HCAs
From HCSWs to Mentors: Fabio and Rachel at UHS
Meet Fabio and Rachel, from Healthcare Assistant to Senior Healthcare Support Worker Mentors at UHS. Fabio has been with the Trust for 3 years and Rachel for 2 years.
What is your job role entail?
Our job role is Senior Healthcare Support Worker Mentor, and we are part of a pilot project that the Trust is developing where we receive the new HCSW and bring them to the ‘Welcoming Wards’ during their supernumerary period (4 weeks) to help/guide them through those weeks to make them ‘ready’ for what their jobs require in the future.
What was your career journey to date?
We both started as HCSW at the Trust for a couple of years and when we saw the job advertised, we thought that could be something promising and something we had been doing for our career as HCSW anyway and decided to give it a go, and we were both successful on our interviews.
What is the team environment like between your team and the wider teams?
The environment in F3 is very good and very friendly, I think that was one of the reasons the ward was chosen to be one of the ‘Welcoming Wards’ where it was considered friendly with very approachable staff to receive the new HCAs.
What personal qualities do you need to be a member of the Trauma department?
You definitely need a passion for what you are doing, teaching is something that demands passion and patience too, we need to make sure we teach them the best standards with the best practices as we want them to learn the most accurate and up-to-date information available. Incentivise them to have the initiative and the ambition to want more and provide the best care possible to the patient.
What made you want to work at UHS?
Fabio: It’s hard to say why I wanted to work at UHS as I have never worked in healthcare before nor had any contact with this type of business, my wife was working here as a Registered Nurse and some of our friends were working at UHS as well so decided to give it a go and ended up loving it.
Rachel: I was a patient in UHS for a short while. During this time, I witnessed how hard-working and passionate the healthcare workers were at looking after their patients. I decided from then that I wanted to pursue a career at UHS.
Would you recommend working at UHS and who would you recommend UHS to?
Absolutely! We have never worked in a place where the feeling of belonging somewhere and feeling appreciated for what you do every day was so evident, it is a very rewarding job. We would recommend this job to everyone who has a passion for caring, for looking after people and the whole healthcare environment.
What's good about the facilities at UHS?
Everything, the Trust clearly keeps investing constantly in order to provide the best technology and equipment to their patients and the best work conditions to the staff.
What sets UHS apart from other Trusts?
I don’t have much contact with what’s done in other Trusts but simple things like the recent decision in helping out the staff with the cost-of-living crisis by giving discounts in Feast is one of many that can tell they care about ‘their people’.
As well as the number of unlimited opportunities to progress in your career.
What training and development opportunities have you had during your time at UHS?
With multiple opportunities, UHS not only provides loads of constant training, but they actually encourage their staff to upskill their knowledge and ambition for more and progress further in their careers.
Are there any developments within your department you are looking forward to?
The most recent development was this pilot project we are in. Our Ward is one of the new ‘Welcoming Wards’ receiving the new HCAs and providing them with the necessary training to develop and become prepared for what the role entails.
To find out about how you can join the team, click here to find out about our open opportunities.
