In our ongoing A Day in My Life series, Dilys Megicks, manager of Hafan Deg Residential Home, Lampeter, takes us through what her job entails.

The staff are excellent here at Lampeter; it’s the staff that make the home so great. We currently have about 30 members of staff, ranging from care staff to the cleaning and kitchen staff. Remember we are a 24-hour service so we need to have the sufficient amount of staff for both the day and night shifts.

It takes a particular person with the right qualities to be able to carry out the role of care staff. It’s full-on and there’s no time to sit around; it’s an energetic role that’s diverse in responsibilities and constant in its demands.

More than 1.45 million people work in social care at the moment, but an extra 650,000 workers will be needed by 2035 due to an ageing population, ministers have said.

At the beginning of every day, there is a hand over; staff from the end of the night shift will provide up to date information on each resident and on any situation that may have arisen, to staff who are starting the day shift. There might be issues that we’ll have to address, be it contacting GPs or nurses from the local surgery, or contacting families.

Staff are required to write care plans and risk assessments during their shifts. All staff have to be up to date on any changes to legislation and statutory requirements.

Despite all the challenges, it’s an extremely rewarding role and you know you’re in the right job when you see the joy on a residents face after you’ve helped them and ensured that they’re comfortable, out of pain and have been given opportunities to socialise and still enjoy life.

We are very lucky to have the ‘League of Friends’ too; a voluntary group that meets a few times a year. They arranges fetes, fundraising events, such as whist nights and raise money for various things for the residents, such as trips, Easter eggs, Christmas presents and even televisions.

The day centre was an addition to the home in 1987. Our residents can spend up to an entire day at the day centre and although the centre is situated as the same location as the home, the setting provides a change of scenery and allows residents to experience different activities to what they do in the home.

We provide a variety of activities and entertainment sessions, from cake decorating, sing-a-long sessions, and day trips or a walk into town.

We have a relatively new system, called RITA: Reminiscence Interactive Therapy Activities and is a valuable tool for use with people suffering from dementia as well as residents without the diagnosis.

See this week’s south papers for the full feature, available in shops and as a digital edition now