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Hospital porters move patients, equipment and medical supplies around a hospital.
You could work: evenings / weekends / bank holidays; on shifts
In your day-to-day tasks, you may:
You may need to wear a uniform.
You could work in an NHS or private hospital.
You can get into this job through:
You may find it useful to get voluntary experience in a hospital or a care home.
You can contact the voluntary services co-ordinator or manager at your local NHS trust for more details.
You can apply directly to get into this job. Work experience in a healthcare setting will be useful though not essential.
You'll normally need a good standard of literacy and numeracy. Some employers may ask for GCSEs in English and maths, or equivalent qualifications. Customer service experience can be useful.
It might help if you have a manual handling or health and safety certificate, although your employer will train you on these when you start.
You'll need to:
When applying for jobs, you'll be expected to show an understanding of how NHS values apply in your work.
You can find out more about becoming a hospital porter from Health Careers.
With experience, you could progress to team leader or supervisor. You may need to have, or be working towards, qualifications in supervision and management.
You could also move into a related role like the ambulance service, healthcare assistant work, or nursing.