How to Become a Healthcare Support Worker

Are you thinking of becoming a healthcare support worker? This is a highly in-demand profession, and there are a huge number of healthcare support worker jobs waiting to be filled right now. In fact, recent statistics show that the sector is currently facing a daunting shortage of 105,000 workers. This is a great opportunity if you’re looking for a rewarding role with considerable job security, and availability.

Healthcare support workers operate across a variety of different settings, meaning that there is a huge amount of variety to the role. This means it’s easy to find the position that best suits your needs and your personality. When you choose a career as a healthcare support worker, you are choosing a career that will help change lives. You will be part of a team that supports patients and helps them on their journey back to full health. Sound appealing? Here’s everything you need to know about how to become a healthcare support worker:

What is a Healthcare Support Worker

The term healthcare support worker, sometimes also known as a healthcare assistant, covers a vast spectrum of different positions within the NHS, because it is an umbrella term for a wide range of different support roles. This means that, when you are qualified as a healthcare support worker, you have the freedom to choose which area you would like to work within, or you can explore roles in more than one department, giving you a broader base of knowledge and wider range of skills. There are seven different settings where healthcare support workers primarily work within the NHS. There are:

• Mental health. Your role as a healthcare support worker would involve assisting with the care and treatment of patients in mental health crisis and recovery
• Within the Community. Here you would work with a nursing team to care for patients in their own homes, managing their care and their day-to-day needs
• Within a primary care setting. You would support the wider team within a GP surgery, preparing for patients and assisting with patient care
• Acute care. This is a hospital-based role, and a very common one for healthcare support workers. Your role would involve supporting patients during their time in hospital and managing their daily activities
• Midwifery. Working on the maternity ward, this role would involve supporting new parents and their babies
• Children’s services. A versatile role, a healthcare support worker within a children’s services team will work within outpatient and school clinics to provide support to nurses and their patients
• Learning disability. Helping people with learning disabilities or autism to learn new skills and reach a level of independence, this is a caring role that is often based within the community

As a healthcare support worker, you can choose to work either within a hospital or clinic setting, or you could provide support within the community. Most health care support worker roles are full-time roles, meaning that you will work 37.5 hours a week, although for many health care support workers the working hours are not consistent: you can expect to work a mix of shifts, such as nights, early starts, evenings and weekends. This versatility makes the role of a healthcare worker an exciting one, as no two days will ever be the same.

The role of a healthcare worker is primarily a supportive one. You will use your training and experience to support patients and make their experience within the NHS as positive as possible, whilst also supporting the nursing and medical teams with their clinical duties. It is an incredibly important, and rewarding position within a much larger organisation.

Personal Qualities of a Healthcare Support Worker

One of the main personal qualities that you need to be a successful healthcare support worker is a caring and compassionate nature. Because your role will primarily focus on face-to-face patient care, you need to make the patients that you see feel that you really care about their health, their concerns, and their wellbeing.

Other qualities that employers look for when hiring healthcare support workers include:

• A cheerful and friendly disposition. Many patients look forward to seeing a happy or friendly face, and this is often provided by a healthcare support worker
• The willingness and ability to be hands on with patients. This could involve assisting with personal care tasks, such as washing and toileting, for example
• Good literacy skills, so that you can follow both written and verbal instructions and procedures. You will also need to record any interactions that you have with patients so that these can be shared with other healthcare professionals
• You should be a team player who works well as part of a larger team, but you should also be able to use your own initiative and work independently. Most healthcare support worker roles involve a mixture of working within a group setting, and working independently with your patients
• Good communication skills that will enable you to both interact with your patients, and other healthcare professionals, as well as listen to their worries and concerns
• Good organisational skills so that you can work in an orderly fashion when working independently
• Good observation skills, particularly when it comes to observing any changes in your patient’s health or care needs

What a Healthcare Support Worker Does

The role of a healthcare support worker varies depending on where you’re based and which department you work in, but all healthcare support workers can expect to be busy and work in a hands-on way. You can also expect to have a varied role, as much of what you do will be driven by the needs of both the department and of the patients. One minute you could be taking blood, the next you could be making a nervous patient a welcome cup of tea.

For Healthcare Support Workers based within a GP Surgery or community health centre setting, you can expect your role to involve:

• Performing basic health checks on patients
• Taking blood samples and processing lab samples to ensure that they are dealt with correctly and sent to the right place
• Practising high levels of hygiene and infection control by sterilising equipment and ensuring consulting rooms and restocked and sterilised prior to consultations
• Promoting good health and undertaking awareness and education work within the community

For healthcare support workers based within a hospital setting, in addition to come of the tasks outlined above, you can expect your role to involve:

• Ensuring that patients remain mobile, helping them to move around, and ensuring they are in the right place
• Performing basic health checks on patients and monitoring them to ensure that their health doesn’t decline
• Ensuring that patients feel comfortable, and ensuring that they have everything they need. This could mean that you help to feed patients or serve meals to them, ensure that they have the support they need to get washed and dressed, and provide support with toileting and other hygiene tasks

Regardless of where you are based, you are likely to experience much more face-to-face patient care than those working in other medical roles. Healthcare support workers are at the heart of healthcare, and they provide a vital support role for busy departments that might not otherwise be able to see the sheer volume of patients that they process every day.

How Much Does a Healthcare Support Worker Earn?

The amount you will earn as a healthcare support worker depends on the level of experience you have, what qualifications you have, and the specific role that you undertake within the wider healthcare support worker umbrella. As a healthcare support worker within the NHS, you will fall into pay band B. Within this pay bracket a healthcare support worker salary starts at £18,545 with very little prior experience, up to £24,881 for a more experienced healthcare support professional.

Most healthcare support worker roles are within the NHS, but if you work as a healthcare support worker for a private organisation then you can expect a similar salary range to be available.

Healthcare support workers within the NHS are also offered a highly-regarded benefits programme, in addition to their standard salary. This includes access to a pension scheme, a health service discounts programme, and 27 days of annual leave in addition to bank holidays. The longer you work for the NHS, the more days of annual leave you will earn.

Qualifications Needed for a Healthcare Support Worker

You do not need a set list of qualifications to become a healthcare support worker, as the role does not have a specific list of entry requirements. However, you will stand a higher chance of securing the role if you have GSCE’s (or equivalent) in both maths and English, because it is states that a good standard of both literacy and numeracy are required for the role.

Because the term healthcare support worker is an umbrella term for a wide range of different roles, primarily within the NHS, the level of healthcare or care experience you will need is likely to vary from role to role. If possible, you are advised to have either paid or voluntary experience within a caring environment, and transferable skills brought from a previous role are also beneficial.

If you don’t have existing healthcare or care career experience then you could also obtain a relevant short-course qualification to show your commitment to working within the field. This will also help to enhance your future career development. Basic courses in subjects such as health and social care, infection management, will all make you look much more attractive at the interview stage.

But don’t worry if you don’t have any work or academic experience within the field. Your personality and attitude are likely to be a key factor in determining whether you are the right person for a healthcare supporter role. Being able to demonstrate that you are kind and caring, happy to work in a hands-on position, and ready to be a team player will all be viewed favourably.

On the Job Training

On the job training provides a key and vital role to healthcare support workers because it is possible to begin working within the role without any prior healthcare experience. This means that, as soon as you are offered a position you will also be given access to world-class training, and you will have the opportunity to learn basic nursing skills as part of your role.

What’s more, you can choose to take part in more formal on the job training,  with all healthcare support workers given the opportunity to work towards gaining their Care Certificate. This is a higher development award that is an identified set of standards that health and care professionals adhere to in their daily working life. It is specifically designed for the non-regulated workforce within the NHS, and helps to ensure that healthcare support workers understand their role and their duty of care, can provide basic life support, understand their health and safety and safeguarding responsibilities, and have good knowledge of infection prevention and control, to name just a few of the skills taught as part of the qualification. The Care Certificate is a transferable skill, and one that can be considered an asset if you seek to secure another role within the NHS, or within another healthcare setting.

You will also be given the opportunity to apply for relevant apprenticeships as they arise, and many healthcare support workers use their role, and the training within it, as a stepping stone to their aspirations of other healthcare roles, including nursing or other positions within the NHS. Once you are working within the organisation, you will have regular career development reviews and you will be supported to reach these goals.

Professional Bodies

The National Association of Care and Support Workers (NACAS) was founded in 2016 and is a recognised professional body specifically for healthcare support workers and others within the caring profession. Whilst NACAS membership is not essential for working within a healthcare support setting, it will demonstrate your commitment to your career and offers a wealth of additional benefits too. Training opportunities, free legal advice, 24/7 access to a GP, and health and wellness hubs are just some of the perks that NACAS offer to its members.

As a Healthcare support worker, you are also eligible to join the Royal College of Nursing (RCN). Membership to this body may be particularly beneficial if you are considering progressing through your career from a healthcare support worker to a registered nurse. RCN membership benefits you both professionally and personally, thanks to their wide range of training courses and other professional development tools, in conjunction with a legal and financial advice service that can assist you both in your professional and personal lives.