Insight: Working as a housekeeper in a mental health hospital

Hi everyone, I’m Katy* and I wanted to tell you all a bit about my job. I’m profoundly deaf and I work as a housekeeper at a hospital for older adults who have mental health illnesses. I’ve been working in this field for almost 20 years and I’ve been at this hospital for six years.

My duties are really varied and include; making beds, doing laundry, serving food, cleaning clinics, lounges, dining rooms and kitchens too. From time to time I also do deep cleans and all the staff here work in pairs. I am the only staff member who is deaf.

I communicate with others through lipreading them and using spoken english although at home I am a BSL/SSE user. I find lipreading all depends on the person I am talking to – some people are surprisingly easy to lipread whereas others are hard to understand. No one could imagine how much more difficult things would become when the pandemic arrived and now all staff members wear face coverings at work.

As we work for the NHS all staff members must wear face coverings and although I completely understand why, this naturally makes me feel more anxious. In a way its impacted on my mental health because work is slightly more stressful now that I cant easily lipread other staff on the wards. But it’s something that I accept and work with because we don’t really have any other choice.

Generally, I really enjoy my job but some days are particularly stressful especially if there are high covid cases – which we have been dealing with – but thankfully the numbers are going down now.

Most of my patients know I’m deaf although some of them have dementia and tend to forget so I have to remind them. It’s not their fault that they have an illness so I am patient with them when I remind them I can’t hear them with my back turned and that I need to lipread them to understand.

The best part about my job is meeting lovely patients and forming a little bond. I’ve met so many and had a right laugh with some of them. A few patients make an extra effort with me to communicate and speak clearly and slowly so I can understand them.

There have been some sad times where I have seen patients become poorly and pass away or they’ve had to be moved to a hospital for end of life care. It’s been emotional and I’ve shed a few tears but just like the nurses, we carry on doing the best in our jobs.

I remember one particular patient was in her 70s and she was absolutely lovely. She was also so polite and spoke to me so nicely. She was very sweet. She sadly got diagnosed with lung cancer just before Christmas and was moved to a home to receive treatment. She sadly didn’t last very long.

At the previous mental health hospital I worked at I remember seeing a few deaf patients from time to time. I could see how they would feel so relieved when they realised I was deaf and they loved talking to me and would look to find me wherever I was for a chat. It can be very lonely if you’re deaf in a hospital, so I understand why they would find reassurance in talking to me.

I think my job is great for a deaf person as I am able to work comfortably around patients and staff, getting on with my job but the downside is for example if there is an aggressive patient I have to be moved to another ward for my safety. As being deaf I wouldn’t be able to hear any trouble or danger behind me.

I always wanted to work around elderly patients and to be honest, it was my ultimate ambition to work in an old peoples home. But now I question whether I’d be happy in that role, not just because I sometimes struggle with lipreading patients but also because the emotional bond you make is a really hard one to deal with when patients pass away or become poorly.

That said, I love what I do and would recommend it as you get to meet some lovely people and be a part of their journey, but my main advice if you want a job like this is – be prepared to work hard. It’s all worth it though!

*Katy has changed her name to protect her identity and the confidentiality of her workplace.

If you have an interesting job or would like to tell our readers about what you do, send me an email on rebecca@rawithey.com

image courtesy of istock photos