Pros
The residents themselves are wonderful, and many HCAs and frontline staff genuinely care and work extremely hard despite the conditions.
Cons
My experience as a Health Care Assistant raised serious concerns about staffing, governance, and how concerns are handled by senior management.
On several occasions, I raised legitimate concerns about unsafe staffing levels, delayed care, and resident dignity. Rather than these concerns being reviewed constructively, the response was often to push responsibility back onto me, with suggestions that I “wasn’t doing enough,” even when I was already responsible for large numbers of residents alone. This created an unfair and demoralising environment for HCAs.
Previous reports made directly to senior nursing management were dismissive in tone and outcome. There was little evidence of meaningful follow-up, learning, or system improvement. Instead, staff who escalated concerns were left feeling blamed rather than supported.
I also observed what I would consider willful neglect at an organisational level. This included poor handling of resident feedback, questionable practices around how reports from residents were received and recorded, and a lack of transparency. Residents were misinformed about the reasons for the kitchen closure, while staff were aware of issues such as cockroaches in the kitchen. This raised serious concerns about honesty, infection control, and respect for residents.
Communication between departments was poor, equipment availability was inconsistent, and explanations given to justify delays in care were often unreliable. Combined with chronic understaffing, this placed both residents and HCAs in difficult and unsafe situations.
Overall, the issues felt less like isolated mistakes and more like either a complete lack of competence at senior level or a willful neglect of responsibilities once problems were raised. Neither is acceptable in a care environment.