Being a healthcare assistant is a rewarding but tough job. If you’re thinking of leaving your old career behind and beginning the journey to a new one, then healthcare is a very admirable profession to choose.
Healthcare assistants are often described as being the bedrock of the NHS, delivering care to patients in every setting. So what does being a healthcare assistant actually entail, and how do you get to become one?
The Different Types of Roles
Healthcare assistants usually work in hospitals or GP surgeries, under the guidance of qualified healthcare professionals. As such, the role can be varied, depending on the setting. There are therefore a range of different healthcare job titles that healthcare assistant falls into, from healthcare support worker to clinical support provider.
Often, healthcare assistants work alongside nurses, midwives and doctors. As a healthcare assistant, you may also work alongside healthcare scientists, such as audiologists, helping them to treat diseases and operate machinery.
Typical duties include the general care of patients, including:
- Washing and dressing
- Serving meals and assisting feeding
- Toileting
- Bed making
- Monitoring patients’ conditions
- Aiding mobility
If you’re looking into becoming a healthcare assistant then you have to be prepared to be flexible with your time as you will usually have to work on a shift system, including nights and weekends. Some roles may be office hours, particularly if you’re working with scientists.
If you’d rather work alongside physiotherapists, radiographers or occupational therapists (known as allied health professionals), then you may want to be a clinical support worker.
Typical duties might include:
- Preparing patients for their therapy
- Setting up of equipment
- Assisting the therapist in treatment
- Record keeping
Training and Qualifications
There are no specific requirements to being a healthcare assistant, as usually your employer will train you in the skills that you need.
Some healthcare assistant vacancies will look for applicants who already have a QCF (previously known as NVQ) qualification at level 2 or 3, for example in Health and Social Care. A level 2 will give you more responsibility, and a level 3 is often accepted as part of your application to nursing degrees. The role that you’re looking for will usually dictate the type of QCF that you’ll need.
These qualifications are often the starting blocks for a job in the healthcare sector and can lead to career advancement along the way too.
So, depending on whether you want to go into being a healthcare assistant permanently or you want to use it as a stepping stone to something great, you don’t necessarily have to go to university to become qualified to work in the health sector.
If you’re looking to find out more about healthcare professions, I suggest reading Hacking Healthcare: A Guide to Standards, Workflows, and Meaningful Use.
