Passion

Being a carer is more than just a job. It’s a calling; an opportunity to positively impact the lives of others that few people will ever experience.

So, it’s vitally important that care workers are passionate about the work they do.

Whether domiciliary care or specialist dementia care, carers have a profound impact on the lives of those they support, and people delivering home care are passionate individuals with a genuine desire to improve the lives of others.

There a many specific skills of a care worker, but passion is the foundation of the role.

Dedication

As is often the case, the personal qualities of a care worker complement each other; working together to create amazing carers.

And so, like passion, dedication is a key quality for any care worker.

Care work can be challenging, whether  dealing with complex issues or service users who are, through no fault of their own, being particularly uncooperative. So, care workers must be dedicated individuals; able to bounce back after a tough day and continue doing their amazing work.

At Abbots Care, we value the health and wellbeing of our carers, and even offer a free mobile app allowing our staff to let us know how they’re feeling, as well as supporting and uplifting each other.

Friendliness

Interpersonal skills of a care worker are sometimes overlooked. But they’re crucial in delivering incredible home care.

A significant amount of care work involves talking to service users, and great carers are friendly, sociable people with a genuine interest in developing bonds with those they support. After all, a carer becomes a part of a service user’s everyday life, and often support the same people for years.

So, aside from the more technical skills of a care worker – which we’ll come to later – a bright, upbeat disposition is hugely important.

Carers often find that companionship is massively beneficial to the lives of those they support, so friendliness is essential.

Empathy

Empathy is essential to care work. And a good carer can place themselves in their service user’s shoes.

It’s important that care workers are able to understand how the people they support feel, and can emotionally connect to them.

Often, the lives of service users can be difficult; fraught with frustration and anxiety specific to their needs. As such, it’s essential that a carer is able to imagine how they’d feel in a particular scenario, allowing them to better understand and meet the needs of the person they support.

Care workers are respectful, empathetic people who strive to always understand how others feel; it’s one of the personal qualities of a care worker that makes them so incredible.

Flexibility

So far, we’ve mostly covered the interpersonal skills of a care worker, but there are more practical skills required to deliver fantastic home care.

And the most important of those skills is flexibility.

Being a carer is one of the most varied roles imaginable, with a variety of duties specifically tailored to each service user.

But it’s more than that. Everyone is unique and will require different approaches to their care – sometimes even within the same week. For example, no two people receiving dementia care will require the same support, so it’s important to be flexible.

Over the course of their week, carers will support service users with a variety of needs, meaning they need to be flexible in their approach to deliver the best quality care.