Have you thought about becoming a healthcare support worker in the NHS?

Healthcare support workers in the NHS play a vital role in providing excellent care to patients, so if you want to gain experience in the NHS it’s a great place to start. There are over 30 different types of roles available across all NHS care settings from hospitals, GP practices, people’s homes or in the community.

A healthcare support worker can choose to specialise in a particular setting, or train to qualify as a healthcare professional, such as a nurse or midwife – helping patients on their journey back to full health.

Healthcare support worker of almost 2 years, Deborah Olusanya shares her top reasons to consider the role:

It offers variety – I love the variety that the job provides. It’s a hands-on role – one minute you could be taking blood pressure and the next lending an ear to an anxious patient.

It’s so rewarding – by helping people with their care and recovery I am making a huge difference to our community, in particular I really enjoy working with the elderly.

It gives great flexibility – which is a huge benefit, I can tailor my shifts around my lifestyle; when I was studying the flexible nature of the role enabled me to select shifts around my studies.

There’s no set entry requirement – all you need are good literacy and numeracy skills and a passion to make a difference.

And finally, the role of a healthcare support worker can lead to a range of career opportunities. With the right skills you can go on to become our future nurses, nursing associates and midwives amongst other careers.

If this sounds like the role for you I’d really encourage you to apply. Search ‘NHS Careers’ to find out more.