HCA job without BTEC health and social or equivalent

[chloe3215]

Hi,
DD wants to be an occupational therapist or an adult nurse and is thinking about taking a year out to be a HCA for a while.
She does not have BTEC health and social.
Could she still be a HCA?
(I have looked at jobs to help her but all the ones I have seen do require it)

She definitely doesn’t need Health and Social care - what A Levels does she have?

Definitely, to get a foot in the door she could ring the bank office and ask if they’re taking on

@percypig

She definitely doesn’t need Health and Social care - what A Levels does she have?

If this is HCA in a NHS hospital. She may find it hard to bag that role without doing the apprenticeship which is now 15 months and A level equivalent qualification at the end.

Unless she could join the Bank but they usually want 6 months health care experience minium.

Definitely, but you need some level 3 qualifications to do a nursing/occupational therapy degree.

@chloe3215

Hi, DD wants to be an occupational therapist or an adult nurse and is thinking about taking a year out to be a HCA for a while. She does not have BTEC health and social. Could she still be a HCA? (I have looked at jobs to help her but all the ones I have seen do require it)

I'd recommend she goes to a private agency and picks up bank shifts with them that's how I got my foot in the door to later do NHS work.

Dd has just left school and has got 2 part time jobs - one as a carer in an assisted living facility and another as a bank HCA in a large teaching hospital. No experience and no H&S care BTEC. She's also thinking of doing nursing or similar.

Sorry OP I misread your message and thought you were asking about getting on to an OT or nursing course at uni. Re working as an HCA, I’ve had lots of pupils get part-time jobs with care agencies, no qualifications needed, but they’ve provided helpful experience for UCAS applications.

Dd just qualified as an OT. She went down the H&sc btech route where she got lots of placements which gives the experience she needed to get on the course