Although ‘Healthcare Assistant’ is the usual label attached to this role, you may also be known as:
● Nursing Assistant
● Nursing Auxiliary
● Carer or Domiciliary Carer
● Support Worker
Under the direction of a healthcare professional, such as a Nurse, Senior Carer or home supervisor, you will help provide high-quality care to your clients.
In a hospital setting, some of your typical daily duties will include:
● Helping patients generally
● Serving food and feeding patients
● Washing and dressing patients
● Making beds and keeping patients comfortable
● Monitoring patients’ health status by assessing their weight, temperature, pulse and respiration levels If you work in a surgery or health centre, your duties will include:
● Conducting health checks
● Taking samples, such as blood or urine, and processing them in the lab
● Sterilising equipment and machines
● Promoting health consciousness
Due to the country’s rising elderly population and the decreasing numbers of qualified staff, demand for HCAs will only get stronger in the foreseeable future.
Healthcare Assistant qualifications in the UK are very specific and you need to meet certain criteria before you can obtain employment.
The NHS has not imposed specific prerequisites for Healthcare Assistants but you must at least possess:
● Good literacy and numeracy skills
● Satisfactory General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE or equivalent) grades in English and Maths
● Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) certification or a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ)
Your HCA training must include basic nursing skills and it should enable you to acquire a Care Certificate, the UK credential that was launched in 2015.
You will need to satisfy the 15 criteria set out in the Care Certificate:
● Understanding the HCA role
● Personal development
● Duty of care
● Understanding the importance of equality and diversity
● Conducting person-centred care
● Communicating with your patients
● Respecting your patients’ dignity and privacy
● Providing suitable fluids and nutrition
● Awareness of mental health, including learning disabilities and dementia
● How to safeguard adult patients
● How to keep the children under your care safe
● Basic life support skills
● Health and safety knowledge
● How to handle critical patient information
● Preventing and controlling potential infections
In addition, the Care Certificate is work-based and intended to train new HCA workers to acquire the necessary skills.
Many employers will be willing to provide the majority of your training in the first six months of your employment, which is also your probationary period.
After completing the Care Certificate, your employer may even provide you with new opportunities for training to help you advance your career.
Through an apprenticeship, you can continue your studies and qualify for the:
● NCFE CACHE Level Certificate in Healthcare Support Services
● NCFE CACHE Level 3 Diploma in Healthcare Support
Gain Healthcare Training provides educational qualifications for people working in the healthcare sector through accredited educational institutes.
While there are no strict requirements for HCAs, you will certainly need specific skills and personal qualities to thrive in this profession. For example:
● Kindness and a caring nature
● Cheerfulness and friendliness
● Willingness to be hands-on with patients
● Ability to provide personal care, such as making sure patients are clean
● Be a team player, but with an ability to work independently
Other essential skills are also required:
● Communication – verbal and written
● Listening
● Organisation
● Observation
The experience and additional training you receive can support your career advancement if you would like to become a senior Healthcare Assistant.
This will also enable you to train and apply to be an assistant practitioner or a Nursing Associate.
If you do get a promotion, you will be assured of a better salary and more benefits whether you are working for the NHS or within a private medical facility.
With the necessary qualifications and academic credentials, you may even choose to switch careers or pursue a higher degree healthcare profession, such as:
● Medicine
● Midwifery
● Nursing
● Pharmacy
● Physiotherapy
● Occupational therapy
Ultimately, the education, certification and training you need will depend on your career goals.
As for pay, an HCA in the UK can expect to receive a salary that ranges from £18,000 to £23,000 per annum.
Although the NHS may provide more benefits than the private sector, the latter will generally offer higher wages.
Private employers offer varying compensation packages, but the salary is often equivalent to or above the UK minimum wage.
In the NHS, Healthcare Assistants start in Band 2.
HCAs can rise to Band 3 and even Band 4.
To ensure your application is seen, we ask that you apply via our careers website. If you’re unable to do this or have any issues applying via the online portal, please get in contact.
You’ll receive an email from us once your submitted application has been received. It can take up to 24 hours for this to happen. If you fail to receive yours, check your spam folder as it could be hidden there. If you’re still experiencing problems, our team will be happy to help. Get in touch.
We aim to contact all candidates about their applications and will let you know if you have been successful as soon as possible.
You can get in touch at recruitment@gainhealthcare.co.uk. We aim to respond to all messages within two working days.
Our recruitment process can vary depending on the role. However, in most cases we ask chosen applicants to take part in an initial telephone interview, followed by a face to face interview if you are successful. A verbal offer will then follow for the selected candidate.
Unless otherwise informed, we ask that you wear smart, business attire to your interview.
You’re welcome to apply for other opportunities within the organisation, however, we advise that you wait six months before making another application for the same role.
There will be times when we haven’t quite got the right role for you when you apply. However, if you’re a good fit for Gain Healthcare we will add you to our talent pool. If a new role is released that we feel you would be a really good fit for, a member of our Resourcing team will get in touch with you to discuss the opportunity further. It’s a way for us to be able to keep in touch with you and, hopefully, work with you to create a fantastic future career within Gain Healthcare.
All candidates who apply for a position within Gain Healthcare, are required to create an account with us, this will enable you to set up job alerts, reducing the amount of time you need to search for career opportunities. You can also view the status of your application(s) to view where you are in the process.
No, we will never ask you to pay money at any time during the recruitment process. We conduct a formal and transparent recruitment process, including requiring candidates to attend a face-to-face interview.
Our people, just like our patients, come to us from all over the world. We’re happy to provide certificates of sponsorship to overseas candidates, providing the role you’ve been recruited for meets the requirements set by the Home Office. For more information get in touch.
You’re welcome to apply for as many roles as you like on our careers website, however, we ask that you tailor each application to the role you’re applying for. We receive a high number of applications for all our roles, so it’s important to take time when applying to stand out.
To ensure your application is seen, we ask that you apply via our careers website. If you’re unable to do this or have any issues applying via the online portal, please get in contact.
You’ll receive an email from us once your submitted application has been received. It can take up to 24 hours for this to happen. If you fail to receive yours, check your spam folder as it could be hidden there. If you’re still experiencing problems, our team will be happy to help. Get in touch.
We aim to contact all candidates about their applications and will let you know if you have been successful as soon as possible.
You can get in touch at recruitment@gainhealthcare.co.uk. We aim to respond to all messages within two working days.
Our recruitment process can vary depending on the role. However, in most cases we ask chosen applicants to take part in an initial telephone interview, followed by a face to face interview if you are successful. A verbal offer will then follow for the selected candidate.
Unless otherwise informed, we ask that you wear smart, business attire to your interview.
You’re welcome to apply for other opportunities within the organisation, however, we advise that you wait six months before making another application for the same role.
There will be times when we haven’t quite got the right role for you when you apply. However, if you’re a good fit for Gain Healthcare we will add you to our talent pool. If a new role is released that we feel you would be a really good fit for, a member of our Resourcing team will get in touch with you to discuss the opportunity further. It’s a way for us to be able to keep in touch with you and, hopefully, work with you to create a fantastic future career within Gain Healthcare.
All candidates who apply for a position within Gain Healthcare, are required to create an account with us, this will enable you to set up job alerts, reducing the amount of time you need to search for career opportunities. You can also view the status of your application(s) to view where you are in the process.
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