Nursing Associate

The Nursing Associate role is a new support role that will complement existing healthcare support roles and work alongside fully-qualified registered nurses to deliver hands-on care for patients. Following huge interest some 2,000 people are now in training with providers across England. This role is a registered healthcare professional with the NMC.

Overview of the role

The nursing associate is a new support role in England that bridges the gap between healthcare support workers and registered nurses to deliver hands-on, person-centred care as part of the nursing team. Nursing associates work with people of all ages in a variety of settings in health and social care.

The role was introduced in response to the Shape of Caring Review (2015), to help build the capacity of the nursing workforce and the delivery of high-quality care. It will be a vital part of the wider health and care team and aims to:

• • • • support the career progression of healthcare assistants from level 3 and 4
      • enable nurses to focus on more complex clinical work
      • increase the supply of nurses by providing a progression route into graduate-level nursing.

Training and apprenticeships

There is currently an apprenticeship available to become a Nursing Associate. Requirements to be eligible are level 2 functional skills and a level 3 qualification.

Please contact primarycarecareers.bob@nhs.net for further information on intake and funding.

Nurses are an important part of delivering care in general practice. An increasing shift of care from hospitals to general practice provides nurses with a really exciting career choice.

GP nursing (GPN) is a rapidly expanding specialty in nursing. The role  reflecting the shift in health care delivery from secondary to primary care over the last two decades. Until recently, however, there has not been a clear career path to help nurses make the transition to general practice. This situation is now changing and increasingly a variety of exciting opportunities are beginning to emerge. The OTH is committed to supporting GPN development and training opportunities.

The OTH is currently establishing an education and career development programme for nurses at all levels.

Watch the HEE YouTube “Thinking of becoming a general practice nurse? ” where GPNs talk about their everyday work.

The following video has been produced as part of the GPN 10 PP to promote PCNs to support population health management and has been recently adapted to respond to COVID 19 to make it even more relevant.

If you want to become an NA or if you are already working as an HCA and would like to advance your career further then an apprenticeship could be the right choice for you.

Apprentices combine working with studying in order to gain further qualifications and valuable professional skills. Practices can taking on someone new as an apprentice or apprenticeships can now also be used to improve the skills of current clinical and non-clinical employees.

Apprentices must be

• • • • aged 16 and over
      • paid at least the minimum wage ( on apprentice scale)
      • employed for a minimum of 30 hours per week
      • 20% of apprentice time will account for job training

There are a wide range of clinical apprenticeships, which can be a great way to fill a particular need in your practice. As well as your practice providing on-the-job training, apprentices will study with a training provider of your choice.

Clinical Apprenticeship roles include:

• • • • Nursing Associate. This booklet outlines the benefits of apprenticeship qualifications in primary care support roles both clinical and non-clinical and showcases the impact of apprentices within the work environment. Clinical- healthcare- support apprenticeships provides the skills and knowledge needed to support doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and healthcare scientists when they provide healthcare.