11.07.13
Cavendish proposals ‘go a long way’ to skilled workforce
The NHS has responded to the publication of the Cavendish review, which calls for standardised training for healthcare assistants (HCAs). Caring experience should also be a prerequisite to starting a nursing degree, she recommended.
Dr Chris Roseveare, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: “HCAs are a key part of every acute medical team and have a particularly important role in ensuring the safe transfer of patients out of the acute medical unit (AMU).”
Candace Miller, director of the National Skills Academy for Health, welcomed the report and said: “We must clearly work harder to ensure the support workforce have access to appropriate skills, training and development to undertake the role they are required to do.
“The new National Skills Academy for Health (NSA Health) will officially launch on 12 September and is fully focussed on bringing about practical improvements in skills development for the support workforce.”
John Rogers, chief executive at Skills for Health, added: “The report findings rightfully draw attention to the training and development needs of the healthcare support workforce which have not always been acknowledged and have often gone unmet.
“The proposals to adopt national training standards for healthcare assistants will go a long way to ensuring we continue to develop consistent skills and essential competences across the current and future workforce.”
But Denise Linay, head of organising and engagement at the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), said: “We are deeply disappointed with this review. It does not seem to recognise that nursing and midwifery are two very distinct and different professions and seems focused almost entirely on HCAs working with nurses. I think many midwives and Maternity support workers (MSWs) will take this as a snub to the profession.
“There are some specific recommendations that cannot apply to midwifery. The report reinforces the argument for HCAs with the appropriate Foundation Degree to ‘bridge’ the first year of the nursing degree. This is not possible in midwifery due to an EU directive. The Review also states that the RCM along with other unions ‘set the standards of for the training of registered professionals’; this is incorrect.”
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