Care Practitioner / Support Worker
Care Practitioners are responsible for supporting either children or adults with care needs or those will an illness or health concern.
What do Care Practitioners do?
This can be quite a varied role and involve a variety of tasks.
Care Practitioners can support individuals or groups in a range of settings including in a day services centre, in their own homes or out in the community.
Being a Care Practitioner can be a very rewarding role as it involves making a real difference to people’s lives and having a positive impact on them.
Day-to-day Tasks
Typical duties include:
- practical tasks such as helping prepare food for clients
- personal care tasks such as bathing clients
- administering medication
- taking clients to medical appointments
- helping clients to communicate and socialise with others
- helping clients participate in activities
- completing administrative tasks such as reports
Skills required
- professionalism
- strong communication skills
- an ability to work well with colleagues and independently
- a willingness to learn
- a willingness to comply with health and safety and other policies and procedures
- a passion for helping others
- enthusiasm
- confidentiality
Industry qualifications
Employers will have their own criteria for this role, however most Care Practitioners do not need require any previous qualifications or work experience as full training will be given.
A qualification in health and social care, or previous experience of working with children and young people, may be beneficial to some candidates. You can explore health and social care qualifications at UCM.