Employing around 1.3 million people in the UK, the National Health Service is one of the largest employers in the world. If you enjoy helping people and don’t mind a bit of blood and gore, then a job in the NHS could be for you.
The National Health Service, established in 1948, is responsible for patient care and improving life expectancies by an extra 10 years since the introduction of the service. Not all jobs in the NHS are specifically to do with medicine and healthcare, as many job roles involve administration, IT or many more based roles. Read on to find out more about some of the job roles available in the NHS.
Nursing Sister
If you are approachable, friendly and a ‘born leader’ then a role as a Sister could be perfect for you! You will be managing a department and a number of staff, while also providing high quality care for patients suffering from any kind of illness, disease or health problem, drawing upon your expert knowledge or experience of healthcare and medicine to improve patient’s health. You will be providing expert clinical advice to the patient and their next of kin, or supporting other nurses on your department with any queries or problems they may have. You’ll get a break from the care side of it too, because as the lead nurse, you will also have to establish and manage budgets for the department. Obviously you will need a degree in medicine/healthcare and potentially a further qualification to specialise in a particular area as well as a possible management or leadership degree or qualification to ensure you will be able to responsibly and effectively lead a team of healthcare professionals. The salary for this role can vary according to the experience you have, the size of the team and department you have to manage and the location of the NHS job. Approximately, you will earn around £35,000 a year.
Paramedic
In this NHS job, you will be ‘on the go’ travelling to many different accident or emergency locations outside of the hospital. It will be your responsibility to provide fast and effective care to any patients, attempting to stabilize their condition so they can be transported to hospital for further treatment. You will be working under extreme pressure and conditions, so it is essential that you can cope with the pressure when you are out on call. You may be caring for a number of patients at one time, until back up arrives, while establishing the situation of the emergency. General paramedics will travel in a team of two, although some will be operating by themselves, or with further training; acting as an air ambulance paramedic. You may have to deal with hysterical or aggressive patients or other members of the public while on call to an emergency, as well as working with the police and fire brigade in more extreme situations. To qualify for this NHS role, you could gain a Paramedic Science qualification from the Health and Care Professions Council. You will be working on a shift basis under extreme pressure dealing with a large range of injuries patient’s may face, so being patient, a problem solver, fast thinking and a friendly nature to reassure patients is essential in this NHS job.
Working in the NHS, you will be dealing with lots of members of the public on a daily basis, so you will need to be friendly and approachable while still remaining professional and administering appropriate care and medicine to those patients in need of it. You could be working in A&E, a children’s ward or in a GP surgery, so there is a huge variety of roles in the National Health Service.
CV-Library has 100s of NHS jobs available on their site, across the whole of the UK. Not all NHS jobs involve healthcare and medicine, as you can be employed in an administration or IT based role; so register your CV today to find the perfect NHS job for you.
