Health : Overview

The health sector is made up of hospital, private nursing home, medical and dental practice work, ambulance transportation, complementary medicine and other human health activities, such as medical laboratories services, across a range of organisations within the public, private and voluntary sectors.

Opportunities within the sector are influenced substantially by national governmental policies, advances in healthcare delivery and technology and demographic changes in the UK. The current financial climate, combined with recent changes within the NHS, have had a major influence on the health sector labour market.

Employment growth rates within the health sector have slowed and are expected to continue to slow down over the next few years. However, job increases of approximately 1% are still expected in the sector until 2014. The growth rate is one of the highest per sector and is above the rate of growth expected for the overall economy (Health Sector Information, National Guidance Research Forum, 2006).

A number of health sector occupations are on the Home Office Shortage Occupation List (HOSOL). These occupations, including haematology, audiological science, clinical psychology and occupational therapy, are unable to recruit successfully from the UK/ European Economic area and are allowed to recruit from overseas (HOSOL, NHS Healthcare Workforce Portal , 2007).

What kind of work can I do?

Work within the health sector is varied but may be grouped roughly into the following categories:

• Doctors – including consultants, registrars and house officers.
• Qualified nurses – including nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff.
• Qualified scientific, therapeutic and technical staff – including clinical psychologists and biomedical scientists.
• Allied health professionals – including art, music and occupational therapists and radiographers.
• Qualified ambulance staff – ambulance paramedics and personnel.
• Support staff (for all the above roles) – including nursing assistants/auxiliaries, nursery nurses and health care assistants.
• NHS infrastructure support – including personnel, finance and information technology staff.
• Associated support services - including catering, gardening and specialised managerial staff.
• Alternative therapies – including acupuncture, aromatherapy, and homeopathy

What’s it like working in this sector?

The recent move away from a centralised, hierarchical, target-oriented ethos in the health sector to a ‘patient-led’ service, which has a much greater focus on local priorities and where standards are the driver towards improvement, means that health provision in the UK is at a critical stage in its cultural evolution.

Equal opportunities are emphasised by the NHS and other health providers (Labour Market Intelligence, Skills for Health, 2008). There are:

• Greater numbers of women in the health sector (78.5% of staff). However, men are more likely to be in the most senior posts.
• Ethnic minorities are better represented in many health care careers than other employment sectors, making up 12.3% of the workforce. However this is not spread across all roles.
• The majority of frontline clinical staff are over 40 years old.
• 14% of those employed within the sector are registered with a disability.

Disability and work in health care is a complex matter and, as there are some jobs where certain disabilities would be a barrier to employment - it is essential to check with individual professional bodies and course providers for specific guidance.

For more information about equality and diversity in the job market, see equal opportunities.

How big is this sector?

The UK health sector employs approximately two million people, approximately 7% of the UK workforce. 73% of employment within the UK’s health sector is in the NHS, 21% within the private sector, 1.9% within the voluntary sector and the remainder within local authorities and other organisations (Labour Market Intelligence, Skills for Health , 2008).

Where can I work?

Jobs within the health sector are located throughout the UK and worldwide. Within the UK the growth rate of employment is projected to be slightly higher in the Midlands and southern regions. The high cost of living and vibrant labour market in the South East and London, have created recruitment and retention problems (Workforce, NHS Information Centre , 2007).

Employment may be found within:

• general medical and dental practices;
• hospital and community health services;
• armed forces;
• nursing homes and hospices;
• private surgeries;
• other services such as family services, laboratories and private treatment centres;
• retail outlets such as opticians and pharmacists;
• schools;
• complementary therapy practices;
• the wider community;
• social services.

For further information about worldwide opportunities refer to the opportunities abroad section.