Healthcare - Stockport JobsMatch

If you’re a hard-working team player who’s passionate about making a real difference to people’s lives, then a career in the healthcare sector could be for you.

It’s a traditionally popular career choice but following the Covid-19 pandemic there has been even greater recognition for the essential role of our healthcare professionals, who came even more to the fore for selflessly and continually helping those in need.

With a huge range of rewarding career paths, structured training and development opportunities, together with high demand that’s only set to grow as our population increases, it’s no surprise that healthcare is a great career route for many.

Featured Stockport Employer

Hear from Simon and Lindsey at Stockport NHS Foundation Trust discussing careers within the Healthcare sector. Stockport NHS Foundation Trust’s main hospital is Stepping Hill, which looks after a population of approximately 350,000 people. Stepping Hill Hospital first opened in 1905 and was a military hospital during the first World War. They are one of our borough’s largest employers with over 5,000 staff and were one of the first NHS trusts in the country to achieve foundation trust status in 2004.

Find out about Nursing Development and Career Pathways, including the Nursing Cadet Programme, Band 1 Apprenticeships, Band 2 Health Care Assistant and Band 3 Health Care Assistant certificates, as well as foundation and degree programmes.

Labour Market Information

Now more than ever, the healthcare industry is recognised an essential part of the UK’s public service provision and economy and this growth is only set to continue. With a strong jobs outlook, there are many reasons to invest in developing your career or transferring your skills to a career in health.

The NHS employs 1.5 million people and has over 350 different career paths – placing it in the top five largest workforces in the world. It employs people in a broad range of sectors – from estates management to physiotherapy, catering to clinical science – so there’s more to careers with the NHS than just nurses and doctors.

Healthcare jobs in Stockport could include working for Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, with their main hospital site based at Stepping Hill in Hazel Grove including a dedicated education and training centre, Pinewood House. They’re Stockport’s second largest employer, with over 5,000 medical and non-medical staff.

However, there’s also a huge growth in dependent healthcare organisations, both private sector and voluntary and non-profit organisations too. You could therefore work in a range of settings including care homes or hospices, in the community (such as a doctors, dentist or clinic), a medical laboratory or people’s own homes.

Starting Salary

£12-13 per hour or £18,000
per annum

Typical Salary Range

£21,000 – £96,000+
per annum

Working Hours

37 to 40 hours per week, usually working shifts to deliver 24/7 care

LMI Infographic from GMACS

GMACS have produced a range of helpful infographics to summarise careers in the Healthcare & Emergency Services sectors and the current employment landscape in Greater Manchester.

According to the stats in Health & Social Care, the most in-demand roles are as a Nurse, Social Worker, Paramedic and Pharmacist and you may find yourself working for one of 6,850 healthcare employers such as NHS, BUPA, in the public sector integrated services or for Care UK for example. You’ll be joining 13.4% of GM residents who work in this sector earning an average of £29,500 and you’ll need to demonstrate communication skills, resilience, flexibility and teamwork.

You can view the full infographic and click on the links for more information by selecting the button below to view as a PDF.

View PDF

In the emergency services sector in GM, there are 3 main employers – GM Police, GM Fire & Rescue and North West Ambulance Service who between them employ 19,800 residents. The most in-demand roles are for frontline roles within the police and fire services, as well as ambulance drivers and call handlers.

To succeed in this sector, you’ll need resilience, integrity and physical fitness for some roles. There’s a wide range of apprenticeships available for key roles like firefighters and paramedics, as well as university degrees that may be required for some police constable roles for example.

You can view the full infographic and click on the links for more information by selecting the button below to view as a PDF.

View PDF

Working in Healthcare

There are a diverse range of career paths on offer within healthcare. These Include:

Ambulance Service: paramedic, care attendant, emergency response dispatcher (EMD), call taker
Pharmacy: pharmacists (hospital, GP & community), technicians, dispensing and counter assistants
Social Care: social worker, nurse, senior carer, care assistants, support worker and assistants
Allied Health: dietician, physiotherapist, occupational therapy, speech & language, podiatrist
Doctor: medical, surgical, general practice, paediatrics, psychiatry, radiology, pathology & more
Healthcare science: life sciences, physiological sciences, physical sciences & engineering
Nursing & Midwifery: adult, children’s, mental health, learning disability nursing
Optometry, Dental & Wider Healthcare Team (from estates to HR)

To pursue a career in the healthcare sector, you will need to be able to demonstrate skills like:

Compassion and empathy
Patience, understanding and good listening skills
Ability to stay calm under pressure
Good written and verbal communication skills
Resilience and a strong work ethic
Attention to detail
Organisation and multi-tasking
Interpersonal skills

Due to the broad range of job types on offer – from doctors and nurses to medical secretaries and hospital porters – the skills required for a job in health and social care range massively. Some simply require a caring, empathetic personality with good communication and team-work skills, whereas others may need attention to detail or manual dexterity.

Likewise, some job functions will require specific training, qualifications or accreditations to perform and these may take several years to acquire. For several healthcare careers, such as medicine, nursing, midwifery and allied healthcare, you must be a registered healthcare professional. You’ll therefore need a relevant approved degree (achieved via University or a Degree Apprenticeship) and you’ll need to register with a professional body to work in these roles.

For roles such as a paramedic, physiotherapist or nurse, it’s possible to work your way up and gain professional qualifications as you go and many arms of the healthcare sector have set career pathways for you to work towards. Stockport NHS for example, have a fantastic Nursing Cadet Programme available from 18+ through to a 2 year trainee Nursing Associate foundation degree and a 3 year Masters degree.

Other roles in healthcare may require no training at all beforehand as this is provided as part of your induction and on-the-job once you get started. It is however, a good idea to try and get some work experience – either before you start applying for jobs or in preparation for applying to a college or university to take on further academic or vocational training. You can explore opportunities to volunteer, start an apprenticeship or a traineeship (some of which are paid opportunities too).