I just came back after a 12h shift in a nursing home. I never worked in a nursing home and I imagined it a bit differently. For those of you who are not familiar with the term, nursing home is a care home for people who are pretty much bed bound, while people who need care for various reasons but are more physically able are usually placed in residential homes. This is my own, simplified explanation, but it is considered that residents in nursing home need higher level of care, therefore it seems like working there is harder. Although obviously if residential care home is short staff then working there may end up being much more demanding.

Anyway, after trying work in various establishments during the last couple of months I can honestly say that the hardest job I did was a housekeeper in the posh hotel. I remember, I came back totally exhausted after merely 8h shift and I had such a back pain that I could barely move. It’s the tucking bedding underneath heavy mattresses that had such an impact, and it’s impossible to do it while adhering to good manual handling practices. I really don’t understand how come hotel workers don’t go on strike?

Today, although I am tired, I’m not exhausted and I can still move ok, even though the shift was 4h longer than the hotel shift. Although, I presume some shifts may end up being more busy, but I guess, if I survived today, I should be able to cope on other days too. I’m also somehow surprised to see that not every care home (and I worked in 3 different ones through the agency so far) is so full of gossip as my old one was.