Health: Healthcare Assistance

Lord Turnberg Excerpts

Wednesday 13th February 2013 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

That story bears out the importance of employers fulfilling their responsibility to those who are in their care and ensuring that those whom they employ have the competences and skills that are required for the job. I do not want to prejudge that case, but there are systems in place that should ensure that patients are protected. We must deplore cases of this kind but they should not happen—safeguards are already in place.

[Lord Turnberg]

My Lords, many members of the public find it difficult to understand why healthcare support workers who deal with patients every day are not regulated and registered and do not have to be fully trained in order to take up a job. I, too, am puzzled. Will the Minister tell us whether it is purely a matter of finance?

[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.