Senior Healthcare Support Worker

On a senior healthcare support worker apprenticeship course, you’ll help provide high-quality and compassionate specialist health and social care for many people.

A senior healthcare support worker works with trained practitioners to provide care to people of all ages.

As a senior healthcare support worker, you will be directly or indirectly supervised by a qualified healthcare practitioner while performing a range of clinical and non-clinical healthcare or therapeutic activities.

You will provide high-quality, compassionate treatment while following standards, laws, or procedures and operating within your area of competence.

You will work in various settings, such as a hospital, community, health, or day-case unit, a birth centre or midwifery-led unit, someone’s home, surgical rooms, nursing or care homes, and others.

This apprenticeship is designed to be completed after you have gained expertise in healthcare and can show excellent practices and serve as a role model. You may be in charge of overseeing or mentoring less experienced members of your team.

What you’ll learn

On a senior healthcare support worker apprenticeship course, you’ll learn to:

• Assist certified healthcare practitioners with clinical or therapeutic duties; adhere to care plans; and observe and report changes.
• Collect evidence to aid in establishing a client’s history and examine health-related facts and information.
• Promote physical and mental health and well-being by offering opportunistic short health and well-being guidance.
• Assist an individual’s general comfort by recognising and responding to indicators of pain or discomfort.
• Recognise problems and deteriorations in mental and physical health, report them, and react properly while encouraging others to do the same.
• Recognise mental capability limits and respond accordingly
• Adhere to the ideals of equality, diversity, and inclusion.
• Demonstrate in practice what it means to promote and deliver person-centred care, treatment, and support by gaining valid permission and conducting risk assessments.
• Collaborate with the person, their caregiver, their relatives, and the rest of the healthcare team.
• Encourage clinical efficacy, safety, and a positive individual experience.
• Use a variety of ways to show and support successful communication.
• Observe and document both verbal and nonverbal communication.
• Handle information (record, report, and keep information) under local and national rules, maintain information confidentiality, assist others in doing so, and participate in audits.
• Act within your competence and authority, and ensure that anybody you oversee acts within theirs.
• Accept responsibility and priorities, reflect on your actions, work, and performance, maintain and expand your skills and knowledge, and engage in assessment.
• Work as part of a team, seek advice and direction when unsure, promptly escalate problems to the right person, support or supervise colleagues as needed, and allocate well-defined duties effectively.
• Serve as a role model for others, mentor peers, and provide training via example and teaching.
• Maintain a safe and healthy working environment, respond appropriately to events or crises, and follow local rules.
• Move and place people, equipment, and other objects safely.
• Use a variety of infection prevention and control strategies, such as waste management, spills, hand washing, and the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Entry requirements

You’ll usually need:

• Prior experience as a support worker in the healthcare sector.
• Apprentices without level 2 English and maths will need to achieve this before taking the end-point assessment.

Assessment methods

The End Point Assessment comprises three distinct assessment methods: 

• A multiple-choice test 
• An observation of practise undertaken in the apprentice’s workplace 
• A professional discussion 

Restrictions and requirements

You’ll need to:

• pass enhanced background checks
• have a full driving licence

Duration, level, subjects and potential salary upon completion

Apprenticeship standard

More information about the Level 3 Senior Healthcare Support Worker Apprenticeship standard can be found here.

Apprenticeship end point assessment

For more information about the End Point Assessment Process, please read the Institute of Apprenticeships’ information page