mind numbing on digital tv and I might feel a little more human.