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Social Worker
(Medical Social Worker, Hospital Discharge Social Worker, Public Health Social Worker, Palliative Care Social Worker)
Health & Social Care
Salary
€36,000 - €72,000/yr
Level
Professional
Outlook
Growing
Sector
Health & Social Care
What does a Social Worker do?
As a Social Worker you support individuals, families, and communities who are facing difficult circumstances such as illness, disability, poverty, addiction, or family breakdown. In a hospital or health setting you work alongside doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals to help patients and their families cope with diagnosis, treatment, and discharge planning. You carry out assessments of people's social, emotional, and financial situations, arrange appropriate community supports, and act as a vital link between service users and the wider care team. You may also apply crisis intervention techniques, advocate for vulnerable people, and keep detailed, accurate records of every interaction. Social Workers are employed across a wide range of settings including HSE hospitals and community care teams, Tusla (the Child and Family Agency), disability services, mental health services, and voluntary organisations.
A Day in the Life
Listen: a day as a Social Worker
Your alarm goes off at 7:15 a.m. You work for the HSE as a hospital social worker attached to a large acute hospital. Before leaving the house you check your work phone — a message from the ward nurse about a patient whose discharge was planned for today but whose home situation has changed overnight. You make a note and head in early. You arrive at 8:30 a.m., log into the hospital's electronic patient record system, and review your caseload. You have eleven active cases at the moment, ranging from an elderly man awaiting a nursing home placement to a young mother recently diagnosed with a serious illness. You write up yesterday's case notes first, because CORU — the regulator that registers social workers in Ireland — requires that your records are accurate, up to date, and completed promptly.
Videos about Social Worker
HSE Webinar Professionally Qualified Social Worker Staff Grade, National Campaign (See Description)
HSE Ireland
Required Education
A degree in Social Work is the standard entry route; useful Leaving Certificate subjects include English, Irish, a modern language, Geography, Biology, and subjects that develop communication and analytical thinking. The primary qualification is an Honours Bachelor of Social Work (BSW or BSocSc Social Work) at NFQ Level 8, offered at universities including UCD, UCC, University of Galway, DCU, UL, and Maynooth; some of these programmes require relevant voluntary or work experience at the point of application. A two-year Master of Social Work (MSW, NFQ Level 9) is also available for graduates of cognate disciplines such as psychology, sociology, or applied social studies. All Social Workers practising in Ireland must be registered with CORU (the Health and Social Care Professionals Council) under the Social Workers Registration Board; practising without registration is a legal offence. PLC courses in Community and Health Services at NFQ Level 5 or 6 can be a useful preparatory step but do not replace the degree requirement for full registration. Continuous professional development (CPD) is required to maintain CORU registration throughout your career.
Required Skills
Career Perspective
Most Social Workers begin their careers in a supervised graduate post within HSE community care, an acute hospital, or Tusla, consolidating their skills across a range of complex cases. With three to five years of experience you can specialise in areas such as palliative care, child protection, mental health, older persons' services, or disability services. Senior and Principal Social Worker roles involve team leadership, supervision of junior staff, and service development responsibilities. Experienced practitioners may progress into management, policy, academic teaching, or advanced clinical practice roles, some of which require a postgraduate qualification at NFQ Level 9 or 10.
AI Impact on the job
AI tools are beginning to assist Social Workers with administrative tasks such as drafting case notes, summarising records, and identifying patterns in service user data, freeing up time for direct client work. Risk-assessment software increasingly supports — though does not replace — professional judgement in child protection and mental health contexts. The fundamentally relational and ethical nature of social work means that human empathy, advocacy, and moral reasoning remain irreplaceable at the core of the role. Social Workers will increasingly need digital literacy to use and critically evaluate these tools while safeguarding service users' data and rights.
Career Ladder
→ Social Worker (Current role)
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Employers in Ireland
Organisations in Ireland that employ people in this occupation.
Nationwide
Largest employer of social workers across all HSE services
Nationwide
Child protection, family support and alternative care social work
Dublin 8
Hospital social workers supporting patients through diagnosis and discharge
Dublin 9
Social work team assisting patients with complex medical and social needs
Cork City
Social workers embedded in multidisciplinary clinical teams
Galway, Cork, Roscommon, Limerick
Social workers supporting adults and children with intellectual disabilities
Nationwide
Child and family social work in community-based early intervention services
Dublin, Limerick, Waterford, Cork
Social workers supporting homeless individuals and families into stable housing
Limerick, Cork, Kerry, Tipperary
Social care and social work roles in homelessness and addiction services
Galway City and County
Supporting adults with disabilities through social work and care planning
Lusk, Co. Dublin
Social workers providing assessment and support to detained young people
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