Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that NHS nursing associates are (a) recognised for their work, (b) protected from role misuse and (c) supported within their defined scope of practice.

Employers across the National Health Service are best placed to identify, recognise, and reward staff for excellence in the delivery of healthcare. In October 2023, NHS England published their Staff Recognition Framework. This provides ideas and guidance for organisations to inform their own strategies and approaches to recognising the work of staff. The Staff Recognition Framework is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/staff-recognition-framework/

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is the independent regulator of nurses and midwives in the United Kingdom, and nursing associates in England. The NMC has published standards of proficiency for nursing associates, which set out the knowledge and skills that nursing associates need to meet in order to be considered by the NMC as capable of safe and effective nursing associate practice. Further information on the standards of proficiency is available at the following link:

https://www.nmc.org.uk/standards/standards-for-nursing-associates/standards-of-proficiency-for-nursing-associates/

In addition, the NMC’s Code sets out the professional standards that all NMC registrants must uphold in order to be registered to practise in the United Kingdom.

Nursing associates can expand their knowledge and skills with the right training and governance. This must be coupled with appropriate local governance arrangements to ensure healthcare professionals only carry out tasks that they have received the necessary training to perform.