Benefits of working in health

Why choose a career in health and care?

There are many benefits to choosing a career in health and care. NHS organisations have a duty of care to their staff to make sure they do all they can to assure the health, safety and wellbeing of those who work with them.

The NHS people promise describes how organisations should act with compassion and in an inclusive way:

“We are kind and respectful. We all feel the pressure at times, but we care for each other, as we care for our patients. We do not tolerate any form of discrimination, bullying or violence, and call out inappropriate behaviour. We are open and inclusive. We understand, encourage and celebrate diversity, making the NHS a place where we all feel we belong”.

Qualifications, learning and development

Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to have a clinical degree or A-Levels to start your career in health or care. All that matters is that you develop the skills, values, behaviours, and knowledge that employers need, as well as functional skills (GCSE grade 4/C) in maths and English.

How do you do this?

Many roles require you to have either a specific qualification or the equivalent experience. Many of us develop soft skills required to be successful in employment through everyday life – whether caring for a family member, team working whilst playing sports, resolving conflicts between friends, learning how to manage your schedule and prioritise your workload through running a household.

More and more health and care organisations are offering entry level apprenticeships. Even if you do not have GCSEs, you can gain a qualification in functional skills for maths and English and undertake a Level 2 apprenticeship (which is equivalent to GCSE grade 4/C standard.) This way, you can earn while you learn, develop skills and a qualification, and there will often be a job available once you complete your apprenticeship.

Did you know that you can become a nurse without accruing student debt, and earn money whilst you qualify?

The nursing degree apprenticeship trains people to become a graduate registered nurse through an apprenticeship route. You will be hired through an employer who will use their levy to release you to study part-time in a higher education institution and train in a range of practice placement settings. You will learn at Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) approved education providers and will be expected to achieve the same standards as other student nurses.

T-Levels in health, science, and other areas (such as digital, business and administration or catering and hospitality) are also a great option. They are equivalent to three A-Levels and you will spend time on placement so that you can experience a real healthcare environment and learn from those already working in health and care.

Visit the Career pathways page to learn more about how you can build upon the skills you already have to become work ready.

What could you earn?

The NHS is in the public sector, which means the salaries are transparent and equitable. You will not see jobs advertised where “salary is dependent on experience,” or where you do not find out the salary until after interview or wonder if you are being paid more or less than colleagues.

Salaries in the NHS are based on the Agenda for Change scale. These begin at an entry-level Band 2 role where you will earn £23,615 pa, to the top step point of a Band 9 role which is £121,271, and then very senior management (VSM) roles above this. A newly qualified nurse will typically start at a Band 5 point, earning £29,970, which will then rise to £36,483 after four years in the role. There is also often annual incremental pay lift.

Salaries in adult social care can vary as care providers are often independent businesses, but all organisations will pay at least the national minimum wage.

If you work in health and care, you will also be entitled to annual leave. On appointment in the NHS, staff receive 27 days of leave, plus bank holidays. After five years’ service this increases to 29 days plus bank holidays. After 10 years’ service this increases to 33 days plus bank holidays. The annual leave of part-time or temporary staff is calculated on a pro-rota basis.

As well as annual leave, you will also be entitled to occupational sick pay. You may be entitled to up to six months at full pay and six months at half pay, depending on your length of service.

You will also be entitled to adoption, maternity and paternity leave packages, where you can take up to 52 weeks (one year) of leave as an expectant parent, and one or two weeks paternity leave, paternity pay or shared parental leave and pay if you are the partner of an expectant parent.

If you work in the care sector, you will be entitled to a minimum of the statutory 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday a year, as well as statutory maternity pay (SMP) or statutory sick pay.

In conclusion, health and care salaries are transparent and equitable, and competitive with many salaries offered by private businesses. There are also benefits which supplement the salaries such as the leave packages, and other support which you can read about below.

Where can I work?

It does not matter where you live in Kent and Medway – there will always be a health or care organisation near you. Visit our Healthcare Structures page to find out more about where you can work in health or care.

Health and care roles are not all hospital or office based. If you prefer to be out and about and meeting people, community health services might be a good option for you. They cover a wide range of services and provide care for people from birth to the end of their life, and usually in people’s homes, including care homes. You may have had a health visitor come to your home after the birth of a child or had a district nurse come to support an elderly relative.

There are a vast range of roles in health that aren't clinical, patient-facing or admin-based. You can get a job as an ambulance driver, patient transportation driver, painter and decorator, electrician, chef, housekeeper, and more. Health and care organisations have large teams to keep everything ticking along – computer systems, health and care equipment, and estates and facilities matters.

Flexible working

Equality, diversity and inclusion

Having a diverse and inclusive workforce not only helps tackle health inequalities but also helps in creating a culture where everyone is valued and respected.

Most health and care organisations have an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) lead who will provide advice and support to all departments, senior managers and services. The EDI leads have expertise and specialist knowledge to ensure the organisation is compliant with its statutory duties, including the corporate, legal and statutory objectives (Equality Act 2010, Equality Delivery System (EDS2), Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) and the Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES)).

Most organisations offer reasonable adjustments, additional resources and more to achieve the NHS Workforce Disability Equality Standard.

LGBTQ+
According to a recent consensus, one in every 20 NHS staff identifies as LGBTQ+. The Health and Care LGBTQ+ Network was launched in June 2020. It is part of the NHS Confederation's equality, diversity and inclusion networks alongside the Health and Care Women Leaders Network and the BME Leadership Network.

The network's mission is to transform the NHS to ensure that members of the LGBTQ+ community receive the best care, and work in an inclusive environment where they can thrive.

Support for BME
The NHS BME Network is an independent network open to all Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) people, including staff, patients, service users and carers.

The network provides BME people with the following:

An opportunity to bring about change in the NHS
An opportunity for BME people to be heard
Access to better and more appropriate healthcare
Information and Interpretation of NHS Policy
Access to a network of people of shared vision

Disability
Health and care employers are committed to supporting those who have health conditions or impairments and building disability inclusive workplaces.

Not all disabilities are visible: some are not obvious and can make everyday life demanding for so many people. Hidden disabilities are a wide range of physical and mental conditions that range from speech impediment, reduced sight, bipolar, chronic fatigue syndrome, colitis, autism, depression, and many others.

In April 2019, the NHS Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) was introduced to help foster a better understanding of the issues faced by disabled staff and the inequalities they experienced compared to non-disabled colleagues. NHS trusts are required to report each year and publish a WDES annual report containing their data and action plan.

What support is available to me as an employee?

The NHS and care sectors are the UK’s largest employer – with the NHS alone hiring around 1.4 million people, and caring for the whole of the population, which stands at roughly 67.6 million (mid-2022 estimate from the Office of National Statistics). That means over two per cent of our nation work for the NHS.

At times, working in health or care can be stressful, but organisations are committed to supporting their staff. When you join a health or care organisation, you will be provided with the training appropriate to the role so that you are equipped to manage what you are required to as a part of your role.

In addition, all staff are required to undertake mandatory training upon appointment, such as safeguarding, information governance and data security, quality improvement, fraud awareness, moving and handling, equality, diversity and human rights, fire safety, health, safety and welfare and more. You will also often work within a team of people who will have a wealth of knowledge and experience and will be able to support you if needed.

Health and care organisations also offer annual appraisals and continuing professional development courses, either through an apprenticeship, or via other training courses such as NHS Leadership Academy or the higher development award. You will be supported to progress in your career and to develop the skills that you need.

All organisations will have a human resources or management team who provide expert assistance to managers and staff members. If you have an issue or complaint, you can raise this through your line manager.

In addition, most health providers offer occupational health (OH) services to their employees. OH is a specialist branch of medicine focusing on the health of staff in the workplace. OH professionals aim to find out what impact work has on staff health and make sure that staff are fit to undertake the role they are employed to do both physically and emotionally.

Employee assistance programme

It is important to ensure our health and social care colleagues are looking after themselves and get timely support should they need it, this in turn can help to support better patient care.

The NHS Employee Assistance Programme is available to all colleagues who need it. This is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Other support programmes include:

Staff discounts

Trade Unions

Health and care workers are entitled to join a trade union. Trade unions are organisations who represent and campaign on behalf of all groups of staff employed by an organisation. Some of the leading trade unions for health and care are Unite and Unison. If you are a member of a trade union, you can access legal services and confidential advice and support about your work or home situations.

Want to find out more?

Explore the Academy website to find out more about what careers are available and how you can get involved. You can take the careers quiz or visit the Industry Insights page to hear from those who work in health and care, doing the job day to day.

If you would like to hear from Kent and Medway's incredible apprentices, head over to the Apprenticeships section where you will find information about doing an apprenticeship and the routes to entry.