Careers in health care support

Working in the health sector offers a huge variety of interesting, stimulating and often demanding roles. Health care assistants (HCAs) and assistant/associate practitioners (APs) work in almost every setting imaginable and are an integral part of every nursing team. 

This section is designed for prospective and current HCAs and APs, employers and nursing colleagues alike. It gives an overview of the roles of HCAs and APs, their education and training, competences, applying for jobs and also signposts to many tools, resources and websites that provide further useful information on this subject.

Understanding the role of the HCA

A HCA is defined as 'someone who works under the guidance of a registered health professional’. (Reference: NHS Careers and NHS Education for Scotland HCSW toolkit).

All employees should be given a job description and person specification detailing their role and responsibilities. In addition, an HCA should receive:

The effectiveness of the role

The effectiveness of the HCA is dependent upon a number of factors, each of which can be optimised to get the most out the role. These factors include the following:

How to become a HCA

If you are considering applying for a job as an HCA the RCN has some resources that can help you:

See how to access PDF files.

The above RCN guides are for HCAs and APs who may be applying for their first job, or moving to a senior position. The RCN is here to help you get that perfect role.

These publications are also available in hardcopy and can be obtained via RCN Direct.  Please call 0345 772 6100, select option three and quote the six digit publication code.

Once you have been accepted into an HCA post it is essential that you have induction training. The RCN’s First steps for health care assistants will guide you through the basics and your employer must ensure that you are trained and competent in each task that you will be expected to perform.

How to become an AP

The role of AP in nursing teams is becoming more popular across the UK and many pre-registration nurse training courses accept the foundation degree or equivalent to step into the second year of the course.

For more information on the role please visit:

There are also a number of reports available on the AP which can be found below:

Assistant practitioner scoping project (PDF 198.4 KB): The scoping project reviews up-to-date information relating to the development of APs and maps the current UK wide support workforce. Analysing areas including the numbers of APs in the NHS and independent sectors and the demographics of this workforce; whilst also exploring the career pathways into, and beyond, the role of the AP.

Evaluation of the development and impact of assistant practitioners supporting the work of ward-based registered nurses in acute NHS Trusts in England (PDF 1791 KB).

Mapping the introduction of assistant practitioner roles in acute NHS Trusts in England (PDF 574 KB)

HCAs and APs may also wish to move into roles within the allied health professions, and the AP role is well established in these fields. Please visit NHS careers for the further information.

Becoming a registered nurse or midwife

Please visit our careers in nursing page for information on funding, entry requirements and the application process. You can also visit the student community for the latest student news and events. 

Education and training

HCAs must be properly supervised until competence has been assessed and achieved. Supervision requires time and effort, but time spent at this stage also allows the supervisor to apply training in a more focused and constructive manner. This enables the HCA to gain competences more rapidly and have them assessed sooner.

Only an HCA that is fully trained and competent can deliver the correct care, and minimise the risk of harm to the patient. Good clinical governance standards require that an HCA working without direct supervision must be assessed as competent to undertake the tasks being completed. Visit our page on accountability and delegation for further information.

Taking a planned approach to identifying the training needs of the HCA will ensure that the HCA is able to make a full contribution to the team.

Training is available in a range of formats so employers will need to consider what is the most appropriate format for their HCA. Information on courses can also be found on the following sites:

Scholarships and awards

The RCN offers two scholarship schemes for HCAs and APs, the HSA charitable trust award and the Kershaw family bursary. For more information please go to scholarships and awards.

Competences

Skills for Health is the Sector Skills Council. One of its roles is to write the competences for the health care workforce.

Skills for Health describe competences as: "The descriptors of the performance criteria, knowledge and understanding that are required to undertake work activities. They describe what individuals need to do and to know to carry out the activity – regardless of who performs it."

The benefits of using a competence based approach underpinned by national competences such as National Occupational Standards (NOS) are that it:

Employers can visit Skills for Health  fo a range of resources to assist in developing the workforce, from National Occupational Standards, vocational qualifications to help with workforce planning and much more.

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) has a dedicated site for HCAs and their employers.  The healthcare support workers toolkit is a one stop shop of current information, resources, ideas, advice on competences, vocational qualifications and induction standards.

From January 2012, the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) provides a range of qualifications suitable for HCAs and APs. Further information on the QCF is available on the following sites:

Tools

RCN Learning Zone

The RCN’s learning zone provides a wealth of resources that will enable HCAs and colleagues to keep updated in relevant topics. Visit the learning zone where you can write your CV and keep a record of your ongoing development. In order to access the learning zone you will need to join the RCN. Details on the benefits of membership and how to join can be found here. 

RCN e-library

The RCN's library and information services can be a valuable resource whether you are at home, work or studying.  There are a range of services that can be accessed online, by telephone, email or post and four libraries across the UK to visit.

You can read online articles from more than 700 e-journals including:

Go to the A-Z list of journals and follow the links to these full text journals.

The e-library also has a growing collection of current e-books, including:

Follow the URL links from the catalogue record to view the e-book.  Search the library catalogue for more print and e-books on a topic.

The RCN also has a virtual enquiry service which is really easy to use. Visit library services to access the virtual enquiry service and for help in finding useful books and journal articles.