Posted on 11/05/2012 1:25:40 AM PST by bruinbirdman
NHS patients are receiving an "unacceptable" level of care from a growing army of unqualified healthcare assistants, who have taken over nursing roles on wards and in care homes, an independent commission warns.
Basic tasks which were once the job of trained nurses are being carried out by more than 50,000 low-paid and unregulated assistants due to budget cuts and growing demands on nurses' time.
Putting vulnerable patients in the care of well-meaning but "unreliable" nursing assistants raises "serious concerns about public protection", a commission led by Lord Willis of Knaresborough, the Liberal Democrat peer, says in a report published today.
Healthcare assistants are employed for simple tasks like keeping patients fed and hydrated or taking their temperature, but are not currently trained to spot warning signs such as dehydration or rapid changes in body heat.
Patients and families who do not understand the distinction between nurses and unqualified healthcare staff often seek and follow the advice of assistants without realising they have no expertise.
The report recommends training all healthcare assistants to at least NVQ level three – the non-academic equivalent of A-levels – to tackle the "widespread concern" about their growing presence on wards and care homes.
"The commission finds it unacceptable that staff whose competence is not regulated or monitored are caring for vulnerable citizens," the report says.
"It is equally unacceptable that registered nurses must take responsibility for supervising colleagues on whose competency they cannot rely."
The report was commissioned by the Royal College of Nursing, to examine the training system for nurses amid concerns about their competence and attitude following a string of "stories of appalling care and mismanagement".
Figures released last month revealed that 43 hospital patients had starved to death and 11 died of thirst due to failures in the most basic
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
HHS has been recruiting healthcare workers, especially volunteers, with the promise jobs and increased doctor responsibilities in the future.
Well I hope Obamcare kills of all the democrats and Obama supporters first afterall they are the onces who wanted Obamcare. Oh and I hope it gets Justice Roberts too.
Well I hope Obamcare kills of all the democrats and Obama supporters first afterall they are the onces who wanted Obamcare. Oh and I hope it gets Justice Roberts too.
Be careful what you wish for darling.
Already happening at a government hospital near you. Any veteran or Indian/Native American can tell you that.
Figures released last month revealed that 43 hospital patients had starved to death and 11 died of thirst due to failures...
Those weren't failures. Those were successes - in the infamous 'Liverpool Care Pathway': a tick-box program of starvation and dehydration which (for all intents and purposes) is the descendant of the railway siding that led to Belsen.
Think of it as the Death Panel Express.
yitbos
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