Why don’t we get notified of who gets Carer of the Month?
You absolutely should because we’re delighted and proud of it. Last month, Rosanna & David agreed on a formal approach. So you will be notified monthly moving forward.
On the Onetouch app, could all office people not be put into separate groups, (county’s) if we have to send messages to 2 or 3 in the office we have to scroll few times before we can send it?
Good point. Collette will take note of that and look into whether there is an easier way to arrange messages on OneTouch.
If clients are cocooning should other family members with their kids be present at our calls?
No, they shouldn’t. We always deal with things case by case because we can’t put a blanket approach – some people may live with family members so it’s hard to recognise. But bring it up with your office if social distancing isn’t being adhered to.
I have asked the office to update care plans and not been done, as clients have extra hours for a few months, I don’t think we carers should be asking all time to do this.
Rosanna will write to you to address this to ensure it gets amended. Care plans should always be updated to reflect changes in care.
On the announcement of the compulsory use of masks, we were told that because of the short notice, we have to come to the office to collect masks and we will be given one week supply, but it is 3 weeks now and we are still made to come to the office to collect PPE after a busy day driving from one call to another. Please can this practice be changed?
It’s an improving situation. In week one it was about managing the supply chain. No suppliers are delivering in large volumes and, as we need over 20,000 face masks per week to ensure we have a sufficient amount, it has been challenging to roll out masks in larger amounts. We appreciate the efforts everyone has made. Collette and Julie will discuss how to make this easier for you. Ideally, we would love to give you a month’s supply, we’re a little while away from that but are moving towards it.
When will we get our new uniforms and also the PPE that’s been given out at the moment are powdered gloves. Why are we now using powdered gloves?
In relation to uniforms, we have a supplier from the UK. When the Covid crisis hit there was significant demand to supply scrubs/uniforms to the hospitals. We have made our orders however, the suppliers have given us no confirmed timeline yet. We are working on it and will let you know as soon as they let us know.
It is always our priority to have latex gloves, unfortunately, they are in short supply. We’re trying to secure a better supply chain at the moment. We’re trying to mix the two supplies so there are latex gloves for more personal tasks. Please contact your local office in relation to this.
Carers are being changed weekly and we have different and new carers going into a client, this is not good practice, especially at this time. This does not reflect the continuity of care.
Absolutely it’s not good practice. We deal with every client on a case by case basis and without knowing specific details it is hard to ascertain the reason. However, continuity of care is always our priority. We will get Rosanna to contact you for more information.
Am I expected to attend these webinars?
No. These are absolutely voluntary.
Holiday time is coming up, why do office staff who work 5 days a week get 20 days holiday and can, therefore, take off 4 weeks a year but HCAs out on the road who work 6 days a week still only get 20 days (regardless of how many hours they work per week) this means we only get to take off 3 weeks and 2 days. How does this system work because I don’t understand.
Holidays are quite complex. Everybody is entitled to 20 days of holidays by law. I totally understand what you’re saying and empathise with your frustration. To help in your understanding, we are looking at introducing automation of holidays so you can see what you’re entitled to on OneTouch.
As a helpful tip in relation to holiday pay, remember that every 100 hours worked is entitled to 8 hours holiday pay.
My cancelled calls for last month were not paid. I have raised this but it has not been resolved.
I apologise that you were impacted and the error occurred. In this period of time, due to changes, there has been a lot of human interaction which can result in an error. Rosanna will contact you to follow up.
Appreciation/Compensation of carers should cut across the board. We should not be sent out dancing competitions or baking competitions for us to win a 50 or 100 euro voucher. Many of us are not technology freaks and are very busy working and do not have time for Tik-Tok and the likes. LIDL, ALDI and Tesco gave a 20% extra pay to all their staff as appreciation/compensation.
I appreciate that. The competitions are less about money and more about raising spirits. We recognise that some people do not like technology and we will keep that in mind for further competitions.
We are looking into other forms of compensation and we will keep you notified of any changes. Unfortunately, our revenue does not look the same as Lidl, Aldi or Tesco where the crisis has positively impacted revenue.
Why didn’t the office notify other carers that a carer who comes to take care of a client has tested positive for COVID 19? Other carers had to find out from the family member and the office did not deem it necessary to tell the carers.
It is very important that we protect the health and wellbeing of us all. Our guidance in these situations, which are new to us all, is based on public health and their ability to do contact tracing. We take our advice from public health. This is an issue worth exploring further. Rosanna will follow up with you.
Hi, is there any possibility for our company to obtain permission for these yellow stickers to be used after COVID for parking? I need it a few times a day in Kells.
Great idea. That’s one David will bring up with HCCI at the next meeting. We will lobby for driving permits moving forward.
I drive about 3,500+ km a month and fill my tank between 6-8 times depending on cancellations. I have been trying to get my miles or some kind of reimbursement since January, why hasn’t anyone gotten back to me about this?
I’ll ask Rosanna to PM you so we know more about your situation and roster.
Masks are counted and given out weekly according to how many clients you have to attend per week, but along the line, calls are added to your weekly calls and you do not get extra masks to attend those added calls, so do we now attend the added calls without mask or do we recycle masks?
You should not recycle masks. Make sure whoever is giving them to you that they are given to you per shift number and not client number.
Collette spoke about the risk assessment, I doubt if a risk assessment is done within the client’s home, I have seen a lot of hazards this period in clients home and I wonder if truly a risk assessment is done.
A risk assessment is only a picture of the time when it’s done and risks can appear after the assessment. If you come across any hazards and it is unsafe, you should leave and contact the office to work out how to deal with it or whether that is a place that can be worked in.
Please can the time for the webinar meeting be after 2 pm, this is because most of us finish our calls at about 2pm or 2.30pm and find it hard to join the meeting from the beginning.
Absolutely we can change that.
Can the clock in system not see you’re in a service running late due to an issue in the house when they ring?
The system is able to see if you’re in service when you log in and log out – it takes a geosnap of where you’re at to see you’re with your client. The system cannot identify you are still in the same place bar when you book out and there’s another geosnap taken.
What is the situation with reviews? As a reviewer, I am down on monthly income with no compensation.
Reviews have continued but they’re more of a desk exercise at the moment for safety. Link in with your office and talk through it with them.
Is it possible to get paid every 2 weeks? Is this something you may consider?
It’s something we’ve considered a lot and haven’t been able to deliver yet. We’re currently working on it, because of Covid a bit of a stall was put on the project – it is still our intention.
What are the fates of employees getting only 8 hours in a week?
We have work if you are seeking more hours, however, if this is an issue contact Rosannamartin@comfortkeepers.ie and she can follow up with you.
