The Royal Navy - Medical Assistant L5 Assistant Practitioner (Health) Apprenticeship
Royal Navy
Hampshire (PO2 8BY)
Closes on Thursday 1 August 2030
Posted on 9 July 2026
Contents
Summary
Being a Medical Assistant in the Royal Navy means embarking on a career that offers more variety and adventure than you’d ever experience in civilian medicine. From the day you join, you’ll gain new skills, pushing yourself to the limit in some unique and challenging environments.
- Wage
-
£20,400 a year
- Training course
- Assistant practitioner (health) (level 5)
- Hours
-
Shifts to be confirmed, total hours per week: 40.00
40 hours a week
- Start date
-
Friday 2 August 2030
- Duration
-
1 year 6 months
- Positions available
-
80
Work
Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.
What you'll do at work
- Make a real difference to some essential operations. That might mean being the only medic on board ship, and taking responsibility for the general healthcare of an entire crew. This could include patient assessment and coordination of care, infection prevention and control, and supporting specialist senior healthcare support workers in their duties
- Use your medical expertise where it’s needed most, providing primary healthcare to trauma victims in conflict zones all over the world
- When you’re not on deployment you will be working in a Royal Navy shore base or even with the Royal Marines. There’s no equivalent civilian role, so you’ll gain all the skills you need
- Work across all medical departments, learning directly from specialists in a number of different fields. You could be training with Special Forces in West Africa, or working in primary care on board a ship in the Persian Gulf
Where you'll work
Navy Command HQ
The Admiral Sir Henry Leach Building
Portsmouth
Hampshire
PO2 8BY
Training
Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.
Training provider
ROYAL NAVY
Training course
Assistant practitioner (health) (level 5)
Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)
What you'll learn
Course contents
- Work in line with legislation, policies, standards and codes of conduct that apply to own role
- Work within the scope of practice, the limits of own knowledge and skills, escalating and reporting to others when needed
- Work in partnership with others to champion safe, equitable, non-discriminatory person-centred care and support for individuals
- Promote and maintain the principles of a duty of care, safeguarding and protection, always acting in the best interest of individuals and working across organisations and with other agencies to ensure they do not come to harm
- Undertake and monitor physiological, technical and psychological measurements using the appropriate equipment and tools within scope of own practice
- Select and use the correct equipment and tools to undertake timely assessment of an individual's physical and mental healthcare status within own scope of practice
- Recognise and respond to an individual in pain, distress or discomfort
- Interpret results of assessment in the context of the individual’s health and wellbeing, making appropriate changes or recommendations to the care plan within scope of own practice or escalating in line with local protocol
- Support individuals with nutrition and fluids in line with their care needs, taking action as required
- Undertake evidence-based clinical, diagnostic or therapeutic interventions delegated by a registered healthcare professional in line with scope of practice, and standard operating procedures
- Monitor and review the impact of clinical, diagnostic or therapeutic interventions on an individual’s health and well-being
- Record and store information related to individuals securely and in line with local and national policies, including the safe use of technology
- Report and share information related to individuals securely and in line with local and national policies, maintaining confidentiality
- Delegate work to colleagues in the multi-disciplinary team and engage in supervision
- Liaise with the multidisciplinary team to prioritise and manage own workload
- Communicate with individuals, their families, carers and health and care professionals using techniques designed to maximise understanding
- Promote the use of digital solutions to improve communication systems and practices
- Recognise and respond to limitations in an individual’s mental capacity
- Participate in training and development activities and evaluate the impact of learning on own practice
- Seek out and respond to feedback and engage in appraisals
- Reflect on own practice to improve practice
- Provide leadership and act as a role model for others within the scope of own role
- Identify learning and development needs of others
- Teach, coach and mentor others and confirm that learning needs have been met
- Actively seek out and act on opportunities to support individuals to maximise their health and well-being within the scope of the role
- Promote preventative health behaviours and support individuals to make informed choices to improve their health and wellbeing within the scope of the role
- Conduct and record risk assessments relevant to the activity and scope of own practice
- Uphold the principles of duty of candour, identifying and managing challenging situations, unsafe work practices and addressing comments, compliments, conflict and complaints
- Maintain a safe and healthy working environment for self and others, using techniques for infection prevention and control, including the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and supporting others to comply with policy and procedures
- Move and assist individuals, equipment and other items safely
- Participate in and support others in audit and quality improvement activities in the workplace
- Conduct research activity within the scope of own role and act on the findings
- Identify opportunities to improve quality in the workplace and contribute to local, regional and national quality improvement initiatives
- Work in line with legislation, policies, standards and codes of conduct that apply to own role
- Work within the scope of practice, the limits of own knowledge and skills, escalating and reporting to others when needed
- Work in partnership with others to champion safe, equitable, non-discriminatory person-centred care and support for individuals
- Promote and maintain the principles of a duty of care, safeguarding and protection, always acting in the best interest of individuals and working across organisations and with other agencies to ensure they do not come to harm
- Undertake and monitor physiological, technical and psychological measurements using the appropriate equipment and tools within scope of own practice
- Select and use the correct equipment and tools to undertake timely assessment of an individual's physical and mental healthcare status within own scope of practice
- Recognise and respond to an individual in pain, distress or discomfort
- Interpret results of assessment in the context of the individual’s health and wellbeing, making appropriate changes or recommendations to the care plan within scope of own practice or escalating in line with local protocol
- Support individuals with nutrition and fluids in line with their care needs, taking action as required
- Undertake evidence-based clinical, diagnostic or therapeutic interventions delegated by a registered healthcare professional in line with scope of practice, and standard operating procedures
- Monitor and review the impact of clinical, diagnostic or therapeutic interventions on an individual’s health and well-being
- Record and store information related to individuals securely and in line with local and national policies, including the safe use of technology
- Report and share information related to individuals securely and in line with local and national policies, maintaining confidentiality
- Delegate work to colleagues in the multi-disciplinary team and engage in supervision
- Liaise with the multidisciplinary team to prioritise and manage own workload
- Communicate with individuals, their families, carers and health and care professionals using techniques designed to maximise understanding
- Promote the use of digital solutions to improve communication systems and practices
- Recognise and respond to limitations in an individual’s mental capacity
- Participate in training and development activities and evaluate the impact of learning on own practice
- Seek out and respond to feedback and engage in appraisals
- Reflect on own practice to improve practice
- Provide leadership and act as a role model for others within the scope of own role
- Identify learning and development needs of others
- Teach, coach and mentor others and confirm that learning needs have been met
- Actively seek out and act on opportunities to support individuals to maximise their health and well-being within the scope of the role
- Promote preventative health behaviours and support individuals to make informed choices to improve their health and wellbeing within the scope of the role
- Conduct and record risk assessments relevant to the activity and scope of own practice
- Uphold the principles of duty of candour, identifying and managing challenging situations, unsafe work practices and addressing comments, compliments, conflict and complaints
- Maintain a safe and healthy working environment for self and others, using techniques for infection prevention and control, including the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and supporting others to comply with policy and procedures
- Move and assist individuals, equipment and other items safely
- Participate in and support others in audit and quality improvement activities in the workplace
- Conduct research activity within the scope of own role and act on the findings
- Identify opportunities to improve quality in the workplace and contribute to local, regional and national quality improvement initiatives
Training schedule
By the end of your training you will be a qualified Medical Assistant (Senior Healthcare Support Worker).
Functional Skills in English and maths if required.
You’ll start your naval career as an Able Rate.
Training and development continues throughout your career with the Royal Navy. It takes place in two distinct environments: at onshore training facilities and on-board operational ships.
When you join you complete 10 weeks of basic naval training, followed by 40 weeks of specialist training at Defence Medical Services (DMS) Wittington, broken down into classroom lessons and placements.
During lessons you will learn:
- First Aid at Work
- Be given an insight into primary health care, pharmacy, environmental health, medical administration and other essential skills needed to be a Medical Assistant
Once you have gained the underpinning knowledge you will then undertake a 6 week clinical work based placement in various locations around the UK. On completion you will return to DMS Wittington to undertake Royal Navy single service training consisting of 7 weeks learning the specific and vital skills required of a Medical Assistant with the Royal Navy. This is followed by placements in primary and secondary healthcare facilities in various locations around the UK lasing for 11 weeks. Finally, you will return to DMS Wittington for a period of consolidation before graduating and being assigned to a medical centre or a ship.
Requirements
Desirable qualifications
GCSE in:
Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.
Skills
- Communication skills
- IT skills
- Attention to detail
- Organisation skills
- Customer care skills
- Problem solving skills
- Administrative skills
- Analytical skills
- Logical
- Team working
- Creative
- Initiative
- Non judgemental
- Patience
Other requirements
Desired qualifications No qualifications required- just that you pass a Recruit Test and are in a good state of health and fitness.
About this employer
The Royal Navy (RN) is responsible for the protection of British interests at home and around the World. 95% of all world trade passes through the high seas and every year Britain imports £524 billion worth of goods. The RN takes an active part in the protection of British Shipping. Around the United Kingdom the RN protects vital fishing stocks by monitoring fishing activities in our waters. We recruit throughout the year, so please ignore Key Dates
After this apprenticeship
Your earnings can increase over time with an apprenticeship. Find out about potential future pay (opens in new tab).
If you show the right commitment, skills and academic ability, you could become a Commissioned Officer.
Members of the Royal Navy are promoted on merit. Work hard and you can rise through the ranks.
Ask a question
The contact for this apprenticeship is:
ROYAL NAVY
The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000041662.
Apply now
Closes on Thursday 1 August 2030
After signing in, you’ll apply for this apprenticeship on the company's website.