Medical Malpractice

Can I become a HCA without clinical experience?

I want to become a nurse, and want to get some experience in the hospital as a health care assistant, I want to apply to the bank/agencies so that I can fit shifts around my current job. However I don't have any previous experience in a clinical setting, but I do have 18 months experience caring for children in a nursery. This included around 6 months contributing to the care of a baby with health care needs. Do you think this will be taken into consideration if I ring up the Trust HR department? Also I am in Leeds and there seem to be so many different agencies in the area it's difficult to know which one to apply to? Does anyone have experience of nursing agencies (which accept health care assistants) in my area?

Public Comments

1. To get into nearly any healthcare field you need experience, education, or a combination thereof. If you didn't require any skill/education, do you think anyone would work in low-paying fast food jobs as opposed to a health care field? Heck no.
2. Yes you can get work as an NHS HCA without experience. I am a student nurse, I also work as a bank HCA & many of my fellow student signed up to the bank without any experience. We received 2 weeks of training (paid) followed by 5-10 shifts shadowing other HCA's. How many shadow shifts you do depends on your confidence levels. Make sure you tell them that you want to be a nurse because they quite like that & it's great to already have your job on the bank when you start uni because you'll need a few shifts as the bursary is pants. You'll need this page to apply for bank work with the NHS. http://www.jobs.nhs.uk/