Course Summary
Course Category: PLC (Further Education - FET) - Apply directly to College
Become a qualified Healthcare Assistant (HCA) with a special focus on care of the older person. There is increasing demand for qualified HCAs to work on the frontline in hospitals, dementia care, and hospices, or caring for vulnerable people in their homes and in residential settings.
With this professional qualification you will gain the skills, knowledge and valuable work experience to create a pathway to employment for you.
Additional Certification
- First Aid and Cardiac First Response
- Manual Handling and Patient Moving
Course Details
This course prepares you for working in the following Career Sectors:
What will you study?
-
Care of the Older Person
Care Skills
Care Support
Communications
Infection Prevention and Control
Palliative Care Support
Safety and Health at Work
Work Experience
Option 1 – Human Growth & Development
Option 2 – Intellectual Disability Studies
Course content may be revised for educational or organisational reasons.
Important
- Colleges may add/remove modules to keep the course updated and to meet demands.
- Almost all PLC courses have a Work Experience module, which requires students to find their own placement in an area directly related to their course.
Progression to CAO Courses
Higher Education Links Scheme (HELS)
This course leads to a QQI Major Award, and provides progression opportunities to a number of Higher Education courses, including those in the CAO.
To view CAO courses to which this award provides a possible progression route, click below:
| QQI Code |
| 5M4339 |
To calculate Points based on your QQI award results, use the PLC Points Calculator.
The Student - Career Interests
This course is typically suited for people with the following Career Interests:
Social
The Social person's interests focus on interacting with the people in their environment. In all cases, the Social person enjoys the personal contact with other people in preference to the impersonal dealings with things, data and ideas found in other groups.
Many will seek out positions where there is direct contact with the public in some advisory role, whether a receptionist or a counsellor. Social people are motivated by an interest in different types of people and like diversity in their work environments. Many are drawn towards careers in the caring professions and social welfare area, whilst others prefer teaching and other 'informing' roles.
Further Research
National Statistics for this Award (All Ireland)
The following data provides general information about this Award from colleges across Ireland.
Disclaimer: These links are to web sites outside of CareersPortal and we accept no responsibility for the information on them.
Career Progression
Graduates from this course may gain employment in the disability and healthcare sector in a variety of settings such as hospitals, residential care, day centres, respite care and private home care.