Health care assistant/assistant practitioner network

The RCN has set up a health care assistant (HCA)/assistant practitioner (AP) network so that your voice can be heard and best practice shared.

You can join the HCA/AP network online or by downloading the HCA/AP joining postcard (PDF 339KB). [See how to access PDF files.]

To encourage other RCN HCA/AP members to sign up to the network you can download a HCA/AP network poster (PDF 745KB) for your workplace.

The network is free to join and will give you access to:

• communicating with like-minded colleagues
• HCA/AP events throughout the year in your region or country
• a dedicated project group member who will ensure your views and opinions are heard by feeding back to the RCN HCA team
• regular updates from the RCN Health Care Assistant Adviser.

On joining you will receive a network pack full of useful information.

What does being a network member involve?

Being a member of the RCN HCA/AP network is as flexible as you want to make it and you can get as involved as much or as little as you like. We really hope that you will get involved, and signpost your colleagues to RCN resources and let them know what is happening in the network. The more HCA and AP members we have, the more powerful your voice will be and the louder you will be heard.

You all have an RCN regional office, and every region or country has an HCA staff lead who will be particularly interested in anything involving HCAs and APs in your region or country.

You will also be represented by a member of the HCA/AP committee. Committee members may contact you if they are running a project and want to find out how HCAs and APs feel about certain issues. If you wish to contact your region or country’s committee member email the HCA team and we will ask them to contact you.

Finally, we want to hear your thoughts and ideas. If you have any suggestions or comments, let us know. We will be building on our resources and support for HCAs and APs and want to be guided by you. Keep a watch on the website and don’t be afraid to tell us if you feel we can make changes to our site or our products.

We are also very interested in your experiences – changes you have made, how you have developed your role, and plans you have within your team for example. Don’t keep them to yourselves. Sharing examples of best practice helps to raise the profile of the role and demonstrates to everyone just how valuable HCAs and APs are to the nursing team. Anything you write and send in will be considered for inclusion in the RCN's quarterly e-newsletter for HCAs and APs.