Staff stories - Becky's morning diary

Becky is a Senior Support Worker. She has been working with United Response for 5 years.

No two days are the same, but here is her morning diary from one day. R is the person Becky supports.

6.15am

R woke me up this morning at 6.15am. I heard him jump out of bed, bang the bathroom door and flush the toilet.

R comes into my room to see if I am awake. R usually starts his day at 7.00am, and 6.15am is much too early. I pretend to be asleep.

7.00am

R comes into my room again and I say "Good Morning". He gets his things together and runs a bath.

I go in to support him to have a bath, brush his teeth and wash his hair.

Then I support him to get dressed. We tidy up and mop the bedroom and bathroom.

We sort out the washing. R carries it downstairs and puts it in the washer. I carry his medicine.

Today, R chooses banana and weetabix for his breakfast. I prepare it for him while he opens the curtains.

Today R eats all his breakfast.

8am

R points to his ear which means he wants to listen to some music. We choose 80s hits and put it on.

8am is when we have coffee. We always play a little game in the kitchen before we make the coffee. R puts the coffee jar on its side and I lay the cup on its side. Then we stand them up... and then lay them down again.

I hold the coffee jar tilted so that R can get the spoon and coffee out. R puts the coffee into the cup. Then R holds the jar for me.

Then, very carefully, we pour in hot water and milk for R. I do this as well, and then our coffee is made.

8.10am

R points to the top of the cupboard where the paper is kept. He says "writing please."

I sit down and write what we are doing today. I speak what I am writing: "Becky now, Becky staying, Ryan visiting, car, pub today, Babsie sleeping today."

8.30am/8.45am

We bring the hoover back downstairs. I unravel the cord and R plugs it in. I hoover all around. When I have finished, R takes the plug out so that we can hoover the stairs.

R sits at the top and watches me hoover each step down to the bottom.

Then we hoover upstairs. When we are finished, we wind the cord up and R unplugs the hoover.

When the washing machine has finished. We take out the clean washing. We shake the clothes and take them outside.

R passes the pegs to me and I hang them out to dry. There is a lot of washing today.

9.30am

Next we do our weekly car checks. I get the Health and Safety file and the pieces of paper we need.

I get the keys, open the front door and say "car checks".

I open the car and prop the bonnet open.

We check all the things we need to. We check the oil, brake fluid, power steering fluid. Everything looks ok so I shut the bonnet.

Then we check the tyres and bodywork and the inside of the car.

Last of all we check that the horn is working.

R says "yes car today, very good" as we go back inside.

We make another cup of coffee like we did ealrier, with our little game.

10.30am ish

We have a bit of a sit down.

10.50am

Now it's time to get changed and get ready for our trip to the pub.