The new nursing associate role is one of the outcomes of the Shape of caring review, which announced new vocational pathways into nursing, including the development of a degree-level apprenticeship.
Last month Health Education England held a series of workshops to consult on the content of the nursing associate role and whether it should be registered, and to invite organisations to bid to become test sites.
These events were excellent; well facilitated, enabling lively discussion, and challenging in terms of getting to grips with the dimensions of a potential new role development and how it will sit within the current and future framework of nurse education and workforce development.
It was very reassuring to see that the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) are heavily involved and supportive of this role development, with NMC CEO Jackie Smith co-presenting with Professor Lisa Bayliss-Pratt, director of nursing and deputy director of education and quality at Health Education England.
It is intended that the nursing associate role will be regulated by the NMC. This we see as an absolute core requirement if the new role is to have real value in mitigating our current workforce skills gap and contribute to improving patient care.
During the workshops’ debates on the scope of the nursing associate role, it became apparent that each service has its own wish list of what the role must entail for it be of value to its service and workforce skills gap. For one acute colleague, giving IV medication was a must! For those used to working in ‘old money’, we reflected on how this was reinstatement of the state-enrolled nurse and is to be welcomed.
Hospice UK secured a place at each of the five workshops around England so that at least one hospice could have a representative at each event. Those who attended from the National Hospice Education Collaborative will follow the test sites’ progress and will seek meaningful engagement at key points.
We envisage several hospices will liaise with local providers to form a test site partnership. We know that at least five hospices are involved in bids to become test sites and placement providers and we will, through the collaborative, seek to support them and capture the learning to share with wider hospice community.
Visit the websites of Health Education England and the National Hospice Education Collaborative for further information and updates.
Leave a Reply