Helping you find a career in healthcare sector
For people who want to make a difference in the world and help others, healthcare is the industry for you.
To say that it's a large sector would be an understatement - the NHS employs over 2 million people alone - and there is a huge range of roles that fall under this sector. It's an industry that demands a highly skilled and highly dedicated workforce and offers many opportunities for school leavers.
As a school leaver who wants to work in healthcare, you have various options. Vital roles that don't require a degree include dental nurse, dental hygienist, nursing assistant, paramedic, Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner (under the NHS's Improving Access to Psychological Treatment (IAPT) initiative), and Operating Department Practitioner. In animal care, you could become a veterinary assistant or technician.
Working in healthcare could mean spending your days in hospital, facilitating care in departments including Accident & Emergency, oncology, maternity, paediatrics, mental health or Intensive Care. You could work in a dental surgery, assisting the dentist in treating patients. If you're a paramedic, you're likely to spend most of your time out in the community, attending emergency situations. Other healthcare professions will work in local GP surgeries making sure that people are getting the care that they need.
Healthcare doesn't just encompass the care of humans, but animals too. If you choose to pursue a career within veterinary science as a school-leaver you could be working with a whole host of animals, from pets to farmyard animals, to zoo or wildlife safari animals. An apprenticeship in this area will enable you to study for an animal care qualification alongside working with the animals.