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- Play a vital role in the running of a hospital by moving patients and important documents from place to place
- You'll be on your feet most of the time and you are likely to work shifts
- It will help if you're cheerful and calm in emergencies and distressing situations
Time spent as a hospital porter can be helpful to those patients in need and staff who are carrying out life-changing work, by moving and delivering anything from patients to post and parcels.
DAY-TO-DAY DUTIES
- Moving patients, in beds or wheelchairs, between wards and departments
- Delivering clean linen to wards
- Collecting waste, some of which may be hazardous
- Moving furniture and medical equipment safely
- Transferring files, specimen samples and pharmacy boxes to different parts of the hospital
- Moving deceased patients to the mortuary
- Dealing with mail
DAY-TO-DAY ENVIRONMENT
You could work in an NHS or private hospital, and may need to wear uniform.
You'll need
This role would be ideal for someone with good customer service skills, sensitivity and understanding, patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations, to be able to accept criticism and work well with others, excellent verbal communication and thinking and reasoning skills, and basic computer skills.
You can directly apply for this job. Usually, your application will be stronger if you have had previous work experience in a healthcare setting, a good standard of literacy and numeracy - employers may ask for GSCEs in English and maths, or equivalent qualifications. It might help also if you have a manual handling or health and safety certificate, though your employer will train you on these when you start.
You might find it useful to get voluntary experience in a hospital or care home.
CAREER PROSPECTS
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, or nursing.