Healthcare and care roles are the clearest example of duties that are set by scope of practice rather than by an employer. In South Africa, nursing categories are defined by the South African Nursing Council, health professions by the Health Professions Council of South Africa, and pharmacy roles by the South African Pharmacy Council. What a role may lawfully do is determined by its registration, and no job description can extend it. This hub groups every healthcare and care role covered on Duties.co.za.
Each role links to a dedicated page with full duties, daily tasks and CV wording. These pages describe occupational duties for employment purposes. They are not clinical guidance and they are not medical advice. For the framework behind all workplace roles, see the parent job duties guide.
Browse Healthcare & Care Job Duties by Role
Browse by registration category and setting. Titles used in job adverts often differ from the registered category, so check both.
Nursing Roles
Nursing duties follow the registered category: professional nurse, enrolled nurse and enrolled nursing auxiliary each have a defined scope. Job titles such as “staff nurse” or “sister” are workplace labels rather than registration categories.
- Registered Nurse duties and responsibilities
- Enrolled Nurse duties and responsibilities
- Nursing Assistant duties and responsibilities
- Nurse duties and responsibilities
- Professional Nurse duties and responsibilities
- Professional Nurse in a Clinic duties and responsibilities
- Staff Nurse duties and responsibilities
- Auxiliary Nurse duties and responsibilities
- Assistant Nurse duties and responsibilities
- Nursing duties and responsibilities
- Scrub Nurse duties and responsibilities
- Occupational Health Nurse duties and responsibilities
- Midwife duties and responsibilities
Care Work and Home-Based Care
Care work is centred on personal care, dignity, observation and reporting. Care workers are not nurses and should not perform clinical tasks outside their training and the care plan.
- Caregiver duties and responsibilities
- Care Worker duties and responsibilities
- Qualified Caregiver duties and responsibilities
- Caregiver for the Elderly duties and responsibilities
- Caregiver in a Hospital duties and responsibilities
Allied Health and Therapy
Allied health roles are registered with a professional council and work to a defined scope, usually on referral or within a treatment plan.
- Occupational Therapist duties and responsibilities
- Radiographer duties and responsibilities
- Paramedic duties and responsibilities
- Medical Assistant duties and responsibilities
- Massage Therapist duties and responsibilities
Pharmacy
Pharmacy support duties are tightly defined by registration category, and dispensing may only be carried out under the supervision required by law.
- Pharmacy Assistant duties and responsibilities
- Pharmacist Assistant duties and responsibilities
- Pharmacist duties and responsibilities
Medical, Social and Support Roles
- Doctor duties and responsibilities
- Surgeon duties and responsibilities
- Social Worker duties and responsibilities
- Hospital Porter duties and responsibilities
Common Duties Across Healthcare & Care Roles
Across wards, clinics, pharmacies and private homes, the same accountabilities appear in almost every job description.
- Working within scope of practice: performing only the tasks your registration, qualification and delegated authority permit.
- Patient safety: identification checks, infection prevention and control, safe handling and incident reporting.
- Observation and escalation: noticing change in a patient or client and reporting it to the right person promptly.
- Record keeping: accurate, contemporaneous notes, charts and registers that meet legal and employer requirements.
- Confidentiality and dignity: protecting patient information and treating people with respect throughout care.
- Handover: giving a complete, structured handover at the end of a shift or visit.
How Duties Change by Seniority and Workplace
Registration Category Sets the Scope
Seniority in healthcare is not simply experience. A professional nurse may assess, plan and take clinical decisions; an enrolled nurse works within a plan; a nursing auxiliary provides basic nursing care under supervision. Two people on the same ward doing physically similar work may have very different legal scopes, and the registration category is what decides.
Setting Changes the Routine
A clinic professional nurse runs consultations and primary care protocols. A theatre nurse works to surgical counts and sterile technique. A home-based care worker works alone with no colleague to consult. The core duties are recognisable across all three, but the daily routine and risk profile are not.
Public and Private Sectors Differ
Public sector posts follow occupational specific dispensation grades and departmental job descriptions. Private hospitals and agencies use their own structures. Both operate under the same professional scopes, but titles, reporting lines and administrative duties vary noticeably.
Popular Role Guides
- Caregiver duties and responsibilities: personal care, mobility support, meal assistance, observation and reporting in home and residential settings.
- Enrolled Nurse duties and responsibilities: nursing care within a plan, medication administration where authorised, and accurate charting.
- Registered Nurse duties and responsibilities: assessment, care planning, clinical decision making and supervision of the nursing team.
- Pharmacy Assistant duties and responsibilities: stock control, prescription preparation under supervision and customer service in a pharmacy.
- Care Worker duties and responsibilities: daily living support, safeguarding awareness and structured reporting to a supervisor.
Duties for CVs
Healthcare CVs are read for registration, setting and patient load. State your council registration and number where relevant, the unit or setting you worked in, and the number of patients or clients you cared for. Use the duties for a CV guide for the method, then adapt wording like this.
- Provided nursing care to a 28-bed medical ward, completing assessments, charting and handover for an average of eight patients per shift.
- Supported four elderly clients in a home-based care programme with personal care, mobility and medication reminders in line with each care plan.
- Prepared and labelled prescriptions under pharmacist supervision and maintained schedule stock registers.
- Reported changes in patient condition to the professional nurse on duty and recorded observations on the patient chart.
Job Description and Employer Guidance
A healthcare job description must name the required registration category and council, the supervision arrangement, and the tasks that may only be performed under delegation. Writing duties that exceed a category’s scope of practice is a compliance risk for the employer and puts the employee in an impossible position. Be equally explicit about what the role does not do.
Use the job description duties and responsibilities guide for structure, then take the role content from the pages above. Where scope of practice, registration or clinical procedure is concerned, the relevant professional council and your employer’s clinical policy take precedence over any general guide on this site.
Related Work Areas
- Admin and office duties: for medical reception, ward clerk and practice administration roles.
- Education duties: for school-based support and assistant roles that overlap with care work.
- Job duties: the parent guide to duties, responsibilities and job descriptions.
How to Use These Duties Guides
Find your registration category or setting above and read the role page in full. If your title is not listed, choose the role that matches your registered scope rather than your workplace label, since employers use titles like “sister”, “staff nurse” and “carer” inconsistently.
These pages describe occupational duties for employment, CV and job description purposes only. They are not clinical guidance, and they are not medical advice. Scope of practice is set by the relevant professional council and by your employer’s policy, and those sources always take precedence.
Last reviewed: 1 September 2026