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Today is the second annual National Healthcare Support Workers’ Day and our opportunity to reflect on the vital contribution healthcare support workers make to patient care. Across the UK there are 1.3 million frontline healthcare support workers who are not registered nurses or radiographers but who deliver much of the hands-on care and are integral to those teams.

Here at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, we have over 150 healthcare support workers working in a range of roles and settings and undertaking a variety of essential tasks, ensuring that our patients receive safe and compassionate care.

Throughout my nursing career, I have worked alongside some incredible healthcare support workers. Their expertise, care and compassion for our patients is commendable – they deliver personalised care, getting to know both the patients, their family and their friends.

They are often the backbone of a team or department, supporting patients, the clinical teams and the trainees starting out on their careers as doctors, nurses and allied health professionals. I’d encourage anyone who is good with people, who is compassionate and kind and who might want a career in healthcare to consider becoming a healthcare support worker.

Let’s take this opportunity to celebrate the valuable contribution Healthcare Support Workers make and ensure that the public, our patients and the teams they work in take time to appreciate them. I haven’t been at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre very long but I can already see the impact our Healthcare Support Workers have on the care and experience of our patients and I am incredibly proud each and every one of them.