What is a Nursing Associate
Nursing Associates are highly trained support role designed to deliver effective, safe and responsible nursing care in and across a wide range of health and care settings. Nursing Associates will work independently, and with others, under the leadership and direction of a Registered Nurse within defined parameters, to deliver care in line with an agreed plan. Nursing Associates will have a breadth of knowledge and a flexible, portable skills set to serve the local health population, in a range of settings covering pre-life to end of life.
Working within the sphere of nursing, the Nursing Associate delivers high quality patient-centred care across health and social care settings. The Nursing Associate works within all aspects of the nursing process, taking account if the perspectives and pathways of individuals, their families and/or career providing holistic and patient-centred care to individuals, supporting registered nurses in the assessment, planning, delivery and evaluation of care.
Nursing Associate training
The nursing associate role programme is for Nursing Assistants/Healthcare support workers/Clinical support workers who are looking for new challenges and to further develop their career within a health or social care environment.
If you are new to care there are a number of ways to get experience which will help you to consider whether the Nursing associate role is the right career for you. Have you considered applying to the ‘bank’ in your chosen health and/or social care setting? You can gain great experience across a variety of settings.
On successful completion of the programme, apprentices will achieve a Foundation Degree Level 5 qualification and will be eligible to apply to the Nursing and Midwifery council (NMC) as a nursing associate.
The training is typically 24 months in length.
NMC regulation
Nursing associates are subject to statutory regulation by the NMC. The NMC sets the standards of proficiency required for entry to the professional register and these are in effect the occupational standards for nursing associates. The NMC also has the statutory duty to set requirements of programmes necessary to support the achievement of the occupational standard.
What is the difference between a Nursing Associate and a Registered Nurse?
The Registered Nurse will undertake first assessments and plan and co-ordinate care for patients, as well as leading and managing teams. Nursing Associates will support Registered Nurses by providing, monitoring and contributing to patient care (NMC 2018).
Nursing Associate
1. Be an accountable professional
2. Promoting health and preventing ill health
3. Provide and monitor care
4. Working in teams
5. Improving safety and quality of care
6. Contributing to integrated care
Registered Nurse
1. Be an accountable professional
2. Promoting health and preventing ill health
3. Assessing need and planning care
4. Providing and evaluating care
5. Leading and managing nursing care and working in teams
6. Improving safety and quality of care
7. Co-ordinating care
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has developed the following film which features Trainee Nursing Associates and Registered Nurses describing how they see the Nursing Associate role contributing to better patient care.