The Upsides And Downsides Of Caring For The Elderly

Find out about the pros and cons of caring for elderly people, helping you learn more about this rewarding but challenging career.

The World Health Organisation tells us that between 2015 and 2050 the amount of elderly people aged 60 or over will move from 12% to 22%. The same study tells us that by 2020 there will be more over 60’s than children under the age of five, and most importantly, most countries face huge challenges to cope with this huge shift in demographics.

If you are looking for a career within social and health care, now is a really good time to move into this industry. From the perspective of the country and the ageing population, your compassion and skills are needed to boost the amount of carers available to help care for the elderly in their own home and in residential care homes. The benefits don’t just reach clients and the community, they also extend to you. Caring for the elderly is an incredibly rewarding career, although, naturally it comes with challenges too.

The Upsides Of Caring For The Elderly

Caring for the elderly can be incredibly rewarding, here are some examples of the upsides of this kind of career:

• Benefitting your local community
• Helping take the care burden off the NHS
• Job satisfaction
• The ability to provide one to one care to your client (in live-in care)
• Saving on bills at home whilst you work in live-in care
• Understanding and enjoying what the older generation has to offer
• Making connections with lots of different types of people
• Helping your client maintain independence
• Knowing your work gives peace of mind to both your client and their family
• You usually don’t need qualifications when starting a care job and can be trained from entry level
• The pay is stable from the very beginning
• Consistent training and room for professional development

The Downsides Of Caring For The Elderly

It is important to understand the downsides of caring for the elderly before beginning this kind of challenging career. Here are some potential downsides to caring for the elderly:

• It is a physically demanding job
• It is an emotionally demanding job
• Hours can be long
• In some kinds of elderly care, such as residential care, you may not get to apply the kind of time you want to, to your clients care
• Naturally, you will experience the passing of some of your clients, which can be very difficult to deal with
• There will be day to day challenges you need to work around

A career in elderly care can be extremely rewarding and challenging and it is likely you will experience a range of ups and downs in this job daily. If you are interested in a career in care, take a look into home care and the kind of services offered in that area. Residential care positions are available but, home care is a quickly growing area of care and could potentially be a more rewarding care job should you decide to move into this industry.