Apprenticeship Guide: Health and Social Care
This Apprenticeship covers a wide range of job roles on two pathways: the adult social care pathway and the health care pathway. This could mean working in the NHS, the private sector, local authorities or in the voluntary sectors.
Social care is about helping people with a particular need, such as the disabled, the elderly or people with learning disabilities. This type of care usually takes place in the home or in care homes or out in the community, and can include anything from helping people get dressed to transporting them to and from a residential home or taking them shopping. As an apprentice in Social Care, you could be a personal care assistant helping someone in their everyday life.
On the Health Care pathway, you could work in hospitals, the community, hospices or private clinics as a healthcare support worker or a healthcare assistant. You could be supporting doctors or nurses or helping patients in hospital wards or their homes – serving food, making and changing beds and so on.
Completion of the Advanced Apprenticeship will stand you in good stead for progression onto Higher Education in subjects like nursing or midwifery and operating department practitioner roles in the care sector or management roles in care homes. The main difference between the Intermediate Level and Advanced Level Apprenticeships is the level of responsibility the person holds and the role at which they work.
Job Roles
Intermediate Level Apprenticeship
- Healthcare support worker
- Healthcare assistant
- Care assistant
- Personal assistant
- Relief team worker
- Night care assistant
- Support worker – supported living
- Key workers in residential, domiciliary or day services
- Home care support worker
- Substance misuse worker
- Mental health support or outreach worker
- Re-enablement worker
Advanced Level Apprenticeship
- Senior healthcare support worker
- Senior healthcare assistant
- Care officer
- Care supervisor
- Senior care worker
- Supervising care worker
- Senior support worker
- Relief team leader
- Social work assistant
- Social services officer
- Outreach development worker
- Community support worker
- Community outreach worker
- Community development worker
- Family support worker
- Personal assistant
This article is produced with permission from the Skills Funding Agency who fund skills training for further education (FE) in England. They support over 1,000 colleges, private training organisations, and employers with more than £4 billion of funding each year.
