Healthcare assistant / hospital porter
🧹Moves and washes bedridden patients, helps them eat, changes bedding, wheels trolleys and keeps wards and theatres clean.
Prospects & pay
What the work is like
💼 Job market
🇺🇸 $39.6k a year on average · +2.6% jobs by 2035 · 196,200 openings a year
Nursing assistants — US: Census ACS 2020–24 (full-time), BLS projections 2025–35
🇬🇧 £29k median a year · 263,000 jobs
Nursing auxiliaries and assistants — UK: ONS ASHE 2025 (full-time)
🤖 AI & automation
Cleaning robots and automated carts will take some routine work. Caring for a bedridden person will remain human work for a long time.
Who it suits
Interests: 🤝 Helping and caring, 🩺 Medicine and health.
Key strengths: strength and stamina, organisation.
Where to study
- Course Care Certificate on the job (UK), Certified Nursing Assistant course (US, 4–12 weeks)
- Apprenticeship Healthcare support worker apprenticeship (UK)
- Vocational T Level in Health / BTEC Health & Social Care (UK)
Key school subjects (A-level / IB / AP): Biology.
🧗 No degree needed: in the UK you train on the job (Care Certificate) or through an apprenticeship; in the US a 4–12-week CNA course and state exam. A common first step towards nursing.
Things to know
🩸 Blood and medical procedures🛢️ Dirt, noise, smells🌙 Night shifts and on-call🕯️ Grief, death, hard life stories
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