5 reasons why home care is a great starting point

Working within the Healthcare sector can be a truly rewarding profession; as a sector it can present many opportunities within which to diversify and develop your career pathway; assisting you to develop not only professionally but also personally.

It is a sector where passionate individuals will always be in demand, and those that work within the sector make a huge difference to the lives of those who receive care or support.

One aspect of moving into the sector that people can find a little confusing is an understanding of the best path to take.

There are many different ways a person can start working in healthcare, but one common path is the route of a home care worker. Homecare is often the first step for many people choosing a healthcare career, and can often lead to other roles within the industry. Many people utilise a homecare role to support them during periods of study, as an industry we recognise and support this approach across our business network.

Of the many different paths into the industry all have their own positive and negative attributes, but we are going to list some of the reasons why we think home care is an excellent starting point for anyone considering a career within the healthcare sector.

1. It is a great introduction

Home care is a great place to start a career within the healthcare sector. It is entirely different to a hospital or residential setting, as a home care worker, your care and attention is solely focussed on one individual’s needs at a time and often within the setting of the customers own home. This approach to care provision underpinned by comprehensive training, observations and ongoing support makes the learning process more digestible as you are not under the added pressure of monitoring and caring for several patients at any one time like you might be within a hospital or residential setting. And remember you always have access to support and expert knowledge. That’s not to say the role can’t be just as challenging though!

2. You learn the fundamentals of care

No matter where your career takes you, the fundamentals of care are going to stay with you throughout the entire journey. At its very core, care is about providing highly personalised care and support whilst also ensuring dignity, empathy and respect at all times to a people. No matter what career path you take, those fundamentals of care are never going change, and home care is an excellent environment to learn and develop them within. Considering it is often in a one-to-one environment, you will have lots of time to learn the ins-and-outs of what it is that people want/expect from you as a carer. Which brings us to our next point.

3. You’ll find out which elements you enjoy

Working in a home care environment will give you a chance to find out which elements of the role you enjoy and excel at. You will no doubt develop passions for particular areas of specialist care allowing you to develop further within these areas, an understanding of how shift patterns operate within the care sector and most of all how care professionals and multi disciplinary teams come together to ensure caring, safe, responsive, effective and Well Led care provisions. You may even wish to develop your career pathway within the homecare sector working your way through the many positions which can lead to senior management.

4. You’ll make friends, and learn lots about the industry - especially on double ups

If you care for people in their home, there is a good chance you are going to be seeing the same people on a daily basis. Whilst professional boundaries are very important whilst working, you will form strong relations with those you care for learning what they like and dislike as well as their own aspirations, dreams and passions. You will also form strong bonds with other carers as your colleagues, especially if you are called out on a double up call (a home care visit that requires two people). Working alongside other carers will give you a chance to see how other people work, and it will give you the chance to learn skills and knowledge from other professionals as well as to share best practices.

5. You’ll know if healthcare is the right industry for you

We understand that a career within the Healthcare sector is not for everyone. Some people are great at it, and will naturally pick up the role quite easily; but others will find the role far too stressful, and struggle to deliver the levels of care and support needed by some people.

Healthcare is all about people and here at Kare Plus we believe in exceptional care, to deliver this we need exceptional people.

Home care is not the only starting point in the industry, but it is a route that many people take given the relatively small barriers to entry. There are plenty of other reasons why home care is a great starting point, so why not tell us your own thoughts in the comments below. Better yet, if you are interested in joining the healthcare industry, why not see if your local branch is registered to provide homecare using our branch finder tool.

This could be the start to the next step in your own career ladder.