Providing Care and offering Compassion to People of all Ages

Every day, people at different stages of life and from every part of our society need help. They might be new mums learning to look after their babies; elderly people who require help getting around; or those needing assistance with managing their health problems and learning disabilities. If you work in this sector you might be working with people just like them, young or old, facing different challenges. It’s a career that can be tough at times, but also rewarding.

Types of Apprenticeship

This part of the health sector has a few Apprenticeships available. Programmes include Health & Social Care, Maternity Support and Care Management.

About the Health & Social Care and Childcare Sectors

Working in healthcare can mean a lot of different things, as you’d expect from a profession that employs more than two million people. There are front line roles, where you’re working directly with patients or people in your community; management roles, where you’re heading a up a team; or support roles, taking care of the administrative side of things (usually in an office). They all contribute to keeping the country healthy and happy.

What Can I Do?

The NHS is one of the greatest social institutions on the planet and a large number of people working in Health & Social Care will be employed by it. But it’s not the only option, as you might also work in the private sector, for your local authority or perhaps for a charity.

Your exact role will depend on which strand you follow. A social care role might involve helping people in the community, such as the elderly, disabled or people with learning disabilities. You could be visiting them at home, cooking for them, helping them complete tasks around the house or perhaps transporting them; or you could be helping people in residential homes and specialist care centres.

Health care workers are more likely to be in hospitals or private clinics. Again, you’ll be helping people but their needs and conditions might be different. This strand is more about supporting doctors and nurses or taking care of patients directly, doing things like making and serving food, cleaning wards or taking care of paperwork.

Childcare professionals do just that: care for children. While some of this is about playing games (hurrah!), it’s also about supervising children and young people at school or nursery, helping in playgroups, offering childminding services and generally contributing to children’s development.

Healthcare Skills

There are various career-specific skills you’ll need for the various jobs available. Healthcare support workers might need strong literacy and IT skills if they’re in administrative roles, for example, while childcare workers will need to know how to engage with children of varying ages and abilities, and how to keep them safe.

Similarly, health and social care professionals will need some clinical skills, a good understanding of the human body and health issues, and know all about hygiene. They’ll also need to be great communicators, again with strong literacy and IT skills.

Don’t worry, you don’t need those skills right now: they can developed through training. What you will need already is a caring, compassionate attitude. The ability to listen to people of all ages, stay positive and make their days better is vital, so think carefully about whether or not it’s for you. This is an area where getting some work experience before you commit to a course could be really helpful; your teachers will be able to advise you on how to go about it.

Healthcare Careers

Here are some of the jobs available in Health & Social care and Childcare:

• Healthcare Support Worker
• Night Care Assistant
• Mental Health Outreach Worker
• Substance Misuse Worker
• Early Years Worker or Assistant
• Assistant Youth Support and Community Worker
• Nursery Teaching Assistant

Once you’ve got some experience and further qualifications you can move on to more senior roles such as team leader, supervisor and manager.

Getting Started

To find out what’s available near you, visit Careermap.co.uk and search for vacancies. There are lots of useful sources of further info, too:

• Skills for Care and Development – for people in Social Work, Social Care and Children’s Services
• Skills for Care – for the Social Care profession
• Skills for Health – for the Healthcare profession

Routes into the healthcare sector include:

• Apprenticeships
• Vocational qualifications / A Levels
• National Diplomas and Certificates
• Higher National Certificates (HNCs) and Diplomas (HNDs)
• Foundation Degrees (England and Wales only)
• Bachelors Degrees

If you’d like to boost your chances of getting accepted onto an Apprenticeship, consider volunteering for a local organisation or charity in the sector that interests you. They’re always looking for help and it’s a great way to get skills, boost your confidence and give something back to your community.

Levels of Apprenticeship

These range from Level 2 right through to Level 7 apprenticeships.

A Level Two Apprenticeship takes a minimum of 12 months to complete, then you can continue to work up the ladder to degree level if you'd like to! If you don’t have the qualifications you need yet, a Traineeship can help fill in the gaps in your learning too.

Life as a Health & Social Care or Childcare Apprentice

Careers in Health & Social Care and Childcare are often quite practical and hands-on, so while you can study at university (which is definitely the right option for some people), you might find that the learn-on-the-job approach of a vocational qualification such as an Apprenticeship is the best way to get into the career that interests you.

As an apprentice you’ll work with an employer to get workplace skills, as well as studying at college to get some technical skills and qualifications. In health & social care roles that’s likely to mean being on a shift pattern, which means your days could start early in the morning or late at night, depending on your exact job and the people you’re looking after. During your shift you might be in people’s homes, at hospital, working in admin departments … there’s a lot of variety. You’ll definitely be in a team though, and working under the close supervision of an experienced mentor.

Childcare roles will tend to be more focused around daytime hours, probably starting early and finishing in the late afternoon. You might be in a nursery when parents drop children off and collect them, and spend the day keeping them occupied (and safe) with different activities, from active play to reading and even making sure they get naps during the day.

Make no mistake, these are hard jobs that will bring you into contact with challenging people and situations: you might need to dress and undress patients, help them go to the toilet and dish out medicine; or you could be on the receiving end of tantrums and bad behaviour from children (or their parents).

However, you’ll be paid, you’ll be gaining qualifications at college and learning to be independent with your time and money, and many people in healthcare love the knowledge that they’re helping people and trying to make the world a better place. It’s an important job.

You Could Work in:

• Hospitals
• Care Homes
• Private Clinics
• Patients’ Homes
• Nurseries
• Playgroups