Existing Career Pathways for Health Care Assistants

There is a two prong approach to career pathways for HCAs – a vertical and a horizontal.

Vertical Pathway

Train as a nurse or midwife

Sponsorship to train as a nurse or midwife is available to health care assistants working in HSE and HSE-funded section 38 organisations through the nurse sponsorship programme. To be eligible, the health care assistant must be directly involved in delivering care to patients/clients in a nursing or midwifery context.

If successful, the applicant’s basic salary is paid for the duration of their nursing or midwifery degree programme. The applicant will be expected to return to their substantive post outside of the academic semesters for the duration of the programme.

Horizontal Pathways

Working as a HCA

This pathway offers HCAs opportunities to work in a wide and varied range of HCA roles across sectors such as Acute, Community, Mental Health, Older Persons and Disabilities.

Within the acute setting, you can work in specialised departments, for example, Emergency Department, Paediatrics, Maternity, and Theatre. When working in these specialised departments, based on the Training Needs Analysis, it is usually expected of the HCA to undertake the sector-specific training module provided either through the Centre for Nursing and Midwifery Education (CNME) or through private providers (in limited circumstances).

Working as HSCP Assistant

There are some HSCP Assistant roles available in a small number of HSCP professional disciplines in hospital and community services. These provide alternative pathways for people interested in a HCA career. Eligibility requirements vary with some having the same criteria as HCA roles and some requiring specific extra modules to be completed. There has been a significant increase in Occupational Therapy Assistant and Physiotherapy Assistant roles to support the ambulatory care hubs (88 new posts over two years). Other existing HSCP Assistant roles that are available are Audiology Assistant, Speech and Language Therapy Assistant and Radiography Assistant.