Download our handy Social Care for Children and Young People fact sheet.
Health & Social Care
Careers in healthcare are about helping people who are having problems with their physical health. Careers in social care are concerned with helping vulnerable people in the community and providing them with support so that they can benefit from a much more improved way of life.
Adult social care is a growing sector that, in 2016, had around 20,300 organisations, 40,400 care providing locations and a workforce of around 1.58 million jobs. The number of full-time equivalent jobs was estimated at 1.11 million and the number of people working in adult social care was estimated at 1.45 million.
Health and social care is an especially broad career sector. Tons of different career paths are available for people from all kinds of academic backgrounds. Careers in healthcare are much more likely to require a combination of further study and on-the-job medical training, whereas careers in social care are more likely to start with on-the-job training and allow people to work towards professional qualifications later on in their career.
Understandably, the key word to consider when contemplating a career in this sector is ‘care’. People who work in this sector truly care about helping other people. Without that level of concern and desire to make a difference, it is impossible to succeed in the health and social care world.
Myth busting
Key employment facts in Healthcare
As at 31 March 2018 there were 1,227,375 full time equivalent (FTE) staff working for the NHS, an increase of 19,791 (1.6 per cent) since March 2017.
Of these:
1,100,929 FTE staff were working for NHS Hospital and Community Health Services in England, an increase of 18,251 (1.7 per cent) since March 2017. This covers staff working in NHS Trusts and CCGs, Central Bodies and Support Organisations.
126,446 FTE staff were working in General Practice, an increase of 1,540 (1.2 per cent) since March 2017.
In addition, there were 46,364 FTE staff working for Independent Healthcare Providers in March 2018, based on those organisations that provided data to NHS Digital.
Explore Healthcare roles within the NHS
There are hundreds of roles in health for you to explore. Find a role that interests you and discover the entry requirements and skills you need.
There’s information for everyone, whether you’re still at school and thinking about your options, or already working in health. You'll also find real-life stories and films of those already working in these roles and you can use our compare roles tool to see bite-sized role information on the entry requirements and training, pay and conditions, prospects and skills needed for different roles.
Health and social care is one of the most enjoyable and rewarding sectors to work in with the opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives every day.
Potential career areas:
Find out more about working in home care
It is a large employment sector in Central Bedfordshire with around 7,000 people employed in the industry. In the coming years there will be more career opportunities for young people with a passion for care as tens of thousands of employees are expected to retire, move or change career in the coming years.
What’s it like being a Social Worker in Central Bedfordshire?
The Academy website has lots of information for those interested in becoming a Social Worker in Central Bedfordshire.
See here for more examples of careers in Health and Social Care.
Examples of Health and Social Care Providers:
Useful websites
Department of Health and Social Care
Skills for Care
NHS Health Careers
Social Work in Central Bedfordshire
What skills do I need?
Qualification on their own will not be sufficient to secure a job. Employers also look for:
Core competencies - communication, confidence, initiative, planning and organisational, problem solving, resilience, teamwork and basic digital literacy (Excel spreadsheets, Word processing)
Basic skills - maths and English
Key employability skills - those specific to a job, technical/practical skills and customer service
Experience - gain some work experience whilst in education, this may included volunteering
Have a look at Life Skills to help prepare you for making the first step into a career.
Pathways
There are many pathways into a career in health and social care including the traditional academic routes.
Download the Children’s Social Care Career Map below for more detail, by clicking on it:
Two social workers from Central Bedfordshire talk about their career pathways
Local further and higher education providers and courses:
Further Education
Apprenticeships - Apprenticeships combine practical training in a job with study. To search for and become an apprentice, start here.
Traineeship - Traineeships are designed help young people who want to get an apprenticeship or job but don’t yet have appropriate skills or experience. More information can be found here.
Higher Education -
University of Bedfordshire
University of Northampton
The Open University
Download our handy Social Care for Children and Young People fact sheet.
