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Healthcare assistants make sure the patient experience is as comfortable and stress-free as possible. It can also be a steppingstone into many other NHS roles. You will work under the guidance of a healthcare professional such as a nurse and your job will vary depending on where you are based. For example, In a health centre and GP surgery, you may:
- do new patient or NHS health checks
- process lab samples
- take blood samples
- do health promotion or health education work
- assist with the monitoring and management of long-term conditions
- take ECGs
- undertake wound care
There are no set entry requirements to become a healthcare assistant. Employers expect good literacy and numeracy and may ask for GCSEs (or equivalent) in English and maths. They may ask for a healthcare qualification, such as BTEC or NVQ.
With experience and further training, you could become a senior healthcare assistant. You could then apply to train as an assistant practitioner or nursing associate. With the appropriate qualifications/evidence of academic ability, you could also train as one of the many degree-level healthcare professionals such as a nurse, podiatrist, midwife or occupational therapist.
Further details about the role are in the links below:
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The Black Country & West Birmingham Training Hub have coordinated ‘Health Care Assistant Virtual Training Forums’.
There is a Virtual Forum available for HCAs which is delivered via ZOOM on a fortnightly basis offering one and a half to two-hour training or updates covering a variety of topics such as Asthma and Diabetes, and will also give you the opportunity to network with HCA’s across Black Country and West Birmingham. Dates and details below:
- Wednesday 7th October 2020 - Wound Management
- Wednesday 14th October 2020 - Respiratory: CDP
- Wednesday 21st October 2020 - Venepuncture
- Thursday 5th November 2020 - Recording ECG's
- Wednesday 11th November 2020 - Hypertension
- Wednesday 18th November 2020 - Cardiovascular Disease and Lifestyle
- Wednesday 25th November 2020 - Respiratory: Asthma
- Wednesday 2nd December 2020 - Chronic Kidney Disease and Urine Testing
To book onto any of the sessions above, please click here
For more information, please click here to view the flyer
For further information please contact the BC&WB Training Hub Coordinators Mani Badhan (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or Nancy Szilvasi (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
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Please click link below to open an editable version of a HCA Job Description and Person Specification:
Editable HCA Job Description and Person Specification
Please click link below to open a leadlet which contains details on Healthcare Apprenticeships through Walsall College:
College Apprenticeship Details
The link below will take you to the Healthcare careers website for further information:
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The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) brings you First Steps for Health Care Assistants (HCAs) to support you either individually – or as part of your workplace induction programme – to learn in your own time, the most important factors that will get you started in your health care career.
For more information, please click the link below:
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