18.11.16
Nursing associate curriculum framework launched
Health Education England (HEE) has launched its curriculum framework for the new nursing associate (NA) role which is currently being developed.
The NA role will bridge the gap between support workers, who have a care certificate, and graduate registered nurses, offering attractive and accessible opportunities for healthcare assistants to progress into official nursing roles.
Trainee NAs will work under the direction of fully-qualified nurses and will be able to undertake some of their duties and functions, allowing the nurses to spend more time on assessment and complex patient needs.
Professor Lisa Bayliss Pratt, director of nursing and deputy director of education and quality at HEE, said: “I am particularly pleased that it has been possible to bring together so many people and organisations to support this initiative because the role will be such a key part of the multi-disciplinary workforce that is needed to respond to the future needs of patients.
“We know it is absolutely vital that our future workforce is flexible enough to adapt to developments in healthcare and to ensure that the patients of tomorrow receive the safe, high quality care they deserve.”
Pratt added that new NAs will be trained to work independently under direct and indirect supervision, understand medicines management and how to administer medicines safely according to the policies of their employer.
Last month, HEE announced that over 1,000 NAs will begin training this year, with a further 1,000 NA trainees to follow. There has been huge interest in the role from students and providers, with the role coming about as the result of continuing consultation between frontline nurses, support workers, and educators.
The first of the new NA students will be welcomed by HEE in the next few weeks. Eleven sites have been chosen to deliver the first wave of training that will run over a two year period.
But despite the momentum, new research which suggested that replacing registered nurses with support staff can increase patients’ death risks raises doubts about the role of NAs.