How not having training on time during my induction affected my ability to integrate properly into the team

It's worth noting that significant improvements in relation to inductions were made over time during my period as a care assistant at Castleford House. The home was undergoing a transition when I started, as it had recently been purchased by Milkwood Care and it was apparent within the first few months of my employment starting that a great deal of effort was being made to change things.

When I started working there was one hoist for the whole home. There was a lot of hassle involved with moving it up and down floors, trying to reach the people who needed it. I won't lie - this led to an awful lot of inappropriate manual handling practices. Within days of me starting a new hoist and a stand-aid arrived and this helped routines and manual handling skills immensely. As of me writing this, we currently have six hoists, a stand-aid and two SARA steady's across the home and everyone who needs to use them has their own slings and other equipment.

When I was deputy manager at Castleford, one of the things I championed for was the role of "Manual Handling Ambassador" - one (or several) staff member(s) who could train new staff in manual handling practices from their first day. The reason I wanted this role because of my first experiences of manual handling whilst starting at Castleford - I wasn't allowed to do any!

When I started there was no manual handling training session due for about three more months. This greatly impacted on my induction; not just how I was able to work but also how staff perceived me. Because I was told by management and nurses, frequently, that I was unable to use the hoists or even assist someone to stand, the care staff used to treat me like it was my fault - that I was being lazy and not working properly because of these restrictions!

In the mornings I could only assist people who didn't need any help with manual handling, or I could be paired up with someone and help them wash and dress someone before they then had to get another member of staff to help them use the hoist. In the afternoons I had to take the "walkers" (a term I quickly removed from care staff vocabulary when I took over as manager) to the toilet and then give out the dreaded 1500 tea trolley. I was as frustrated as my colleagues because I really wanted to improve my skills and stop being such a liability.

Sharon, who had been helping on breakfasts on my first day, pointedly refused to talk to me. I think a lot of that was down to the fact that I was being percieved as useless and lazy because I could not help the team in the way that they and I wanted to. Yet I was still being counted in the staffing numbers. It took six months for Sharon to actually speak to me. Some of that was her personality, some of that was the culture that was imbedded at Castleford at the time. There was a care assistant who worked "bank" shifts, Gaby, who would only work with her sister (Kelly), Sharon or the deputy manager (Andrea). If she was not allocated to work with one of those three then she would work on her own, not acknowledge the person she was supposed to be working with and eventually end up working with one of them anyway. There was definitely a negative atmosphere whenever she was on shift and I grew to dread those days that she was working. For her part, she actually even refused to look at me if she could help it.

Those that did speak to me weren't the nicest. Natalie, in particular, continued her attitude of "you won't be here long" towards me, but I quickly learned that she was a negative person towards most people. When she wasn't telling me that she didn't think I had what it took to work in care, she was telling everyone that she was going to leave because "she could get more money at [insert any job in the local area]" or that she was going to work on nights instead or that she was going to swap her weekend because the other weekend was a lot better than the one she was on at the moment. She was another person who brought a negative attitude with her no matter what shift she was working on. She ended up on nights after about six months of me starting.

It wasn't all doom and gloom and the improving attitudes of some few staff towards me was what enabled me to maintain my stubbornness to prove Natalie wrong and keep going at the job. Amy was still really nice to me (we maintained the "mum/son" dynamic/joke and that helped lighten my mood when Natalie had been putting down all shift), Ann actually warmed to me because she was friendly with Amy and I got to know three other people who were nice to me; Elizabeth, who worked full time (and also became my sister-in-law), Becky, who worked afternoon shifts and who was usually allocated to keep an eye on me in the afternoons when Amy wasn't on shift, and Elaine, who was a bank care assistant who, like me, was also treated rather unfairly by some of the staff and so we started to become close in some form of solidarity against the others.

I was still going home after most shifts wishing I had any other job except the one I had. I grew to intensely dislike the 1500 tea trolley. Because of my inability to use a hoist or any other equipment, the tea trolley became "my" job. The premise was simple - kitchen staff brought out a trolley of tea, coffee and biscuits and I had to pretty much serve out teas and coffees as quickly as I possibly could so they did not go cold. At first I enjoyed it because it meant that I was doing something useful and it helped me get to know the people I was caring for. But after a month it was tedious and boring and I wanted to do anything else. I think that one of the biggest problems I had with it was that it further distanced me from the staff members that I was getting on with. I had to do this role on my own - hand out drinks to approximately 35 people (at this point the home would cater for up to 44 people, but was never full and usually ran at an estimated average of 35) and do it as efficiently as possible.

Because of the needs of people we cared for at that time, everyone in communal areas more or less had their faculties - that tea trolley would come down and at least fifteen people would expect a drink NOW and there were always at least three or four of those who changed their minds with what they wanted on a daily or even hourly basis - you just could not predict what they would want! One lady in particular, Jo, would usually have tea with two sugars but you could guarantee that if you made that for her she would taste it, pull a face, tip it on floor and tell you she hated tea with sugar (you would then give her a tea without sugar and she would let it sit and go cold and when it was collected she would complain bitterly that she hated tea without sugar and did not know why she had been given it!).

It was in early January of 2007 that I finally recieved my manual handling training and that was such a relief. I was finally able to work with people and become a part of the team and it was about that time that I started to finally enjoy the work I was doing.