Hello and welcome to the Health & Social Care Department at Reigate College.
My name is Belinda Jones and I’m the Head of Health & Social Care. I’m really pleased you’ve chosen to study Level 3 Alternative Academic Qualification BTEC National Extended Certificate in Health & Social Care at Reigate College and I’m looking forward to meeting you in person at the beginning of the academic year.
In preparation for you joining the department, I’d like you to complete a series of tasks over the coming months. These will be useful in helping you understand the roles and responsibilities of health professionals and you’ll have the chance to discuss what you’ve learnt in September.
The tasks are organised in three distinct steps and should all be completed by Choices Day on 25 August 2026. This is to give you the best insight into what the courses will be like and/or help prepare you for them.
Please note, some Course Leaders (for example for Music) may release their tasks earlier, as they may form part of the College’s audition process. If this applies to you, you’ll be notified separately.
New Starters Course Tasks and Activities
| Release date | Suggested Completion Dates | |
| Explore your Subject | 1 June | 1 July |
| Get Going | 1 June | 1 August |
| Aim High | 1 June | 1 September |
What’s your role? Understanding the importance of Health and Social Care in the UK
About three million people work in health and social care in the UK; these include; doctors, nurses, midwives, care assistants, counsellors, and many others. Together, they account for nearly one in ten of all paid jobs in the UK.
The coronavirus pandemic has shown everyone what an incredibly important job these keyworkers all do. Even when the virus is finally under control, demand for both health and social care is likely to rise and will continue to play a key role in UK society. The need for people to carry out these vital roles is set to increase.
Task 1: Pick a career from www.healthcareers.nhs.uk and list the skills and qualities required to be successful within that job role. How would you rate yourself on each of these skills? What areas are strengths and what areas could you develop?
Try out the role of a radiographer – how would you do?
Being able to identify and apply information is a valuable skill within health and social care. The following activity is about exploring the role of a radiographer.
Task 2: First, watch this short video:
Now, read the scenario below and decide what skills are important and how they should be used here to help the radiographer deal with the situation in the best possible way.
Scenario: A man in his thirties was playing on his son’s scooter and fell off; it looks like he’s broken his ankle. He needs an x-ray and has been in A&E for almost two hours. He’s missed an important meeting and is getting increasingly grumpy. How can you cheer him up as you prepare him for that first x-ray?
Getting qualified for the role
Task 3: Being able to research is an important skill in health and social care. Use the following website to research which qualifications are needed to do the job role of your choice from earlier. What other jobs could you investigate?
Introducing PIES
Health professionals must understand the needs of the whole person in order to support and treat them successfully. In Health & Social Care we do this by using a simple system – we turn people into PIES!
PIES stands for physical, intellectual, emotional and social, and helps us to look at a person holistically – as a whole person.
PIES Health and Wellbeing
Problems with people’s wellbeing can have many different causes. Here are some examples of common problems and the possible reasons behind them:
Physical Health and Wellbeing
- An inability to breathe properly could be caused by heart disease, asthma, an accident
- An inability to use the senses, e.g. sight impairment, could be genetic, an accident, a result of the ageing process
- An inability to walk could be due to a stroke or accident
- Problems with hand-eye coordination could be caused by an accident or sight problems
Ways in which we might ensure physical health could include: having a good diet; taking regular physical exercise; having fewer accidents; not taking drugs/smoking.
Intellectual Health and Wellbeing
- Problems with long-term memory could be from an accident, stroke, lack of stimulation
- Problems with short-term memory could be from an accident or be due to Alzheimer’s disease
- Problems with making sense of emotions could be caused by, for example, Autism
- Problems with understanding might be the result of a learning disability
Ways in which we might ensure intellectual health could include: having good diet (e.g. fish oils are good for memory), doing memory games, talking to others, interacting (e.g. by playing cards) and taking part in stimulating activities – anything from doing puzzles/crosswords to studying rocket science!
Emotional Health and Wellbeing
- Depression might be caused by an event such as bereavement
- Lack of confidence could be a result of being treated badly in a caring situation
- Loneliness can be caused by isolation geographically or the loss of partner or loved one
- Wanting to be dependent (e.g. on people or drugs) may be the result of drug addiction or simply lack of confidence/rejection
Ways in which we might ensure emotional health could include: having a balanced life (work/play/social etc.) and having plenty of people to talk to.
Social Health and Wellbeing
- An inability to make relationships might be caused by a difficult home life
- Lack of contact with peer group could be because someone has moved frequently
- Isolation from others, such as in the case of prisoners, will result in them finding it hard to mix with people
- Lack of contact with likeminded people (e.g. interest groups) may be a result of a lack of availability of clubs or the lack of money or confidence to join
Ways in which we might ensure social health could include: ensuring we mix as young children with lots of different people in different situations and of different ages and that this carries on throughout our lives.
TASK: Using the information above, suggest how a patient’s PIES health and wellbeing might benefit from a health professional such as a Physiotherapist working with them? When writing your answer consider the training, qualities and skills of a Physiotherapist.
Caring for those with additional needs
Within the Health & Social Care course, we look at a variety of learning disabilities or additional needs. One of these is Down’s Syndrome. For the next series of tasks we’d like you to do some research into Down’s Syndrome.
TASK 1: Using www.downs-syndrome.org.uk and your own research, find out as many things about Down’s Syndrome as you can. As a minimum, your findings should include:
- how the condition occurs
- how it’s diagnosed
- how it affects people physically, intellectually, emotionally and socially
Please present your findings as a mind map.
Testing for genetic disorders
Older mothers-to-be are offered tests for genetic disorders such as Down’s syndrome.
TASK 2: Find out what specific genetic disorder tests are available for older pregnant women, and then write one side of A4, answering the following question:
- What might be the disadvantage of having the test?
We’ll discuss this, and other related issues, during the course.
Head of Health & Social Care
