Healthcare Services

The sector in a snapshot

In Sheffield, Health and Social Care is the second largest labour market sector making up 15.6% of Sheffield’s workforce. The Health and Social Care sector is also one of the regions predicted growth sectors as the country needs up to 635,000 new workers by 2035 to keep up with the demand of an ageing population resulting in an increased need for care and support.

The aim of the Healthcare workforce is to improve the health and well being of patients and the public. Alongside improving the health and well being of patients and the public, the workforce play a big part of diagnosing, treating and preventing medical conditions as well as working to develop new treatments and innovative tests.

What could the sector offer you?

Jobs in this industry are likely to:

Give you a variety of locations to work- you could work for a public, private or not-for-profit organisation in care homes, client’s homes, hospitals, community centres, laboratories, pharmaceuticals, leisure tourism and sport industry and many more. As these are all over the country, it means you have the flexibility to be able to work all over the country.
Have a standard pay- if you are working for the NHS, apart from Managers, Doctors and Dentists you will be placed on an NHS pay scale which is the same across the country.
Make a difference- careers in health allow you to make a difference to people.
Work with people- patients and their families are at the core of healthcare.
Be able to access training and development opportunities- lots of roles allow you to get trained up to progress up the levels, allowing you to do more tasks.

How do you get into the role?

The NHS as the UK’s largest Healthcare employer, offers intermediate, advance, higher and degree apprenticeships alongside offering graduate positions.

For roles such as a Doctor, Dentist, Midwife, Nurse, Allied Healthcare Professional, you’ll need an approved degree and to be registered with a professional body to work in these roles. If you have a related degree, there are opportunities to study postgraduate courses which will allow you to gain entry at a later stage.

There are a wide range of roles within Healthcare so if you are aware of the role that you would like to go into, it is essential you research the role individually to explore the entry routes available and decide which one is going to be best for you. You can explore these on Prospects.

Reality Check

Those working in Healthcare can expect to work a shift pattern with sometimes long and unsociable hours including bank holidays and periods like Christmas. Depending on the role you are in, you often may have to work in environments which can be emotionally challenging and stressful due to the nature of the work- staff need to be resilient and empathetic in these times. You will be required to work with people closely, sometimes providing intimate care or supporting them with injuries. Work experience is essential in this sector to help you develop and demonstrate that you have the required skills and qualities is essential for the roles.

You will likely need to have skills in...

Communication and interpersonal skills, empathy and approachablility, teamwork, remaining calm under pressure, working well in difficult situations, attention to detail

Healthcare encompasses a wide range of professionals:

allied health (e.g. physiotherapy, radiography, and occupational therapy)
ambulance services
complementary therapies
dentistry
health informatics
health promotion and sales
healthcare administration and management
healthcare science (e.g. clinical engineering, biomedical science, and pathology)
medicine (e.g. doctors, surgeons, and GPs)
medical research
midwifery
nursing and caring
nutrition and diet
optometry and opticians
pharmacy
psychological therapies

Check out the range of roles and what each of them do by using the NHS careers website

NHS Careers- Explore Roles

Some roles in the sector

RADIOGRAPHER (Between £25,654 to £45,838 a year)

There are two types of radiographer: diagnostic and therapeutic. As a diagnostic radiographer, you will use machines like x-ray machines to create images of bodies to screen for abnormalities, injuries and disease. They may also take part in procedures like biopsies. As a therapeutic radiographer you may give treatments using radioactive sources and plan treatment for tumours or tissue defects.

HEALTH VISITOR (£32,305 to £45,838 per annum)

Health visitors are usually already qualified nurses or midwifes that do additional training. They provide help to individuals in the home such as giving advice to new parents on baby feeding, hygiene, safety and sleep. They have a good understanding of children's development needs and programmes of immunisation. They may help arrange meetings for special drop-ins or clinics and work closely with social services on safeguarding children to reduce the risk of harm. Their aim is to make sure babies grow into functioning, healthy children.

CALL HANDLER (£20-24,000 per annum)

NHS call handlers, whether for 111 or 999 have an important job in the NHS triage service. They must keep the caller calm to get essential information from them such as the location of the incident and patient. They may need to give basic first aid advice to people in life-threatening situations and help until an ambulance arrives. 111 are able also to give initial advice and signpost callers to services and resources to help them and reduce the strain on the 999 call log. If an emergency vehicle needs to be called, the call handler will contact crews on the ground to support. They will also log all calls and interventions.