Apprenticeship Healthcare Assistant Jobs

Daily duties for a healthcare assistant will include:

• Helping patients shower and get dressed
• Helping people eat at meal times
• Making beds
• Using equipment to lift and move patients in a comfortable, safe and pain-free way
• Talking to patients and comforting them
• Helping patients to the toilet
• Cleaning and tidying the ward or patients' homes
• Doing brief medical checks on patients
• Attending meetings with other healthcare professionals
• Keeping updated files and documents on patients

Healthcare assistants need to be passionate about caring for unwell, elderly or disabled people, and need to act with great sensitivity when working with patients to ensure that they are both comfortable and also able to maintain their dignity.

You will usually work around 37 hours a week through different shifts, which include nights, bank holidays and weekends.

You have the potential to work in the NHS, at a private hospital, a nursing home or in the community.

You may be required to travel to patients' homes.

Starting out in this career you can expect an annual salary of £15,000 to £18,000 per annum. Once you have gained more experience your salary is likely to rise to £20,000.

You may be able to earn extra pay for working unsocial hours (e.g. nights, weekends and bank holidays).

Most employers in this sector will look for GCSE's at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C) and some paid or unpaid experience in the health or social care industry.

National Association of Care & Support Workers