RCN work on regulation
The RCN believes all health care assistants (HCAs) and assistant practitioners (APs) should be regulated in the interests of public safety and is committed to supporting steps towards mandatory regulation. This has been a major policy position for the RCN for many years and campaigning for regulation continues to be a priority.
The policy briefings below highlight the RCN stance and campaigning work on regulation over the years. Some of the files are in PDF format. See how to access PDF files. These briefings are in addition to press releases and media responses sent out by the RCN on the issue of regulation.
Policy briefings
December 2012: The Weaknesses of Voluntary Regulation for Health Care Support Workers (PDF 80KB).This policy briefing sets out the fundamental pitfalls of a voluntary regulatory system, which the RCN believes allows for an unacceptable level of risk to patient safety.
April 2009: Looking back to look forward: Key lessons from system regulation of health and social care in England (PDF 48KB). This policy briefings provides a review of the lessons from published reports on health and social care system regulation as a new integrated regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), begins its work.
September 2007: The regulation of health care support workers (PDF 110KB). This policy briefing considers the rationale for health care support worker regulation, the options for its implementation, the RCN view and recommendations for the future.
February 2007: Trust, assurance and safety - the regulation of health professionals in the 21st century (PDF 51KB). This policy briefing outlines the RCN's response to a Government white paper of the same name.
RCN research
September 2008: A quantitative telephone survey was conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the RCN amongst a random, stratified sample of 350 health care assistant (HCA) members. The research aimed to find out what HCA members think about the possible future regulation of HCAs. See a summary of the findings (DOC 31.5KB).