health care assistant

[stylinsam]

hi guys i want a complete change of carrer and all my life since i was a young girl iv wanted to work in a hospital, and recentley decided i would like to be a health care assitant in a hospital, but im stuck as i dont no where to start what courses i have to take or where to take them. if anyone has any info for me i would be very grateful xx thankyou xx

[kate1976]

Have a looksy here:

http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/details/Default.a spx?Id=485

[lilmonkey]

Health care assistant training is mostly on the job, so the best thing to do would be to get some experience, maybe look into volunteering at a hospital or hospice before you apply. It will also help you show any future employer that you really want to do the job. It will also prove that you can handle things like bathing people, (the first time I had to wash a willy I nearly died of embarrasment!) and the horrible parts of working in a hospital like people dying. Good luck, it's definately a career worth doing! As much as people like to criticise the NHS, they are very supportive of staff development and encourage good HCAs to go on to do nursing diplomas and degrees etc.

[Charlyparly]

As Lilmonkey pointed out, there's some "not so glamorous" stuff involved - dying and dead folk / bums / willies / wendys / wee wee's etc etc, but it is also such a rewarding job, where there is never a dull moment (especially when working with the elderly!)

Care homes do offer good experience and you will receive training in mandatory subjects and NVQ, which is a route to nurse training if you want to go that way?

Just be aware of how to spot the good care homes from the bad.

Go to www.csci.org.uk, to have a good old nosey through the inspection reports of all the care homes in your area.

Good luck!!

[alijangra]

People are referring to dying people as being 'horrible'. It is, in fact, a very rewarding part of the job. To care for and be there for someone during their last moments and trying to make them as comfortable as possible is actually a privilege. Try and get a hold of the vacancy bulletin for your local NHS trust. Whilst experience is desirable, you may still be offered an interview. There are other positions called Patient Helpers (in Scotland anyway) and these are not quite so 'hands on' as the HCA's and a good place to start. From personal experience, I would say avoid care homes but if you do decide to go down that route, do as Charlyparly says and do a bit of research on the companies. There is one national company I would want to advise you to keep away from but Im afraid i cant say on a public forum!

[alijangra]

Where about do you stay Sam?

[Suzieb]

You could do a course in Health & Social Care.

I've just completed an OCR National Diploma in Health & Social Care at college. It took 2 years to do the diploma, but I did that because I want to go into nursing, they also do a National Certificate which only takes 1 year.

I think an NVQ is your best bet, and lots of companies and agencies will employ people to work in residential homes or as support workers with no qualifications, then train them for NVQ's whilst their on the job.
After you've got your NVQ you could then apply to a hospital, although I know a hospital local to me was applying for HCA's recentley and it said experience wasn't required.
Alot of people I know work in residential homes or nursing homes and didn't have any qualifications when they applied.

Or if you're feeling like going wild, you could always train to be a nurse. It takes 3 years to do the diploma, you need 5 GCSE's and are paid a small bursary of �500 a month while you train.