Healthcare Support Workers Day, 2023

Wednesday 23 November 2023, marks Healthcare Support Worker (HCSW) celebration day, which shines a light on the invaluable contribution that all of our HCSWs make to their teams, to our patients and to the families and carers they work with every day.

Healthcare support workers work across a variety of setting across our Trust and they work in roles such as maternity support workers, healthcare assistants, theatre assistants and healthcare support workers.


Jo Bennis, Chief Nurse at the Trust said: "Our healthcare support workers are an invaluable asset, they are the bedrock of the care we provide on our wards and in our clinics. Healthcare support workers are colleagues who are working with everyone from children to adults in all aspects of the care that we can provide at our hospitals. It is why it is so important to recognise the incredible contribution all of our healthcare support workers make every single day in our hospitals."

In order to mark the day, we have spoken to four of our Healthcare Support Workers, you can hear about them, and their roles below: 

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Colletor Gumbo

"Hi! my name is Colletor and I am a healthcare assistant on Ward A3, Acute Frailty Unit at Peterborough City Hospital. This is a ward for elderly patients who are medically registered fit, awaiting their care plan assessments and action.

"On a typical day shift, I wake up early, seven o’clock signifies the beginning of the shift punctuated by an informative debrief of the previous shift, first from the nurse-in-charge and then an in-depth patient handover from the nurse or HCA in the specific area I will be working. This usually lasts thirty minutes and soon after, I stock up any of the supply trolleys I will be using throughout the day. I then make a quick round introducing myself to my assigned patients. The rest of the day is characterised with encouraging patients’ nutritional intake, assisting with personal care, helping with mobility, checking patients weight and most importantly documenting all these activities.

"On my breaks I like to go for a walk outside our very scenic hospital or rest in the tranquility of the mindfulness rooms found in the faith centre. This is an opportunity to de-stress and rejuvenate myself so I can turn up in the best shape for myself and all the people around me.

"I love to stay fit when I am not at work. One plus of being a HCA is effortlessly getting all my steps for the day in but I do love to extend that to outside work times. I usually go to the gym or take a walk in the park. I also started a social media account for this and I am hoping to encourage other young people and professionals to take more ownership of their health and wellbeing. I also volunteer with the Peterborough Lions Club which aims to improve the world through kindness and action. We aim to provide support including providing patient activity packages here at Peterborough City Hospital and fundraising for the Amazon Ward.

"Working as a HCA exposes me to thousands of people overall , and getting to appreciate how unique our community is, is the biggest treasure for me. I really love that each day I get to tap into the wisdom of the human library that surrounds me and have a better understanding of our world."