Carer subjected to verbal abuse in shop

Carers should not have to put up with abuse simply for doing their job.

That was the message from Chichester-based agency Guardian Angel Carers after one its in-home carers was subjected to a ‘nasty’ coronavirus comment while out shopping.

The carer had popped in to the Lavant Co-op in her uniform at around 12.30pm last Monday, when another customer said: “It’s people like you that are spreading this virus.”

Daniel Ayton, head of business development and franchise at Guardian Angel Carers, said: “It was just a completely out-of-the-blue thing, a person making a really nasty comment. She was just going about her business.”

Mr Ayton said the customer was acting ‘very aggressive’ and that the carer was ‘shocked’ by the incident.

Fortunately staff at the Coop quickly intervened, asking the man to leave, which he did. “Luckily the person behind the counter put a stop to it,” Mr Ayton said.

“It happened so quickly and once the staff got involved the man left. It was really nice that the people in the Co-op defended her.”

Staff even offered the carer a discount on her shopping following the incident, he said.

Mr Ayton said it was a ‘disappointing’ thing to happen amid what has been an ‘extraordinarily difficult’ time for carers. “These people have been working flat out. When you get a comment like that when you’ve been working in a challenging time, it’s not so good,” he said.

Carers working for Guardian Angel Carers have had to completely change their way of working to adapt to the pandemic.

This has involved changing the scheduling of visits, so that each carer sees a smaller number of people, as well as getting used to working while wearing full PPE.

He added that there had been no recorded cases of the virus among clients or staff at the agency.

Mr Ayton said it was the first incident of its nature in the company. However, he said he had since heard of other people in the industry receiving abuse while out and about in their uniforms, and said it had happened ‘quite a lot’.

“It’s a bit of a shame really,” he said. “They are out there doing their job, they don’t deserve it.”