Being a healthcare support worker is an incredibly rewarding job. Healthcare support workers care for service users on a day-to-day basis, and are central to the running of Sussex Partnership, supporting nurses, doctors and other staff to provide top quality care.
The role of a Healthcare Support Worker:

- Working on the wards to provide care for adults with mental health difficulties
- Supporting service users to overcome barriers they experience as a result of their mental illness
- Working closely with nurses and other practitioners to provide a therapeutic programme of care
- Reporting on service users' conditions to nurses and other practitioners
- Providing factual information to service users using persuasion, reassurance, tact, and empathy
As a healthcare support worker you will make a positive impact on people's lives. This is a fundamentally person-centred role, involving forming professional relationships with our service users with a focus on supporting their personal and mental wellbeing, and improving their lives.
Healthcare support work is extremely varied. The nature of the role means that you need to adapt to the needs and wants of different service users in our Trust. This means that this is a stimulating role where no two days are the same, as you can be working with a variety of different teams and patients at any time.
Those who enjoy working with people, and want a challenging but rewarding role they can feel pride in, are well suited to healthcare support work. It is a role that is particularly rewarding in a mental health Trust such as ours, as your job involves working closely with patients and understanding how they truly are at some of the most difficult times in their lives. By interacting with them on a daily basis, you have a unique opportunity to build a strong relationship with them, support their recovery or treatment, and see positive changes being made first hand.
Healthcare support work is also a role that can lead to many further opportunities. There are several routes for progression available, through promotions or apprenticeships, meaning that starting a career as a Healthcare Support Worker can give you a solid foundation to grow your healthcare career.
At Sussex Partnership, we highly value our healthcare support workers, and see them as integral to our departments and teams. Healthcare support workers work closely with a variety of clinical colleagues, including nurses, doctors, occupational therapists, allied health professionals and practitioner psychologists.
We have high levels of staff in this role, meaning there are plenty of people to work alongside and help you. Our healthcare support workers are a friendly, supportive and dedicated group, who have a good sense of fun but are also professional. We also have a good management structure meaning that you have robust support from all levels.
This is also a role with good job security, benefits and pay. You also have the opportunity to work bank shifts in addition to your regular schedule, should you wish to do so.
There are no specific entry requirements for many of our healthcare support worker roles, meaning that we welcome applications and enquiries from all people. If you are a people person with some literacy and numeracy skills, healthcare support work could be for you. We offer lots of routes for career progression and want to support you to develop – many of our healthcare support workers have gone on to become senior healthcare support workers, nursing associates or nurses. At Sussex Partnership we nurture our own and will help you to grow your career. You can find out more about career prospects on our career pathways page.
Working with us as a healthcare support worker means working with people – our friendly and professional staff, and our service users themselves. Everything you do revolves around creating a positive impact on people's lives. At Sussex Partnership, we value the contribution of our healthcare support workers, and will assist you to achieve your goals.
Hear from our Chief Nursing Officer, Jane Padmore, about her journey from starting out as a Healthcare Support Worker, to her role today.

The South East region Healthcare Support Worker Fellows have developed a helpful infographic to help explain what Healthcare Support Workers do and what the benefits are of the job.
Latest healthcare support worker vacancies
To apply to join our healthcare support workers team and find out about current opportunities, go to our jobs feed.