Health: Healthcare Assistance

Baroness Emerton Excerpts

Wednesday 13th February 2013 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

No, my Lords, it is not purely a matter of finance. Our view is that what really matters in this context is the competence and training of the individual involved. We are not oblivious to the concerns in this area. That is why we have already announced a number of further measures to support healthcare assistants. For example, we have just created an innovation fund of £13 million for the training and education of unregulated health professionals. The Care Quality Commission will undertake a review of inductions for care staff to make sure that nobody can provide unsupervised help without an appropriate level of training, and we have the work currently being done by Skills for Health and Skills for Care. Their report has now been received and embodies suggestions for a code of conduct and induction standards for health and social care workers.

[Baroness Emerton]

The Minister mentioned supervision. The voluntary register does not necessarily cover the total safety of patients unless they are supervised. There is an issue about the minimum levels of registered nurses who can supervise support workers. When will the Government look at minimum standards for the registered nurses to enable sufficient supervision? The evidence base is that effective care and cost-effective care are reliant on the number of registered nurses who can supervise support workers.

[Earl Howe]

The noble Baroness as ever raises an important issue. She will know that the code of conduct for nurses specifically covers supervision where necessary. My department has instigated a number of measures to support local decision-making to get skill mix profiles right. They include the QIPP programme, which is a key driver for getting the skill mix right through producing tools and programmes in that area. The NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement supplies case studies and other resources to help NHS provider organisations deliver their QIPP strategies, and NHS employers also deliver guidance and support to help employers better plan their workforce.