23.03.15
HCAs putting patients at risk doing jobs they are not trained for
Healthcare assistants (HCAs) are working without supervision and being asked to perform duties for which they are not trained, putting patients at risk, according to a new report.
An investigation by the BBC found that junior staff have been asked to take blood samples and place IVs, while other hospital support workers have been left alone to monitor wards of up to 40 people.
NICE guidelines say healthcare assistants are expected to work under professional supervision. Their recommended duties range from washing and dressing patients, feeding and bed making to taking blood tests and looking after wounds, depending on their seniority.
The BBC has spoken to 32 care assistants from 19 hospitals across the East of England, West Midlands, East Midlands, London and South West.
They reported being asked to lift patients without lifting training, medication being given to the wrong people and HCAs running clinics without nurse supervision.
One support worker who wished to remain anonymous said she was sent into surgery after two shadow shifts where she touched the glove of a surgeon during an operation, forcing him to rescrub.
"I just did not know what I was doing," she told the BBC.
Department of Health figures show there are about 110,000 HCAs working in healthcare settings across England, using the narrowest definition of the role. The Francis Report, using a more inclusive definition, estimated that there are 332,000 care assistants supporting doctors, nurses and scientific staff. More than half (56%) were paid between £14,294 and £17,435 (Agenda for Change Band 2) at the time of the Cavendish Review.
The Royal College of Nursing blamed a "woeful lack" of trained nurses as the reason why they are being asked to perform duties above their training.
Karen Webb, regional director of the RCN in the East, told the BBC a lack of nurses meant healthcare assistants were being placed in a position where they "feel they need to do work they are not educated to do".
"That is placing HCAs in a dangerous situation.”
She added that support workers were "left paddling around" without adequate supervision, a situation that "puts patients at risk".
Catherine Foot, assistant director of policy at health charity the King's Fund, said the wide range of roles meant "it is not always clear" to clinical teams what skills support workers have.
However the government's new care certificate, due to be introduced in April, will "provide minimum standards of training and skills", she added, meaning support workers are less likely to be asked to do things they are not trained for in the future.
The Department of Health said it was "never acceptable for unqualified staff to be asked to undertake any task for which they are not trained or supervised".
They told the BBC: "Staff who raise concerns about patient safety help protect patients, and they have the government's strong support.
"The Care Certificate, which comes into effect in April 2015, will be a means of providing clear evidence to employers, patients and service users that the healthcare assistant or social care worker in front of them has been trained to a specific set of standards."
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