The RCN’s new definition and levels of nursing support workers aim to support and protect staff, as they play a vital role in delivering safe and effective care. This is part of our ongoing work looking at the levels of nursing, which aims to provide a professional framework for nursing that will encompass the whole nursing workforce.
We’re offering greater clarity on these roles by outlining two distinct levels.
- Supportive level – includes health care assistants, health care support workers and equivalent roles.
- Assistive level – includes registered nursing associates, assistant practitioners and equivalent roles.
Nursing support workers are collaborative members of nursing and multidisciplinary teams, providing person-centred nursing care across health, social care and education settings.
While they are responsible for their own actions, all nursing care they deliver is delegated and supervised by a registered nurse. Their role supports and assists registered nurses in delivering safe and effective care for individuals and populations.
These definitions relate solely to the support workforce that is supervised by a registered nurse.
We acknowledge that a broader group of support workers exists across health and social care settings, often referred to as health and social care support workers, but they fall outside the scope of this definition.
Due to workforce shortages, in practice, there are cases where staff are expected to work beyond their defined roles. We don’t consider this to be acceptable.
Therefore, this definition reflects what we believe should be happening in practice.
Wendy Preston, Head of Nursing Workforce at the RCN, said: “Nursing support workers are a valued part of the health and social care workforce. We hope that these definitions and level descriptors will provide clarity, particularly regarding who nursing support workers are, as well as where responsibility and accountability sits – this is a positive step for the nursing workforce.
“Members have informed us that they are sometimes asked to work outside their scope of practice, and we are seeking to ensure that staff and patient safety is upheld.
“Registered nurses are sometimes not fully aware of their responsibility and accountability that delegation brings. This definition and level descriptors will help to provide clarity; more work will follow on education standards and guidance for employers.”
These definitions have been developed as a collaboration between the RCN Professional Nursing Committee and the Nursing Support Workers Committee, facilitated by a Joint Partnership Board and supported by the RCN professional forums and fellows.
