healthcare assistant | Secure Healthcare Solutions

Healthcare assistant jobs offer a fulfilling career in the healthcare field, providing essential support to patients and medical staff. Healthcare assistants, also known as nursing assistants, help with tasks like personal care, feeding, and monitoring patient conditions. They play a crucial role in delivering 24-hour care in various settings, such as hospitals, care homes, and community care.

If you’re looking for a secure and rewarding career path, becoming a healthcare assistant in the NHS is an excellent choice. In this blog, we’ll cover the key responsibilities of a healthcare assistant, the qualifications needed, and how to find NHS healthcare assistant jobs, including healthcare assistant jobs near me.

What Does a Healthcare Assistant Do?

Healthcare assistants (HCAs) play a vital role in the healthcare system, ensuring patients receive the care and attention they need on a day-to-day basis. They work closely with nurses and other medical staff, supporting them in a variety of tasks. Below, we outline their key responsibilities and the different settings where HCAs can be found.

Key Responsibilities of an HCA

Healthcare assistants are responsible for a range of essential tasks that help ensure the well-being and comfort of patients. Their duties include:

Personal Care Tasks: HCAs help patients with daily activities such as bathing, dressing, grooming, and feeding. They also assist with toileting and ensuring patients maintain good hygiene.
Supporting Nurses and Medical Staff: HCAs assist nursing staff by preparing medical equipment, taking vital signs (blood pressure, temperature, etc.), and helping with medical procedures when needed.
Monitoring Patient Conditions: Regularly checking on patients’ conditions, such as observing changes in health, tracking fluid intake and output, and noting any concerns. HCAs ensure that any issues are reported to nurses or doctors for further assessment.

These responsibilities make healthcare assistants an indispensable part of the care team, ensuring patients receive personalised and attentive care, whether in hospitals or at home.

Why Choose a Career as a Healthcare Assistant?

Healthcare assistant jobs offer a fulfilling and secure career, especially within the NHS. Let’s explore the benefits of becoming a healthcare assistant.

A Rewarding Career in the NHS

Healthcare assistants provide hands-on care, helping patients with essential daily tasks. This role offers job satisfaction through direct patient interaction. Whether assisting with personal care or offering emotional support, HCAs make a positive difference in patients’ lives.

By delivering 24-hour care, healthcare assistants help improve the well-being of patients in hospitals and care homes. The meaningful connections formed with patients add to the rewarding nature of this job.

Career Growth and Opportunities

A career as a healthcare assistant opens the door to further roles like nursing assistant jobs. Many HCAs pursue additional training to become nurses or specialise in fields such as mental health or maternity care.

The NHS supports career progression through training and development, making it easier to move up within the healthcare system. With many NHS jobs available, HCAs have opportunities for growth and specialisation.

Job Security and Stability

Healthcare assistant jobs offer excellent job security, especially within the NHS. With a high demand for nursing assistants and HCAs in hospitals, care homes, and for 24-hour care, employment is steady.

If you’re looking for healthcare assistant jobs near me or NHS healthcare assistant jobs, you’ll find plenty of opportunities across the country, ensuring a stable career path in a vital industry.

Qualifications and Skills Required for HCAs

Becoming a healthcare assistant doesn’t always require extensive qualifications, but certain certifications and key skills can help you succeed in this role.

Formal Qualifications

NVQ or Diploma in Health and Social Care: These are common qualifications that prepare you for healthcare assistant jobs.
Apprenticeships: An excellent way to gain hands-on experience while studying.
Work Experience: Volunteering or shadowing at hospitals or care homes can provide valuable experience, even without formal education.
On-the-Job Training: Some roles offer training while you work, allowing you to learn the skills needed for nursing assistant jobs.

Key Skills for Success

Compassion: Empathy and kindness are essential when caring for patients.
Communication: Clear communication with patients and staff is crucial.
Patience: Handling various patient needs requires understanding and patience.
Physical Stamina: HCAs often perform physically demanding tasks.
Teamwork: Working closely with nurses and other staff ensures the best patient care.

How Secure HealthCare Solutions Can Help You to Get a Healthcare Assistant Job

Secure HealthCare Solutions specialises in helping candidates find healthcare assistant jobs across various settings. Whether you’re searching for NHS healthcare assistant jobs or positions in private care homes, they offer tailored support to match your skills with the right opportunity. Their platform provides access to a wide range of roles, including nursing assistant jobs in hospitals and care facilities.

If you’re new to the field, Secure HealthCare Solutions can guide you through the application process. They help candidates prepare for interviews, create strong CVs, and find healthcare assistant jobs near me that fit their qualifications. With their expert advice, landing a role in the healthcare sector becomes much easier.

For those looking for roles that involve 24-hour care, Secure HealthCare Solutions connects you with employers who need round-the-clock support for patients. They specialise in matching candidates to nursing assistant and healthcare positions where demand is high. This ensures job security and continuous employment opportunities in the growing healthcare field.

Call to Action: Start Your Healthcare Assistant Journey Today

A career as a healthcare assistant is both rewarding and secure, offering numerous opportunities to make a positive impact on patients’ lives. Whether you’re looking for NHS healthcare assistant jobs or roles in private care, the demand for nursing assistants is high, ensuring long-term job stability. With the right skills and support from platforms like Secure HealthCare Solutions, finding healthcare assistant jobs near me is easier than ever. Start your journey today and enjoy a fulfilling career in healthcare.

As a registered nurse or as a student nurse when working it is not a job, it is a career. Secure Healthcare Solutions believes that you learn a lot more about person-centered and holistic care. While promoting the importance of communication and building relationships which is key for being in the healthcare field.

In most places and organizations, we understand that it can be overwhelming and a struggle when you partake in as many opportunities as possible and sign off as many clinical skills as possible. As a registered nurse learning and developing person-centered care is key in all aspects of your career because being a nurse is not just a job.

Being a registered nurse, spending time with patients is hard especially if you are in the NHS sector, you constantly feel like you are on a conveyor belt to where you don’t spend time with your patient or client, so this could affect the chances of you providing person-centered care. You’ll be able to learn from patients and service users when taking time with them to provide your duties of care and gain better skills just by speaking.

While an individual Is in your care, you are all they have whether you are a Nurse or a Healthcare Assistant, you are the person they communicate to, the person they cry to. This will be a learning factor and quality you can gain which help you in your career to provide person-centered care.

It is important that learn from a patient or service user whether you are in working as a nurse in the NHS field, nursing homes, private hospitals, private trusts, or a Community Complex sector. Understanding your patient or Service user allows them to play a major role in the process of their own care. Also, it aligns with patient- and person-centered care. To make it most effective, understanding the needs of the patient and service user requires more than just instructions and information, healthcare providers need to be able to assess patient needs and communicate clearly between themselves.

How to manage a positive patient experience:

Establish a positive communication encounter
Develop a personal approach
Give meaningful feedback
Setting realistic goals

How can a Nurse or Healthcare Assistant build relationships with patients or service users?

Having a stable foundation of trust between the individual and the nurse can get rid of patients’ mistrust in the healthcare system, while engaging patients in their own care and improving health outcomes. Active listening as well as verbal and nonverbal communication skills will benefit the relationship between the patient and the Nurse or healthcare assistant.

If you are interested in joining the Secure Healthcare Solutions family, we have positions in:

Birmingham
Wolverhampton
Nottingham
Leeds
Coventry
Manchester
Worcester
Peterborough
Hereford
Northampton

For more information on what we have to offer, click the link below or give us a call:

https://securehealthcaresolutions.co.uk/jobs/

0121 285 9449

Being a Healthcare Assistant means is a very meaningful and rewarding job. Most importantly you are a front-line worker ensuring quality care and support is provided to those who require it. Providing care and the support needed for service users either within their own homes or in a residential home. We appreciate every single Healthcare Assistant who dedicates their lives to helping others.

The 6 Cs of care:

Compassion

Commitment

Care

Competency

Courage

Communication

Amy is one of our Healthcare assistants:

“ I work as a healthcare assistant in residential care for the elderly and people who require mental support. A typical start to the day is 08:00 am just after a handover from the night staff. Normally they go room to room assisting the residents either getting out of bed or going to prep the food for them. Some sit in either chair or on the side of the bed while others stay in bed and then wait for their breakfast. After this is completed, we then proceed to help the patients get ready.”

Regular tasks that are performed by health care assistants are personal care, washing, and turning patients, (Secure Healthcare Solutions provide Basic life support and Manual Handling training for all staff which is needed). Toileting, Incontinence care, mobilizing, feeding. It can also include observation reports for any possible problems that may have occurred.

Being a Healthcare Assistant is a very rewarding job. Although the days follow a similar routine, it does vary. Healthcare Assistants play a hands-on role with the people they care for. Over time they tend to build relationships of trust and respect the individuals and their own families.

Working as a Healthcare Assistant can also be a bit stressful from time to time. Some tasks are not the most pleasant but it is necessary at the time. It can be both physically and emotionally demanding. Some of the clients you provide a service of care to require a high demand of assistance and you have to be able to deal with it inevitably, times it could be dealing with their deaths too. Healthcare assistants are involved in shift patterns and they also require 24-hour care.

My time working nights as a Healthcare Assistant (HCA)

“A Nightshift is a bit different from a day shift when working in care. Personally, I would say I prefer night shifts compared to the day shifts; I normally prefer working nights. During the night shifts, I normally start around 8 pm so this means I would come in a bit earlier around 20-30 minutes earlier. During this time, I would receive a handover on what was done on the day, make myself something to drink, and prepare any documentation needed.”

“ I have been working in the Care sectors for 3 years now and I can never of asked for a better and more rewarding job”

Secure Healthcare Solutions offers many positions of being a Healthcare Assistant in and around the west midlands area.

For more opportunities Secure Healthcare Solutions has to offer please click on the link below:

https://securehealthcaresolutions.co.uk/jobs/

Joining a nursing agency is a great way to earn extra money, compared to working directly for the NHS. As a Healthcare agency jobs provider, we reward our healthcare staff with higher salaries and more flexible shifts to work within different environments such as hospitals, care homes and for home care. Below we will highlight some top tips from our recruitment team to speed up your application process when registering for a nursing agency.

Work experience
For a job in the healthcare sector majority of the roles will require you to have experience in a clinical area. We require our candidates to have 6 months experience in the last 2 years for registered general nurse roles, HCA roles and complex carers. For a domiciliary care position, where care is provided in a home care setting, we do not require you to have any experience, individuals just need to be passionate about providing care and support and have access to a vehicle, we provide full training and qualifications.

Documentation
It is important that all documents related to your nursing career are kept safe and secure and nearby, so you can quickly provide these when requested by the nursing agency. This is also important for when registered nurses revalidate their registration with the NMC. Some of the important documents required, include CV, outlining previous job experiences, qualifications, NMC registration evidence, DBS certificates, identification proof, evidence of residence and paying bills.

Training and compliance records
Training and compliance are one of the most important things required when working within healthcare, it is important that training and qualifications are u to date and completed before you start working with us. Service users have individual client needs and here at Secure healthcare it is important that we provide training to accommodate these needs. It is important to keep documented evidence of all training and compliance certificates, competency sign offs, training matrix’s and materials, DBS checks, references and much more.

Interviews
For our healthcare positions, recruitment consultants initially pre-screen potential candidates to identify if they have the relevant experience to meet our service users needs. After the pre- screening process, if individuals have relevant experience, an interview will be conducted, either in the office or remotely, by a video call. We expect individuals to sell themselves and be professional and treat the interview as a formal process.

Employment contracts
For employment contracts we recommend that you keep copies of any employment and payslips as evidence of employment. This is important for proof of employment and when changing companies, it is important to ensure that you are not getting over taxed.

We are a healthcare agency in Wolverhampton and we have many registered nurse jobs, healthcare assistant, domiciliary care and complex carer roles, across the Midlands and Staffordshire, offering flexible shifts to suit your availability and we offer high rates of pay. Check out our job search tool to discover roles local to you or contact our recruitment team on 0121 285 9449 to find out more about out our roles and secure a role with us today. We have a team of specialist healthcare workers and we are continuously looking to grow our team by working with you.

Statistics reported by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) outline that young people aged 18-34 are most likely to apply to a care job, 64% and over half the people this age are open to changing their jobs to start a career in adult social care. At Secure Healthcare we understand that young individuals do not have any experience at a young age, which is why we have opportunities for individuals to start their careers with no experience.

For a healthcare role you have to be passionate about providing care and at times it can be very challenging, there may be problems that you have to solve at times.

A care job is varied, every day is fairly different and it involves you being on your feet a lot, compared to an office job which is very desk based. A career in care is about making a difference to people’s lives and there are opportunities to progress.

For an individual that has no experience, and if you are passionate about providing care, then starting your career as domiciliary carer is the best option.

Domiciliary care is when a carer visits the service user’s home to provide care and support in the comfort of their own home. With home care it may be for short periods of time, from one-two hours, several hours or 24-hour care. Providing home care services allows individuals to feel independent to allow them to live a quality life.

For a domiciliary carer, some of the day-to-day responsibilities include:
– Providing personal care such as washing and dressing
– Supporting patients to get in and out of bed
– Assistance with going to the toilet
– Help with preparing with daily meals
– Communicating with service users to provide the patient company
– Assisting with household tasks
– Aid with helping patients get around the house

(A domiciliary care role requires access to a vehicle)

A domiciliary care role is a great way to start your healthcare journey and it can open up an opportunity to become a care manager, alongside the experience, you will require an RMA qualification, NVQ 4, or QCF diploma. Click here to find out more.

If you are young individual that has 6 months care experience, but are seeking new opportunities, then a healthcare assistant could be the role that you are looking for.

When you have gained domiciliary experience and through our internal training and further qualifications, you have the opportunity to become a healthcare assistant, which is when care is generally provided more in care homes. When progressing to healthcare assistant roles, there is opportunities to become a complex carer within a home care setting or within a care home, through our internal training and development opportunities.

As a young individual, if you are seeking to start your journey within health care, then check out our domiciliary roles and HCA roles local to you within the West Midlands and Staffordshire, using our job search tool or contact us on 0121 285 9449 to find out more. Pick up as many shifts as you want and choose shifts around your availability.

If you are a kind, patient and caring individual looking for a new role, then a healthcare assistant job might be the one for you. Wondering if you have the right traits and just what being a healthcare assistant entails? Here at Secure Healthcare Solutions we are one of the best home care agencies in Wolverhampton and know just what it takes to be a great healthcare assistant. Healthcare jobs provide a real sense of worth to those who do them and are a valuable role in society. From home care services to complex care services, here is some more information on a healthcare assistant job role…

What is a healthcare assistant?

A healthcare assistant is an individual who ensures a patient’s experience is as stress-free, dignified, and comfortable as it can possibly be. It is often the first step on a career ladder if you are looking to get into a more advanced career position, but many people like the role so much they stick at it for many years.

What would day to day duties typically be?

As a healthcare assistant, you will have a varied role in-home care services and complex care services, with many different duties. This is one of the reasons so many people love the day. Healthcare jobs provide you with a great opportunity to try out different skills and better yourself every day. Typical duties can include:

Helping your client to get washed and dressed in the morning
Fixing your client with healthy and nutritious meals throughout the day
Going shopping for them
Doing light cleaning around the home
Being a companion
Picking up any medication and prescriptions they might need
Driving them to any medical appointments
Life administration such as paying bills
Administering medication
Taking them on day trips or to social events
Getting them ready for bed and settled for the night

Healthcare solutions — Healthcare assistant

What personality traits should I have for a healthcare assistant?

As a healthcare assistant, there are certain personality traits that would benefit you in the role. You will need to be a caring and kind person, as well as cheerful and friendly. Patients might not get much other company so will look forward to your visits and having some nice companionship. They may also be unwell or missing their independence so a kind and patient temperament will help them a lot. You will also need to be willing to be hands-on with the patient including personal tasks. If you are someone that is bothered by washing someone, helping them go to the toilet, or clearing up mess such as sick then this might not be the role for you. You will also need to be organized as you will often have a number of different patients on your rota that you need to see during the day. You will need to know who needs what and when, which homes you need to be at during certain times of the day, and the individual needs of the clients. If you are not organized you could end up missing appointments, getting orders wrong, and upsetting those that you look after.
There aren’t any specific qualifications you need as a healthcare assistant, but many employers will ask that you have a good basic level of English and Maths. If you have a qualification in healthcare such as an NVQ or a BTEC this can be useful, but if you don’t have one it is not something to worry about. One of the most important things for you to gain a role in a healthcare assistant job is to have relevant experience in care work. There are many apprenticeships you could do, or it is worth volunteering somewhere locally. This will show your future employer that you are dedicated to the profession and will have some basic knowledge of what you will be doing.

Where can I find care jobs and health jobs to become an HCA?

Here at Secure Healthcare Solutions, we are one of the best job provider sites and home care agencies in Wolverhampton and beyond. From staffing for nurses and private hospital staffing to health jobs and care jobs, we have a myriad of roles to apply for. If you are looking to be a healthcare assistant, we are on hand to help. Get in touch with us today and find out what roles we have available. Find out more about Secure Healthcare Solutions on our website today.