Care home workers poor English

Germanshepherdsmum

Applicants for visas are supposed to pass a basic English test. Either the test is too basic, as the coroner suggested, or applicants are circumventing it - possibly those sponsored by care homes?

Successful applicants for work visas are required to have English at CEFR Level B1 (higher for some jobs). B1 is approximately equivalent to a level a bit higher than an excellent GCSE pass. It's nowhere near fluency.

Somebody with Level B1 would be able to do straightforward transactions, such as shopping and following straightforward instructions (possibly with some repetition). It's doubtful that he/she would understand technical language, dialects or many idioms.

I don't personally know of any specialist courses for care workers and private agencies and homes don't have any incentive to run them, unless adequate English (ie above B1 with specialist input) is made a requirement for their licence.

If somebody is already at B1 level, the recommendation is for an additional 200 hours of study to reach the next level.

Even if care-workers' wages were to be increase significantly, it's not going to be a short-term fix. People with the right personal qualities need to be trained and be persuaded to leave other jobs. I do not believe that there are thousands of people just sitting around being economically inactive, waiting for the right moment for care-work to pay. The country is going to have some reliance on foreign care-workers, many of whom do have the right skills, apart from language. That means that the government (and it has to be the government because nobody else has an incentive to do it) has to have a long-term strategy, starting off with solid training for teachers of English as a foreign language and a curriculum for specific purposes. People will need to be given work visas, knowing that their responsibilities might need to be limited, if language could be a problem. It needs to a requirement for foreign care workers that they attend language classes for (probably) about a year.

Staffing in care homes makes all the difference. When my Mum was in a lovely care home the staff were fantastic. Amongst the whole staff was just one non English person. She was Romanian and spoke excellent English. She also spoke slowly and carefully so the old folk understood.

3 years on and there have been major staff changes. Although Mum is no longer with us I often bump into former staff. They say several people have retired, some left after covid because they were exhausted and now the majority of staff are foreign agency workers and I hear the overall feeling is that, sadly it no longer has such a good reputation. 😢

Applicants for visas are supposed to pass a basic English test. Either the test is too basic, as the coroner suggested, or applicants are circumventing it - possibly those sponsored by care homes?

Surely if you wish to work in the UK, it is down to you,not the employer, to make sure your English is acceptable. Taking classes , at your expense, or even online courses, is your responsibility. Then on interview the employer becomes responsible to ensure your English is good enough to ensure, above all, the safety of your clients,patients. Remember Daniel Obani.

crazyH

I don’t think it’s so much the English language, but more the colloquialisms. Nurses, especially from the state of Kerala , where literacy is 94%, will have no trouble with the written word and will produce word-perfect Medical Reports etc. Yes, initially there will be some communication problems - accent, terminology etc. That can be easily overcome with a Crash Course, before they take up the jobs.

How many private care home providers are prepared to invest in English language courses? In fact, how much are any of them prepared to invest in any kind of in-service training (apart from the absolute statutory minimum)?

I don’t think it’s so much the English language, but more the colloquialisms. Nurses, especially from the state of Kerala , where literacy is 94%, will have no trouble with the written word and will produce word-perfect Medical Reports etc. Yes, initially there will be some communication problems - accent, terminology etc. That can be easily overcome with a Crash Course, before they take up the jobs.

Caleo

Pink Quartz, from your personal experience would you agree the quality of training is even more important than use of English and knowledge of local culture?

From my own experience with FE students and as a nurse, one of the most important parts of training is the trainee's basic attitude to work. I have found trainee health and care workers to be very motivated which is such a good start to managing to learn the culture. All workers need to know they are respected including when the client is old and deaf or in pain. To know you are respected you need to know you are receiving a fair wage. Which is not the case.

I think training is top priority.

People want to feel confident about what they do. I don't believe that foreign workers enjoy not being able to communicate.

Then the language will follow. I think most foreign workers are exploited and that creates more issues and resentments.

pinkquartz

growstuff

pinkquartz

It would be best to pay care workers a decent wage and then you will get British workers filling the jobs.

When a foreign worker has no English there will be workers in the office who are the same nationality and can cover the written notes needed.

OK so tea and toast you think is basic........ it may well be given to elderly service users in the shape of fried bread and stewed milkless tea.

It's not true that workers in "the office" with adequate standards of written English can cover for workers in the field.

Actually it is true.

your claim simply isn't true.

How do you work that one out?

If workers actually caring for patients can't a) understand what is being said to them/make themselves understood in hundreds of daily interactions b) don't have the standards of written English to report any observations, how is a third party able to cover for that?

Pink Quartz, from your personal experience would you agree the quality of training is even more important than use of English and knowledge of local culture?

From my own experience with FE students and as a nurse, one of the most important parts of training is the trainee's basic attitude to work. I have found trainee health and care workers to be very motivated which is such a good start to managing to learn the culture. All workers need to know they are respected including when the client is old and deaf or in pain. To know you are respected you need to know you are receiving a fair wage. Which is not the case.

It stands to reason that low paid foreign workers are unlikely to have very good English, unless they come from an English speaking country, e.g. several in the Caribbean, but then accents (their own, and those of residents with marked regional ones) may very likely cause problems.,

A Swedish friend’s son, who had excellent English after spending a year in the US as a teen, still had trouble after starting work on London, with regional accents.

His mother, who’d lived in the U.K. for many years, told him to watch Coronation St and EastEnders!

It's appalling the training is sometimes so bad . I was in a council run care home in Derby where the "support workers" were meticulously trained in patient safety to avoid falls, and were all completely able to administer medications. I met a great many support workers while I was there, and every one was faultless about falls prevention and medications. One of the carers was African and bilingual French and English and she was a lot of fun to talk to. It's not all bad news.

The lady who died after being trapped in the stairlift was left in the sole charge of two carers whose English was woefully inadequate. There was nobody ‘in the office’ who could translate.

growstuff

pinkquartz

It would be best to pay care workers a decent wage and then you will get British workers filling the jobs.

When a foreign worker has no English there will be workers in the office who are the same nationality and can cover the written notes needed.

OK so tea and toast you think is basic........ it may well be given to elderly service users in the shape of fried bread and stewed milkless tea.

It's not true that workers in "the office" with adequate standards of written English can cover for workers in the field.

Actually it is true.

your claim simply isn't true.

Sorry if you think foreign workers need to pss English tests.
It happens that many foreign workers are helped to pass
agencies even go to othercountries to recruit.
Also these workes are often misled/lied to and end up trapped here doing a job they hate in a country the don't like. And not appreciated by elderly people who need carers that understand their english culture.

Anyone with a Gran that prefers fried bread and stewed black tea to our English tea and toast?
Please imagine being older and frail and the only person you see cannot share your language. Its a lonely life for both carer and service user.

It is true about the offices with `English speakers.......how do i know Lived experience.

also there used to be many many more English carers who stopped when working condition grew worse and pay too little.
again how do I know? Lived experience. Not flawed logic !

Care homes only insist on long shifts because they know they can do it and get the staff they want.

If it was change shift patterns or manage without staff they would soon change.

Care workers are mostly ununionised and foreign workers are unlikely to want to be unionised in case it damaged their work situation over here. Higher unionisation in this sector would see working conditions and pay.

pinkquartz

It would be best to pay care workers a decent wage and then you will get British workers filling the jobs.

When a foreign worker has no English there will be workers in the office who are the same nationality and can cover the written notes needed.

OK so tea and toast you think is basic........ it may well be given to elderly service users in the shape of fried bread and stewed milkless tea.

It's not just about money, many services insist on 12-14 hour shifts which rules out many for various reasons. Many insist on a mixture of day/night shifts, again ruling out many. Some of the reasons many don't want these hours is they can't cover childcare, it puts too much strain on relationships, it's knackering.
Shifts are set with little notice and change ad hoc - it's impossible to plan your life.
Ongoing training is often unpaid (legal or not).
Domiciliary care often pays a pittance for using own car. Time travelling can be unpaid (legal or not)
Due to staff shortages you are cajoled/ blackmailed into taking on extra hours.
If a carer has insufficient English how can they understand oral/written requests and pass on/record information. How can they read/understand handover notes and make their own? I don't understand how they can possibly pass basic mandatory training let alone further mandatory training.

AsI have said I spent 40 years visiting friends and family in care homes and saw everything from the best to the worst care.

My overall experience is that you get what you pay for. If you are self funding and can afford to pay to stay in a medium to high price home, then, overall, there are exceptions, you can expect really good care and more British born staff. Apart from anything else you will not be paying to subsidise LA placed residents, as the LA wil not be using the Care Home as it is too expensive.

If you are dependent on a state funded place then you are stuffed. Poorer quality accommodation and a very high proportion of non-English paying stuff. Again, there will be exceptions, but they are few.

Germanshepherdsmum

I don’t buy that Casdon. If local authorities paid more for placements there’s no guarantee that staff would be paid more.

Or that vacancies would be filled.

pinkquartz

It would be best to pay care workers a decent wage and then you will get British workers filling the jobs.

When a foreign worker has no English there will be workers in the office who are the same nationality and can cover the written notes needed.

OK so tea and toast you think is basic........ it may well be given to elderly service users in the shape of fried bread and stewed milkless tea.

It's not true that workers in "the office" with adequate standards of written English can cover for workers in the field.

pinkquartz

It would be best to pay care workers a decent wage and then you will get British workers filling the jobs.

When a foreign worker has no English there will be workers in the office who are the same nationality and can cover the written notes needed.

OK so tea and toast you think is basic........ it may well be given to elderly service users in the shape of fried bread and stewed milkless tea.

But how? Where are all these tens of thousands of people who will do the job, even if it's better paid? Either they're sitting around with their appropriate qualifications, experience and personal qualities just waiting for an opportunity (which I don't believe) or they'll leave another job, which will create another vacancy. It's flawed logic.

It would be best to pay care workers a decent wage and then you will get British workers filling the jobs.

When a foreign worker has no English there will be workers in the office who are the same nationality and can cover the written notes needed.

OK so tea and toast you think is basic........ it may well be given to elderly service users in the shape of fried bread and stewed milkless tea.

Surely there are limitations to privatisation, the commodification of human suffering being one of them?

I didn’t just give you my personal theory Germanshepherdsmum, it was evidence based,
www.kingsfund.org.uk/blog/2022/08/how-social-care-struggles-compete-supermarkets-pay

I don’t buy that Casdon. If local authorities paid more for placements there’s no guarantee that staff would be paid more.