How To Become A Healthcare Assistant

How To Become A Healthcare Assistant: What Is A Healthcare Assistant?

Becoming a Healthcare Assistant (or HCA, as they are commonly known), is a fantastic way to take your first steps into the healthcare sector. HCAs work alongside doctors and nurses to provide a comfortable, tidy, and efficient experience for the patient, supporting their care in all areas.

One thing to bear in mind is that “Healthcare Assistant” and “Care Assistant” are different roles, but they require the same sort of experience and people qualified as one should easily be able to find work as the other. The difference is, Care Assistants work primarily in Residential Homes and Assisted Living facilities, while Healthcare Assistants work all over the place – anywhere that provides healthcare will have HCAs on their payroll.

How To Become A Healthcare Assistant

Gain Experience As A Carer

If you already have experience as a Carer/Care Assistant, then chances are you’re already qualified to work as an HCA. If not, but you’ve got the ability to train or volunteer as a Care Assistant, then this is a great way of getting the experience required to find work as an HCA.

Apply Directly For HCA Work

Healthcare Assistant, generally speaking, is a fairly entry-level role, and many employers will be more than happy to provide on-the-job training for applicants with no prior experience. With a specialised CV, knowledge of the subject area, and a good attitude, you stand a good chance of landing an HCA role even without experience.

Unpaid Care Work

If you’ve spent time performing unpaid care for a friend or family member, this will be good to mention in your CV when applying for HCA jobs, even if you don’t have any professional experience.

How To Become A Healthcare Assistant: HCA Roles & Duties

Healthcare Assistant’s work to care for patients on a day-to-day basis, and support senior medical professionals in their roles. HCAs are usually supervised by a senior member of staff, to whom they must report any concerns or changes in patient condition. Common roles and duties of Healthcare Assistants include assisting patients with:

• Washing and personal hygiene
• Dressing
• Eating and drinking
• Moving and getting in & out of bed

Other common tasks include:

• Maintaining medical records
• Communicating patient data with colleagues
• In some workplaces, checking patient’s vital signs is a task assigned to HCAs.

Of course, there are many other duties HCAs may have to carry out – these are just some of the most common ones.

How To Become A Healthcare Assistant: Skills Required

Compassion

HCAs spend a great deal of time taking care of vulnerable people, who are relying on the HCA for treatment and personal care. Having a compassionate attitude towards the people you are caring for is therefore a must.

Teamwork & Communication Skills

Communicating with other members of your team, as well as with your patients, is crucial. When people’s health is at stake, relaying information between relevant parties and acting as a team to quickly resolve issues is vital.

Physical Strength & Stamina

Being an HCA is an active role. You’ll be on your feet for much of the day, and chances are your roles will include assisting with patients’ mobility, which requires body strength. Make sure you are prepared to take on a physical role!

Patience

Depending on your workplace, you may end up dealing with people with reduced faculties, or who can only do things at a slower pace, so you must be patient with them. They can’t help it!

How To Become A Healthcare Assistant: How Much Do Healthcare Assistants Earn?

According to the NHS, their Healthcare Assistants earn around £11.50 per hour to start with, and this increases the longer the HCA stays with the NHS. Staff in London earn a slightly higher rate. For many Healthcare Assistants, the NHS’s rate isn’t worth it, so they work privately – where the average hourly rate is better on average.

Many HCAs take on part-time agency work to supplement their income, or to give them time to take on extra responsibilities at home such as childcare. Medilink Nursing is an agency that employs hundreds of HCAs – each week they provide us with their availability, and we offer them with shifts at our client’s premises.

Here at Medilink Nursing, our pay rates are much better than what the NHS offers. If you’re considering part-time agency work, click below to request our pay rates.

Please bear in mind, however, that we do have a minimum experience requirement – so you might have to come back to us once you’re an established HCA. Good luck!

How To Become A Healthcare Assistant: Career Progression

Working as an HCA is a role with lots of room for progression. You’ll learn a lot about work in the healthcare sector, but the specific skills you’ll pick up depend on where you work. For example, an HCA working in a residential home will learn a lot about caring for those with dementia, while an HCA working in a hospital might learn how to take patients’ vitals, or how to set up a catheter.

From being an HCA, you might get the opportunity to train and progress into other healthcare roles such as physiotherapy, radiology, nursing, pharmacy work, and many more.

How To Become A Healthcare Assistant: Summary

In conclusion, becoming a Healthcare Assistant is a great way to get started in the healthcare sector. As an entry-level role, you’ll be able to find HCA jobs with little or no experience. From there, you can specialise into a variety of other healthcare roles.