Education and training
In order for health care assistants (HCAs) to carry out their roles safely, they must be properly trained and supervised until competence has been assessed and achieved. Good clinical governance standards require that an HCA working without direct supervision must be assessed as competent to undertake the tasks being completed. For further information, visit our page on accountability and delegation.
The RCN has also produced a position statement on the education and training of HCAs (PDF 1.81MB) [see how to access PDF files], which provides more detailed information.
Training is available in a range of formats, so employers will need to consider what the most appropriate format is for their HCAs. Information on courses can also be found on the following sites:
- Open University - professional development courses for HCAs working at levels two to four on the career framework.
- Findfe - an A-Z of further education and sixth form colleges offering apprenticeships and health and social care courses
- UCAS - use the course search finder for universities offering health and social care foundation degrees
- What uni? - information on foundation degrees
- NHS Education for Scotland HCSW toolkit - a one stop shop for employers and HCAs
Competences
Skills for Health is the Sector Skills Council for health. One of its roles is to write the competences for the health care workforce.
Skills for Health describe competences as: "The descriptors of the performance criteria, knowledge and understanding that are required to undertake work activities. They describe what individuals need to do and to know to carry out the activity – regardless of who performs it."
The benefits of using a competence based approach underpinned by national competences such as National Occupational Standards (NOS) are that it:
- creates a common language for describing workforce skills
- ensures a common standard for the delivery of safe patient care
- provides a basis for role profiles and job descriptions so that recruitment can be improved
- provides a basis for education and training
- supports clinical governance
- grows your own skills base to meet your service needs
- develops a clear career framework
- gives the HCA confidence to carry out specific tasks without direct supervision.
Employers can visit Skills for Health for a range of resources to assist in developing the workforce, from National Occupational Standards, vocational qualifications to help with workforce planning and much more.
NHS Education for Scotland (NES) has a dedicated site for HCAs and their employers. The healthcare support workers toolkit is a one stop shop of current information, resources, ideas, advice on competences, vocational qualifications and induction standards.
From January 2012, the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) provides a range of qualifications suitable for HCAs and APs. Further information on the QCF is available on the following sites: