A new role that will sit alongside existing nursing care support workers and fully-qualified registered nurses to deliver hands-on care moved a step closer today as Health Education England (HEE) published the response to its recent consultation on the Nursing Associate role. The consultation attracted more than 1,000 responses from individuals including patients, members of the public and a wide range of organisations including professional bodies, trade unions, health care and social care providers and commissioners of healthcare.

The role will be given the title Nursing Associate. In order to get the implementation of the Nursing Associate role right, HEE intends to appoint ‘test sites’. Five workshops will take place in England in July so that HEE can engage with stakeholders on the scope of practice of the new role. Early test sites will recruit 1,000 students to start training for the new role in 2017.

HEE will run five events in July across England, where they will invite people and organisations to help draw up the scope of practice for the role. The dates and locations are set out below and bookings will be open soon, via Eventbrite – more information will be available on the HEE website.

1 July             Birmingham
15 July           London
20 July           Manchester
22 July           Reading
29 July           Newcastle

Join Lisa Bayliss-Pratt, HEE’s Nursing Director, for a Twitter chat on the @WeNurses platform on Tuesday 7 June (8-9pm) to debate areas of the consultation and ask questions using the hashtag #shapeofcaring.  They will also running a webinar, the details of which will be available at the HEE website.

The Institute of Health Visiting warmly welcomes the new commissioning and workforce development guidance on Specialist Health Visitors in Perinatal and Infant Mental health (PIMH) – What they do and why they matter, published today by Health Education England (HEE).  It concludes that all women and their partners should have access to a specialist health visitor in perinatal and infant mental health (PIMH) and recommends at least one for every health visiting service.

Creating Specialist Health Visitor posts in PIMH within every health visiting service will play a valuable part in reducing the incidence and impact of postnatal depression and other perinatal mental health problems. This will be through earlier diagnosis, better intervention and support – creating savings on child and adult mental health services, and improved public health.

Dr Cheryll Adams, Executive Director of the Institute of Health Visiting (iHV), said:

“The iHV is delighted to endorse this new guidance which provides a framework for improvements in the services that health visitors can provide to families to promote their mental health.

“Through the health visiting ‘universal’ service, health visitors are well-placed to identify those families requiring additional support, especially where the mother (or indeed father) may be suffering from perinatal mental illness, or where the bond between parent and baby may be compromised. However, health visitors have many other roles and responsibilities taking their time during this important period of every child’s life and they would benefit from specialist support in this challenging arena.”

The framework sets out the important role of specialist health visitors in PIMH, illustrates the value to parents and other health professionals involved in a mother’s care and recommends that every woman should have access to a specialist Health Visitor as part of the multi-disciplinary team.

Health Education England (HEE) has launched a consultation process and is keen to hear views on the new role which will work alongside health care support workers and fully-qualified nurses to deliver hands on care, focusing on ensuring patients continue to get the compassionate care they deserve. The new role will help bridge the gap between health and care support workers, who have a care certificate and graduate registered nurses. It also offer opportunities for health care assistants to progress into nursing roles.

Healthcare employers, nurses, care assistants, health commissioners and other stakeholders are invited to comment on the design of a new nursing support role.

The consultation seeks views on a range of issues, this includes:

  • Principles for the new care role.
  • learning outcomes that will need to be assessed to assure quality, safety and public confidence in the proposed role.
  • Identifying what academic achievement, if any, would be required, alongside practical skills and how this learning should be best delivered.
  • looking at whether or not the proposed role should be regulated.
  • Agreeing the title of this new role. It has provisionally been given the title Nursing Associate.

This is your opportunity to have your say in the development of a role that will play an important part in the delivery of future healthcare and meet the diverse health needs of people up and down the country.

The consultation closes at midnight on 11 March 2016.