120 care employers in Central Bedfordshire could find you

Working in care in Central Bedfordshire

No city, no big hospital: how care work fits together in Central Bedfordshire

Central Bedfordshire has no single centre. It is a spread of market towns and villages, from Dunstable under the Downs to Leighton Buzzard, Ampthill, Flitwick and Shefford, with the Greensand Ridge and the Forest of Marston Vale in between. It is also growing quickly: the population rose by 15.7% between the 2011 and 2021 censuses, and the CQC notes new towns are being built.

Dunstable has the most care employers by a distance, with Leighton Buzzard next and the rest scattered among the smaller towns. Nursing homes make up a larger share of local employers than in neighbouring Luton or Bedford, which is useful if you want residential or nursing work close to home. Home care across the villages generally means driving, but around Dunstable and Houghton Regis the guided busway into Luton makes some jobs reachable without a car.

Central Bedfordshire Council pays direct payments that people can use to employ a personal assistant for personal care, household tasks and help getting to appointments or social activities. The council pays for a PA's DBS check and renews it every three years. It has said that take up of direct payments is below the national average and that it is working to improve this, so expect PA roles to be fewer than agency jobs for now.

There is no acute hospital inside the area. People use Bedford Hospital, Luton and Dunstable University Hospital, and Milton Keynes University Hospital, so NHS healthcare assistant roles mean travelling across the border. For training, Central Bedfordshire College on its Dunstable campus runs a full time Level 2 Health and Social Care course as part of the Bedford College Group.

80% of the inspected care employers in Central Bedfordshire are rated Good or Outstanding by the CQC, close to the 82% across the East and below England as a whole (85%).