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Tieng Anh Vui
A raft of new checks and measures for healthcare assistants is needed in the wake of the Mid Staffordshire hospital scandal, says an independent report.
The Cavendish Review's aim is to ensure vulnerable patients are treated in a dignified way.
It says healthcare assistants (HCAs) should adopt a universal training system and gain accreditation before they can work unsupervised.
Currently, there is no consistent qualification or training for HCAs.
Instead, employers decide for themselves what training is needed.
Backbone of the NHS
There are more care assistants than nurses working in England.
They are essential to the NHS and provide some of the most personal and fundamental care to sick patients in hospitals or frail people in care homes or living independently at home.
This may include basic care such as turning people in bed so they do not get pressure sores, helping people to eat and wash and to get out of bed and get dressed.
Such care should be done by competent professionals who treat people with compassion and dignity.
But the review says the quality of training and support that care workers receive in the NHS and social care system varies between organisations and, in some cases, is lacking.
It calls for a new Certificate of Fundamental Care for fully-fledged HCAs - a qualification that would link HCA training to nurse training making it easier for staff to progress up the career ladder should they wish to.
All new recruits would need to obtain the certificate and existing HCAs would need to prove they had the equivalent training.
And in recognition of the important job HCAs do, they should be called Nursing Assistants.
Camilla Cavendish, author of the review, said: "Patient safety in the NHS and social care depends on recognising the contribution of support workers, valuing and training them as part of a team.
"For people to get the best care, there must be less complexity and duplication and a greater focus on ensuring that support staff are treated with the seriousness they deserve - for some of them are the most caring of all."
The Government will provide a formal response to the Review, along with its response to the Francis Report into the Mid Staffordshire public inquiry, in the autumn. It has already promised to establish "minimum training standards" for healthcare assistants by spring 2014.
Peter Carter of the Royal College of Nursing was concerned that without mandatory regulation there would be a danger that any staff who were found to be unsuitable could move from one employer to another unchecked.
"The priority must now be to underpin the recommendations made by Camilla Cavendish in the regulatory structure which governs care," he said.
Christina McAnea of UNISON said that in some hospitals HCA's have been treated as "cheap labour".
"Common training standards across health and social care are long overdue and welcome."
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