In the NHS, an Assistant Practitioner is an experienced member of the healthcare team working in a support role alongside registered healthcare professionals and have particular skills or experience in a particular area of clinical care.
Working Life
Assistant Practitioners are not registered healthcare professionals but they have developed a high level of knowledge and skill through their experience and training.
Assistant Practitioners work across the NHS in many different departments and can be found in:
- Respiratory Medicine – Testing and assessing lung functions
- Occupational Therapy – Assessing service users need for aids and equipment at home
- Operating Theatres – Scrubbing and assisting in surgical procedures or monitoring service users recovering from surgery
- Dietetics – Encouraging service users to make healthier choices
- Biomedical Science – Analysing samples in a laboratory environment
- Mental Health Services – Supporting adults or young people with their mental health
- Stroke Rehabilitation – Helping service users recover in their own homes
- Emergency Medicine – Treating patients so they can be discharged as soon as possible
- Radiography – Diagnosing or treating service users
- At a Health Centre or GP Surgery – Changing dressings and monitoring medication
- Hearing Services – Working as part of the audiology team
- Providing Care – Personal, social, therapeutic and rehabilitative care
Assistant Practitioners always work under the guidance of a qualified health professional such as a nurse, dietitian, physiotherapist, podiatrist or medical scientist but an Assistant Practitioner’s level of experience and training means that you can often work alone without direct supervision.
As an Assistant Practitioner, you’ll be able to carry out agreed procedures, and could work in residential care homes or in service users own homes.
Some Assistant Practitioners also mentor training healthcare professionals and you could work with healthcare assistants, trainee assistant practitioners and student nurses.
Requirements
To train as an assistant practitioner, you have to be working in an NHS setting, often in a clinical support role such as healthcare assistant, dietetic assistant or maternity support worker.
As well as healthcare experience, trainee assistant practitioners usually have a relevant healthcare qualification at level 3, such as a BTEC, CACHE, relevant healthcare apprenticeship or Access to HE course.
Your skills and responsibilities will vary, depending on the setting you work in and the type of work your team participates in.
Personal Characteristics
To work successfully as an assistant practitioner, you need to consider your own personal characteristics. You would need to have the following attributes or similar:
- Be accurate and methodical and have good attention to detail
- Be able to work as part of a team but also be able to use your own initiative
- Be willing to follow procedures and take instruction from senior team members
- Be able to work with all people from various backgrounds with different experiences
- Be confident when using equipment
- Be able to explain procedures to patients in a reassuring manner
Skills Required
To work successfully as an assistant practitioner, you need to consider the skills that you have. You would need to demonstrate the following:
- Be well organised and able to plan your time
- Be able to communicate with a variety of people using different methods
- Have good observational skills
Training and Development Opportunities
When you start in your assistant practitioner role, you will be given the training you need for the job, including an introduction to the department and its procedures.
Assistant practitioners usually follow a therapy or nursing training pathway and undertake a level 5 two-year foundation degree in health or social care which may be available as an apprenticeship programme or Higher National Diploma (HND) while working.
Assistant practitioners have to keep their skills and knowledge up to date with regular training and can become members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) or the professional association for their speciality, for example The Association of UK Dietitians or the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.
Pay and Benefits
Assistant practitioners in the NHS usually work 37.5 hours per week and depending on the setting and the service users you are working with, you could be required to work shifts, evenings and weekends too.
Assistant practitioners are paid using the Agenda for Change (AfC) system and will typically start their career on AfC band 4 and there are sometimes opportunities to start your career at AFC band 3.
Other benefits of working as an assistant practitioner include access to a pension scheme, health service discounts such as a Blue Light Card and 27 days of annual leave in addition to bank holidays.