1. HEE Nursing Associate Programme
Key information on implementing the new support role

2. Vision for Nursing and Care
More of our Registered Nurses need to work at the edge of their competence, but to do this, they must first be liberated to lead.
More of our Care Assistants want opportunities to progress in their careers and access to training
By developing and standardising the existing care assistant role, we can enable RNs to advance clinical practice and enable Care Assistants to advance into higher level care roles and nursing
Employers are transforming how they develop their nursing workforce to meet the increasing and changing needs of the population

3. New support role for Nursing
The new role is a key part of the workforce transformation required to build the workforce for the future. The role will:
Create a defined title and competence framework for a key section of the support workforce.
Build the capacity and capability of the health and social care workforce to care for service users across different settings, particularly out of hospital
Facilitate the provision of care across health and social care through the introduction of a role with a flexible and portable skill set
Provide a bridge between the unregulated care assistant and nursing workforce through training and development - enhancing the quality of hands on care offered by the support workforce
Deliver direct and fundamental care to patients, individuals and service users, releasing Registered Nurses to focus on higher care interventions, treatment, assessment and advancing their practice
Widen access and entry into the nursing profession
Support career progression of all care roles and enabling a greater skill mix in the care and nursing workforce to work flexibly and responsively

4. Nursing Associates: The Role
The Nursing Associate, while not a nurse, works to the nursing model within defined levels of supervision. It will have a defined level of competence, boundaries of practice and a national curriculum framework and deliver across the spectrum of care including:
• Self-care
• Support management of long term conditions including acute episodes
• Direct care from pre conception to end of life
• Promoting public health and well-being
Nursing Associates will be trained to work across a range of population groups and able to work within multi-disciplinary teams and with multi-agencies. They will work under the direction and delegation of a Registered Nurse.
The new role has the support of NHS England, Public Health England and NHS Improvement, who believe it will support Registered Nurses to deliver safe, responsive and effective quality care to service users and patients

5. Standardisation of the role
A framework to ensure national standards
Draft Curriculum Framework
Stakeholder engagement showed support for a national curriculum to give the role definition and boundaries of practice
HEE developed document in partnership with Skills for Health and Skills for Care, incorporating feedback from stakeholders
Test sites will pilot the draft document
National Model Job Description
NA Implementation Group has developed a draft national job description
Result of the work of a Task and Finish Group led by NHS Employers with membership of Unison, RCN and Skills for Health
Will inform the work of test sites in developing their job descriptions
Practice Assessment Document
HEE is encouraging test sites to consider the process or tools by which they will assess NAs against curriculum domains
HEE aim to establish working group to develop national practice assessment document
Work is important to enable APEL and portability of role
Communities of Practice
All test site partnerships will be Communities of Practice
Will share and learn in a process of collective learning
Will develop test site capabilities; exchange knowledge; problem solve; access to expertise; help with challenges;
Monitoring and evaluation
Test site partnerships will participate in regular submission of student and test site data as per Grant Funding Agreement requirement
Will also participate in longer term independent evaluation of the HEE pilot exercise