State enrolled nursing
Nurse shortages and financial pressures led to a growing number of ‘assistant nurses’ being employed by the 1930s. A secondary grade of nursing staff was required, but there was no provision for regulating this under the 1919 Nurse Registration Acts. Pressure from the College of Nursing, the findings of the Athlone Committee (1937) and recommendations of the Horder Committee (1942) led to the Nurses Act of 1943, giving official status to Assistant Nurses.
The Roll of Assistant Nurses, created as a result, was a completely separate entity to the State Register of Nurses. It was administered by the General Nursing Council (GNC). Nurses on the Roll were referred to as State Enrolled Assistant Nurses until 1961, when they dropped ‘Assistant’. The National Association of State Enrolled Nurses (NASEN) amalgamated with the RCN’s State Enrolled Nurses Section in 1970.