Health Care Assistants Project 2010

As the leading union for Healthcare Assistants (HCAs) – UNISON is delighted to highlight a new national project for and about HCAs.

This project is about highlighting the vital role that HCAs play in delivering care, it has a number of strands to the work and we would welcome your contribution.

1. Identifying and benchmarking core national competencies for the Health Care Assistant (HCA) role, irrespective of where they work across health and social care.

2. Link the competencies to the pay bands of agenda for change to ensure clarify about what staff should do within their sphere of responsibility

3. Develop guidance on how to seek a grading review if you are being asked to work outside your normal duties or to take on additional responsibilities

4. Revise UNISON’s national code of conduct for HCAs

5. Undertake a literature review of the evidence on the role and benefit of HCAs

6. Map what could be a regulatory framework based on the work that HCAs do and where they do it but that takes account of existing legislation background.

At the moment the HCAs’ role and employers’ expectations on the role and responsibilities varies widely across the United Kingdom. It’s been described as a postcode lottery as to what you do and your pay band. This poses a number of problems as it means that job descriptions, standards, responsibilities and knowledge are inconsistent. As a result if you move employer very often staff find themselves having to start their career over again.

We will also be looking at developing a model job description for HCAs on bands 2 and 3. The benefits that this would bring include recognition of the role and responsibilities that comes with HCAs’ work. The national modelling of HCAs’ role will help to identify training and training needs for HCAs.

In the UNISON Healthcare Assistant Survey (2008), it revealed that there was widespread dissatisfaction felt by HCAs at the level of training offered to them. Two-thirds of those who participated in the survey believed that the training was insufficient to enable them to reach their potential.

As part of this project, we hope to address some of these issues but also to repeat our survey to see if views and opinions have altered. UNISON will also be developing some guidance for employers which identifies what steps they should take if they want to develop HCAs further or to look at their responsibilities. We want HCAs to be recognised for taking on additional duties, and therefore will also be developing guidance on how to seek a grading review if your role or responsibilities have changed. Another issue that needs to be addressed, and which received strong backing from those who participated in the survey, is the regulation of the HCA profession.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council have independently commissioned research on the risks and benefits of regulation of HCAs who work to nurses and midwives by undertaking delegated duties. The union continues to be proactive with this work and in early March UNISON will be meeting with the project group of HCAs. We will be using their experience and job roles to identify core competencies, best practice and training needs.

We plan to further consult with HCAs at the UNISON Health Care Conference in July. This piece of work is being undertaken by HCAs. Their role has changed significantly over the last 10 years but more often than not it’s been as a result of their determination and dedication. We want HCAs to be in control of their role.

If you are interested in being part of a wider virtual group reviewing and helping to develop our policy please email Gail Adams Head of Nursing or Jennifer West gail.adams@unison.co.uk or j.west@unison.co.uk