Health care assistants working as nurses

A new report has claimed that health care assistants (HCAs) working in the NHS are doing the jobs of nurses without the equivalent pay or education.

The Unison report, ‘Care on the cheap’, is the result of a survey of nearly 2,300 HCAs across the UK working in primary and secondary care including GP practices, emergency departments and in the community.

It states that 39 per cent of HCAs feel that they have not received the training necessary to provide the care expected of them such as looking after dementia patients. Only 45 per cent feel the tasks they are asked to do­ are appropriate to their level of competence.

Unison argues that HCAs are being treated as ‘glorified skivvies’ to plug gaps in NHS care because of nursing shortages, which is potentially detrimental to patient care.

Consequently, the organisation is calling on the government to review the HCA role, including a rethink over pay and career progression, and the introduction of national standards defining exactly what their responsibilities should cover.

Sara Gorton, deputy head of health at Unison, said: “Healthcare assistants are undervalued, increasingly overworked and not getting the support they need at work.

“Their responsibilities have increased massively– from feeding patients to now carrying out skilled medical procedures. They are essentially doing jobs previously done by nurses yet this is neither reflected in their pay nor in their career opportunities, so they’re struggling to make ends meet.

“Many could earn more stacking supermarket shelves than they can looking after patients. It’s nursing on the cheap and patients ultimately suffer as a result.”