“Health Care Assistants (HCAs) constitute 14% of the health service workforce and work across many sectors. They are an integral part of the multidisciplinary teams and contribute towards providing care of the highest quality, whilst showing respect, kindness, consideration, and empathy in their communication and interaction with their patients,” according to Anne Marie Hoey, HSE Chief People Officer, commending the good work done by Health Care Assistants across the country. Anne Marie further adds that she would “encourage anyone interested to consider the option of becoming a HCA.”

According to Dr Patrick Glackin, Area Director of Nursing and Midwifery Planning and Development HSE West, “the role of the Health Care Assistant is to generally support our registered nurses and registered midwives in the delivery of safe and effective healthcare. There are approximately 22,000 Health Care Assistants in Ireland. Primarily they work across our acute hospital services, mental health services and older persons services. 

“They also work in the community with other options allowing them to move into specialty areas, such as children’s services and screening services. Some of our Health Care Assistants may also choose to follow a career with Health and Social Care Professionals such as OT assistant or as a physio assistant. Our Health Care Assistants are expected to have a Level 5 QQI Major Award and we would expect that they would have the appropriate modules in the main that align to the area of specialty.”

Encouraging people to consider working in this area, Deirdre Lang, Director of Nursing, Lead Older Persons Services, National Programme for Older Persons, notes how “anyone who has an interest in working with older people should consider the role of the Health Care Assistant. Working with older people is a unique area of healthcare that requires someone to have a set of skills including compassion, kindness, the ability to listen and the ability to think critically. No two days are ever the same – there’s great variety. It’s always a team approach where everyone working with older people is valued and where everyone has a role in their care.”

For Paul Hooton, Chief Director Nursing/Midwifery, HSE West North West, the HCA workforce is a “vital part of our multi-professional team, working across all aspects of acute services. They give care in medicine, in our perioperative departments, in our paediatric departments, and in our ED departments, spending time and talking with patients and supporting them through very challenging times.”

Within mental health services, Anthony Smith, Area Director of Nursing, North Dublin Mental Health Services, outlines how “the role of the Health Care Assistant involves working in a variety of different areas from acute psychiatric hospitals on the grounds of general hospitals, to working in the community and working in people’s homes. We also have forensic services in North Dublin. The Health Care Assistant is primarily there to promote the activities of daily living of the service users. The job satisfaction for our HCAs in mental health services comes from seeing the service users move from more acute-based settings to living in their own homes independently with the support of families and friends.”

Watch how Health Care Assistants make a difference

Visit the HSE CareerHub for more information on the role of healthcare assistants