Choosing to study an allied health profession is a big decision - not only are you committing at least three years to learning a new career; it’s a career that makes a huge difference to other people's lives and society.
It's a rewarding and valued profession that shouldn't be overlooked, so we're sharing seven reasons why you should study a degree in healthcare…
You’ll be employable
Healthcare is one of the fastest growing sectors which means that health courses have excellent graduate employability rates because they are in high demand. As people live longer, more and more people need care and support, so you can rest assured that there will always be a huge demand for your skills and experience after you graduate.
Development opportunities
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is important and highly valued within the NHS, not only for career progression but to ensure staff are kept up-to-date with relevant skills and regulations to maintain patient safety.
Once you study for a certain healthcare role, it is easy to develop further skills in a range of different areas to enhance your employability skills. All NHS staff have personal development plans, giving you the opportunity to learn new skills, take on new responsibilities and progress in areas that you enjoy.
Financial support
Although bursaries are no longer available to cover all fees for undergraduate health courses, there's lots of help available if you want to study a degree in health.
If you have previously studied a degree, but would like to study a second degree in health then you can apply for funding from student finance to cover this.
Also, the NHS Business Services Authority has set up a Learning Support Fund (LSF) to help with some of the expenses that can be incurred as part of training to be a healthcare professional, such as travel expenses or dual accommodation costs if you have to live away from your usual address/university while on placement.
See more information on support for healthcare students.
Healthcare Courses
Find out more about our courses.
Job satisfaction
Each day you work will make such a difference to so many people's lives that naturally you will feel job satisfaction. Caring for others and seeing your patients go from strength to strength because of the work and commitment you give is very rewarding and fulfilling.
Variety
Working in healthcare will never be a 'dead-end' job, there's an unlimited number of places and roles it can take you. Once you train in something you are given lots of opportunities to develop new skills and push into new areas of healthcare, so that overtime you experience a variety of roles and responsibilities.
Also, since the rise in technology in healthcare many more careers have become available, such as technicians and therapists.
Global opportunities
Healthcare is required in every country so your career opportunities will not be limited to the UK alone. Infact, the healthcare education provided in the UK is highly advanced so that if you were to seek opportunities and experience overseas you would be competent and able to pursue it.
We offer students travel scholarships to our health students for the opportunity to work abroad, as part of our HELS Go Abroad scheme. Many healthcare students have visited countries all over the world to gain real-life hands-on experience, including Canada, Australia, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam!
Every day is different
Each day you'll be caring for different patients, with different needs and requirements. You never know where the day is going to take you and what problems you will be required to solve. This aspect of the job keeps it interesting and motivating because you never quite know what to expect.