At Tiggo Care, we know that we have a team who can do great care work.
Our carers and leadership team all understand the importance of providing a good service for the people we support.
But just wanting to provide good care isn’t enough – as an organisation, we need to empower our team and give you the tools you need to help clients.
Care workers need comprehensive training, fair compensation, and support as they work. At Tiggo Care, we’re proud to say that we do all of this.
Care work needs skills.
Whether you’re a senior care worker or new to the role, regular training is important. We all forget skills that we don’t use regularly, and best practice can change from time to time.
Carers need to be able to carry out a wide variety of activities. At Tiggo Care, we provide everything from companionship care to live-in personal care and post-operative care. Our care workers may need to learn new skills to support clients.
Because of this, we make sure that our staff team are all trained to a high standard. All of our carers are required to complete certain mandatory training. We also encourage our care workers to do additional training for professional development and career progression.
Our staff team are all required to complete the Care Certificate. This is a set of standards that provide an introduction to care work. The standards explain what is expected of care workers, and help teach or remind carers of important aspects of their role.
The Care Certificate includes guidance about being a carer, personal development, legal requirements, and important safety information.
The care standards are:
Some of these standards may not be relevant to an individual carer’s role – for example, if you only work with vulnerable adults, you may not need to have in-depth knowledge about safeguarding children. Some senior or more experienced carers may already have this knowledge. However, we believe it’s important for all of our care team to complete the Care Certificate, which is why it’s mandatory for all of our staff.
Care work is a very physical job. When you’re providing personal care, you often need to help clients move, especially if you’re supporting them with an activity such as:
The people you support may use hoists, lifts, transfer boards, or other moving aids.
As carers, you need to be confident that you can support your clients with moving, without injuring them – or yourself. Regular moving and handling training ensures that you’re following best practice and keeping yourself and your clients safe.
Many of the people you support will need help with medication management. This may range from prompts and reminders to administering pills, liquids, eye drops, or other medication.
Our care team are all trained in medication management.
We also train our care staff about record keeping for medications. Whether you’ve reminded a client or administered the medication yourself, it’s important to have a clear record, and we audit this regularly.
Given the nature of care work, first aid skills are essential. Many of the people you support will have complex health conditions, and injuries or emergencies do happen.
We have high standards at Tiggo Care, and all of our care workers are trained in CPR and defibrillator usage. Our first aid training also includes support for injuries, including burns.
At Tiggo Care, we support our staff with career progression. Whether you want to specialise in a certain area, move into supervisory roles or management, or continue working on the front line of care, our team are all encouraged to take their NVQs in Health and Social Care. Whatever your career goals, this is a good first step.
We make sure you have time to study for your qualifications – and, if you need funding, we’ll help you secure it.
We know that care work is often poorly-paid. But it shouldn’t be. Home care workers play a vital role, supporting vulnerable people and allowing them to remain independent in their own homes. At Tiggo Care, we want to show our care workers how much we value them.
As a London-based care company, we’re aware that our staff live in one of the most expensive parts of the country. Everything, from rent to transport, costs a lot in London. And our staff need to live nearby, so they can visit the vulnerable people they support locally.
To make life easier for our care workers, we are committed to paying you the London Living Wage. This is higher than the National Minimum Wage and the National Living Wage. It takes London’s higher cost of living into account.
Paying our staff the London Living Wage is the right thing to do. We know that not all care providers do this, but we know that our staff team are happier and less worried when they’re fairly paid. Money worries are a leading cause of mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. Ensuring our carers are happy means that you’re more likely to stay with us – giving our clients continuity of care and giving you the chance of career progression.
Our care team shouldn’t have to do unpaid work. We require all of our care staff to undertake a rigorous training programme as part of their employment with us.
Whether training is face-to-face or online, we’ll compensate you for the time you spend doing it.
Night care work is still work – even if you’re on a sleeping night shift, it’s not the same as having an uninterrupted sleep in your own home. You may be woken multiple times to help the client, and you deserve to be well-compensated for that.
Some companies pay a reduced flat rate for sleeping nights. At Tiggo Care, we pay an hourly rate for both sleeping and waking nights, to show that we understand how hard our carers work.
Care work can be wonderfully rewarding, especially when you build up a strong relationship with the people you support. But there’s no denying that care work can be hard and overwhelming, and everyone needs emotional support sometimes.
Clients may exhibit challenging behaviour, and you’re likely to experience bereavement and grief while working. In addition, we all have our own personal lives, which aren’t always easy.
We know that home care can present additional challenges when compared to providing care in residential homes or day centres. You may spend less time with colleagues – and get less emotional support from them. If you provide live-in care, you may be away from your family often.
At Tiggo Care, all staff have access to our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP). This can offer support with your physical and mental health. Whether you want counselling, support with smoking cessation, or advice about meditation and well-being, the EAP can help.
Staff can access free counselling immediately via our mobile app. You can discuss matters relating to work or your personal life – and it’s completely confidential. No one at Tiggo Care will ever know that you’ve accessed the service.
At Tiggo Care, we make life easier for our carers with our technology.
We know that no one becomes a care worker for the paperwork! Unfortunately, as care providers, we all need to do a certain amount of admin work.
At Tiggo Care, we use industry leading technology to reduce the amount of time our carers spend completing paperwork – meaning you can spend more time providing a fantastic service to clients. We use custom software for care planning, rostering, and reporting.
Care work is a skilled job that can be difficult at times – but incredibly rewarding. At Tiggo Care, we understand that.
As good leaders, we’re determined to empower our carers, giving you the tools you need to provide a great service to the people you support. With regular training, fair compensation, industry leading technology, and support when you need it, we’re proud to say that we provide a good care work experience for our team.
Care work may involve a wide variety of activities, including providing companionship to someone, housework, helping someone for a while after an operation or hospital visit, or supporting someone long-term with areas such as washing, dressing, or going to the toilet. Care work may involve living with your client, or visiting them on a regular basis. It’s dependent on your client’s needs and the type of career you want.
To become a carer, you could contact care agencies directly, or respond to job adverts. Look for roles with titles like Care Assistant, Support Worker, or Home Care Worker. Many care providers, including Tiggo Care, will provide on-the-job training, so you don’t need to already have the necessary qualifications. If you’re a London-based care worker, contact us about becoming a carer with Tiggo Care.
Depending on the person you’re supporting, you may need different skills each day as a carer. Some days you might need to be a good listener and excellent at making a cup of tea, whereas other days you might need to be an expert at giving medication and changing dressings. As a carer, you generally need to be patient and sensitive, keep a cool head in a crisis, and have good attention to detail.
Many care providers don’t require you to have qualifications before becoming a care worker. Once you’re training, you should complete the Care Certificate, and may want to take your NVQ in Health and Social Care. In addition, you should be provided with training in areas such as moving and handling, food hygiene, and health and safety.
Get in touch with Tiggo Care today to see how we can help you or your loved one.
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