NEWS
Training review will look into HCA role and path to becoming a nurse By Alistair Kleebauer New routes into nursing will be considered as part of a major review of nurse and healthcare assistant education and training announced last week. The Shape of Caring review will also look at how training is regulated, and developing clarity around the healthcare assistant (HCA) and nurse roles. RCN HCA adviser Tanis Hand said it is ‘positive that support workers and registered nurses are being looked at together as a whole’, and she hopes the review will succeed in providing clarity. The review has been commissioned
by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and Health Education England (HEE), the national body responsible for commissioning training for healthcare workers. It will be co-chaired by NMC
‘WE MUST ENSURE THAT THE BEST PEOPLE CAN ACCESS NURSE EDUCATION’ chief executive Jackie Smith and HEE director of nursing Lisa Bayliss-Pratt. Liberal Democrat peer Lord Willis, who also chaired a 2012
RCN-commissioned review of nurse education, will lead the work. Experts including RCN director of nursing Janet Davies and Unison’s head of nursing Gail Adams will sit on a board overseeing the review, which will meet this week. It will make recommendations for improvements to pre- and post-registration nursing and HCA training, drawing on evidence from recent reports that have highlighted the need for improvements in training, including the report by Times journalist Camilla Cavendish into HCAs. Lord Willis said: ‘I am delighted to lead this important review, which affords us a unique opportunity to look at the complete caring workforce from HCAs to post-registration nurses – recognising that excellent care requires an integrated, comprehensive and well trained workforce.’
BARNEY NEWMAN
Broad implications
RESOURCEFUL CRIMEAN PIONEER REMEMBERED The anniversary of the death of pioneering black nurse Mary Seacole was commemorated last week by nurses laying a wreath on her grave at St Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery in Kensal Green, north west London. Mrs Seacole died on May 14 1881. Pictured (from left to right) are Mary Seacole Memorial Association (MSMA) treasurer Dorothy Turner, the chair Glenda Forde, deputy treasurer Dolores Baker, secretary Charmaine Case,
NURSING STANDARD
former MSMA member Stephen Tharpe, Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal trustee Celia Grandison-Markey, MSMA founder member Ruth Hutchinson, RCN deputy president Cecilia Anim, and Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal vice-chair and University of West London emeritus professor of nursing Elizabeth Anionwu. Ms Grandison-Markey said: ‘Mary worked single-handedly and was very resourceful. Her work needs to be kept alive.’
Although the review will make recommendations only for England, an HEE spokesperson said it will be mindful of the ‘broader UK and EU context’ and will produce a final report by January 2015. Ms Smith said: ‘We must ensure that the best people, with the qualities and values necessary to be a good nurse, are able to access nursing education.’ She added that the review will inform the NMC’s ongoing evaluation of pre-registration standards: ‘Each of the previous reviews had important points to make. For example Francis and Willis talked about regulation of HCA support workers. Lord Willis said the review will ‘build on, rather than replicate recent reports’. Minutes of board meetings and further information will be added at tinyurl.com/mojlp4f may 14 :: vol 28 no 37 :: 2014 13
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Training review will look into HCA role and path to becoming a nurse By Alistair Kleebauer New routes into nursing will be considered as part of a major review of nurse and healthcare assistant education and training announced last week. The Shape of Caring review will also look at how training is regulated, and developing clarity around the healthcare assistant (HCA) and nurse roles. RCN HCA adviser Tanis Hand said it is ‘positive that support workers and registered nurses are being looked at together as a whole’, and she hopes the review will succeed in providing clarity. The review has been commissioned
by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and Health Education England (HEE), the national body responsible for commissioning training for healthcare workers. It will be co-chaired by NMC
‘WE MUST ENSURE THAT THE BEST PEOPLE CAN ACCESS NURSE EDUCATION’ chief executive Jackie Smith and HEE director of nursing Lisa Bayliss-Pratt. Liberal Democrat peer Lord Willis, who also chaired a 2012
RCN-commissioned review of nurse education, will lead the work. Experts including RCN director of nursing Janet Davies and Unison’s head of nursing Gail Adams will sit on a board overseeing the review, which will meet this week. It will make recommendations for improvements to pre- and post-registration nursing and HCA training, drawing on evidence from recent reports that have highlighted the need for improvements in training, including the report by Times journalist Camilla Cavendish into HCAs. Lord Willis said: ‘I am delighted to lead this important review, which affords us a unique opportunity to look at the complete caring workforce from HCAs to post-registration nurses – recognising that excellent care requires an integrated, comprehensive and well trained workforce.’
BARNEY NEWMAN
Broad implications
RESOURCEFUL CRIMEAN PIONEER REMEMBERED The anniversary of the death of pioneering black nurse Mary Seacole was commemorated last week by nurses laying a wreath on her grave at St Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery in Kensal Green, north west London. Mrs Seacole died on May 14 1881. Pictured (from left to right) are Mary Seacole Memorial Association (MSMA) treasurer Dorothy Turner, the chair Glenda Forde, deputy treasurer Dolores Baker, secretary Charmaine Case,
NURSING STANDARD
former MSMA member Stephen Tharpe, Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal trustee Celia Grandison-Markey, MSMA founder member Ruth Hutchinson, RCN deputy president Cecilia Anim, and Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal vice-chair and University of West London emeritus professor of nursing Elizabeth Anionwu. Ms Grandison-Markey said: ‘Mary worked single-handedly and was very resourceful. Her work needs to be kept alive.’
Although the review will make recommendations only for England, an HEE spokesperson said it will be mindful of the ‘broader UK and EU context’ and will produce a final report by January 2015. Ms Smith said: ‘We must ensure that the best people, with the qualities and values necessary to be a good nurse, are able to access nursing education.’ She added that the review will inform the NMC’s ongoing evaluation of pre-registration standards: ‘Each of the previous reviews had important points to make. For example Francis and Willis talked about regulation of HCA support workers. Lord Willis said the review will ‘build on, rather than replicate recent reports’. Minutes of board meetings and further information will be added at tinyurl.com/mojlp4f may 14 :: vol 28 no 37 :: 2014 13
Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 20, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
