Download Clinical Healthcare Apprenticeships within General Practice

Clinical Healthcare
Apprenticeships within
General Practice
Do you want to make a difference?
Clinical Healthcare Apprenticeships in General Practice
Healthcare Assistants
Many more school leavers are using healthcare assistant
apprenticeships as a route into a caring career. Healthcare assistants
work in hospitals or community settings, such as GP surgeries, under
the
guidance
of
a
qualified
healthcare
professional.
Working life
Healthcare assistants (HCA) have a lot of
direct contact with patients and work under
the guidance of a qualified healthcare
professional, usually a nurse. Sometimes
staff working in HCA roles are known as
nursing assistants, nursing auxiliaries or
clinical healthcare support workers
The work varies depending on where you’re
based. In a health centre or general practice
(GP) surgery, you will be asked to:
 Take blood samples
 Undertake physiological
measurements such as blood
pressure, temperature, pulse, weight
 Complete new patient checks and
screen for medical conditions
 Sterilise equipment
 Do health checks
 Restock consulting rooms
 Test patient samples such as urine
 Do health promotion or health
education work
 Undertake simple dressings
 Support and prepare patients for and
during procedures
Skills and personal characteristics
needed
To be an HCA, you’ll need to be:
 Caring and kind
 Cheerful and friendly
 Willing to be hands-on with patients
 Willing to do personal care tasks (e.g.
washing, toileting)
 Able to follow instructions and
procedures
 Able to work as part of a team but
use your own initiative
You’ll also need:
 Communication skills, including
listening
 Organisational skills
 Observational skills
 Attention to detail and accuracy
 To understand person centred care
 To be committed to ongoing
development and training
Everyone who works in the NHS, whether
clinical or non-clinical contributes to
improving patient care.
Why not see if you’d be suited
to a career in a nursing team by
taking this quiz?
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Clinical Healthcare Apprenticeships in General Practice
Once you have finished your training you
will sometimes be expected to work on your
own and will need to be confident meeting
and working with patients.
How?
Opportunities are available across Yorkshire
and the Humber to train to become an HCA
in general practice. You will be paid (at least
the National Minimum Wage for your age,
higher than the apprenticeship wage) while
you work and study and won’t have to pay
for any of your training.
You will need a pass at a minimum of Level
1 in the apprenticeship literacy and
numeracy test, along with basic computer
experience. GCSE A* - E in maths and
English (or equivalent) and GCSEs in
science or health and social rare related
subjects are desirable but not essential.
Most important are your values and
personality traits, and willingness to
undertake all the training provided.
The training will take 15-18 months. At this
point you will be a fully competent HCA and
can either stay at the practice where you
trained or get a job at another.
Training and development
Why is this a good opportunity?
Your training as a healthcare assistant will
include:
This scheme provides an excellent
opportunity to get into the NHS, one of the
world’s largest employers. Later on in your
career you may decide to step up and train
to be a registered nurse, or go into other
healthcare roles. There will be lots of
chances to undertake further training and
development. You will also earn a higher
salary than many other apprenticeships
attract, and will get to experience a
rewarding and varied job, helping patients
every day.
Level 3 QCF Diploma
in Clinical Healthcare Support
This is the main apprenticeship qualification.
You will learn together with other HCAs and
also whilst working in your own practice.
Examples of what you will study include
communication, infection control, health and
safety and equality and diversity.
Other skills
Interested and want to find out more?
You will also take on some additional
training to enable you to support the rest of
your team at the practice. This will mainly be
in clinical skills such as taking blood from
patients, emergency first aid and wound
care.
Contact Details
Sharon Simister
Project Co-ordinator
Health Education England in Yorkshire and
the Humber
[email protected]
You will be fully supported in all this training
by your colleagues at your practice and
tutors from your local college.
National Apprenticeship Service
http://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/
Is this right for me?
Health Careers
https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/
You should think carefully about whether
you would enjoy a healthcare support role.
Providing care to patients can be tough, but
is an incredibly rewarding career. Your
training will be busy and sometimes
challenging but interesting and varied too.
Step into the NHS
http://www.stepintothenhs.nhs.uk/
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