Health: Healthcare Assistants

Baroness Thornton Excerpts

Monday 24th October 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Greengross]

My Lords—

[Baroness Thornton]

My Lords, I often take my lead from the noble Baroness, Lady Masham. In an article in the Times today she said that a voluntary register was no cure. This, taken with the confusion created by, I am afraid, the noble Earl’s remarks about struck-off nurses, underlines the point at issue. I ask the Minister: is it really satisfactory that there is a chance that no one would know that a nurse was a struck-off nurse? Is it satisfactory that thousands of nursing care assistants are taking blood and carrying out procedures, but patients cannot know whether they are on a register and properly regulated? That is the problem. The noble Earl needs to think about the kind of juggernaut that is heading towards him on this one.

[Earl Howe]

No, it is not satisfactory that people should not know that a nurse has been struck off and is on the barred list. That is why it is incumbent on employers to make exactly those inquiries when taking on a new employee. As regards patients, the presence or absence of statutory regulation will not change one jot the responsibilities of employers or the responsibility of nurses to delegate appropriately on a ward or in a care home. Unsupervised, unregistered healthcare assistants should not be working without the proper authority and supervision.