The Nursing Team - Health Care Assistant

Please click here to access our Covid-19 Practical and Operational Issues page

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN):-

"Healthcare Assistants (HCAs) and Assistant Practitioners (APs) are a vital part of the nursing team. They work with infants, children and young people and in the care of the older person, supporting registered nurses in the delivery of nursing care.

To carry out your role as a health care assistant safely, you must be properly trained and supervised, and your employer has a duty to make sure you are appropriately trained and that you are assessed as competent for your role. Your employers must provide an induction for you so that you have the knowledge, skills and understanding to do your role in a compassionate and caring way, wherever you work."

More information can be found at:

• CQC - GP Mythbsuter 57: Health Care Assistants in General Practice
• RCN -  Learning Resources for HCAs and APs
• Wessex LMCs -  HCA Training Standards
• NHS -  Healthcare assistant

HCAs & Immunisations/PSDs

The following is taken form the RCN document Health Care Support Workers Administering Inactivated Influenza, Shingles and Pneumococcal Vaccines for Adults and Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine (LAIV) for Children

Questions about Patient Specific Directions (SPS, 2018) states the following:-

• The prescriber is responsible for assessment of the patient and the decision to authorise the supply/administration of the medicine(s) in question.
• The prescriber has a duty of care and is professionally and legally accountable for the care they provide.
• The prescriber must be satisfied that the person to whom the administration is delegated has the qualifications, experience, knowledge and skills to provide the care or treatment involved.

This is also clear within the GMC’s (2014) Good medical practice guidance and the NMC’s (2018) The Code for nurses and midwives.

HCSWs must not be placed in a position where they need to make standalone clinical judgment calls in relation to vaccine administration. The HCSW needs to be able to promptly liaise and discuss issues with a registered health care professional who is available on site (whether they are in a primary care, school or hospital setting). For practical and general administration issues, this can be any registered health care professional but for medicines and prescribing clarification the registered prescriber needs to be available.

All registered professionals must adhere to their codes of conduct, standards of practice and delegation principles (NMC, 2018; GMC, 2014; HCPC, 2016; GPhC, 2017).

The Health Care Assistant Preceptorship Framework For Induction into General Practice.

Please click on the image to access an example of a HCA preceptorship framework developed by Julia O’Mara Nurse Advisor at Portsmouth CCG