Nursing associate role. Any good?

[drinkswineoutofamug]

I have already applied for it. Closing date is Wednesday. Anyone doing it now? Think the first cohort qualifies in January and there are jobs available for them. Is it seen as a new role or just a gap filler due to less people applying for nursing degree due to the loss of the bursaries? Any opinions welcome.

Is it a band 4 post? Associate practitioner?
They have these where I work. They do the same job as the nurses apart from dispensing drugs and working in ICU
They seem very well received.

Seems like a gap filler to me, not sure where they fit in the multi disciplinary team, I am a ward based nurse and we don't yet have nursing associates on our ward, will they take their own patient groups like us RNs do? If do does that mean an RN needs to leave their patients to fill the gaps an associate cannot? My understanding is that there will be certain skills associates cannot undertake such as IV drugs, cannot find anything much on NMC website.

The nursing associates and associate practitioners are different roles. NAs will be registered under the NMC and will have greater responsibilities than the APs.

The role is a filler for the shortage of nurses and the increasing clinical responsibility of band 5s. It is also an alternative to the financially draining nurse training as you continued to have paid employment, no tuition fees, and in my trust you get to keep your flexible worker agreement.

There is concideration for an 18month conversion to full nurse but this hasn’t been finalised locally yet.

We've got the trainees at the moment. No one is quite sure what they are supposed to be doing.

It’s been a blind rush job. The NA’s are worried that their role is unclear. Registered nurses, especially newly qualified RNs are worried that it is an excuse for trusts to employ fewer band 5 nurses (despite NMC ‘reassurances’ to the contrary). New standards for nurse education have come out in response to the NA changes and other things which will mean that RNs on the new programmes will have a different set of skills to the NA. However, those who have recently graduated or will graduate on the current programmes written to the last set of standards will have very similar clinical skills to the NAs and that is concerning. Will it leave a whole cohort of registered nurse graduates at a disadvantage in the jobs market? If you were an employer and had a budget that was already stretched see through and had to make cost savings year on year, who would you employ?

More broadly, I am concerned that it is an effort to downgrade everyone by stealth. Getting band 4’s to do band 5 work, band 5s to what was traditionally more a band 6 domain (more care planning, leadership and paperwork stuff) and so on. I can see that it was sold to the public as a way to fast track the training gap and allow more people to access training and there are benefits to that but I think there is a more cynical reason behind it.

I'm a band 4 AP and I do love it, I do the same work as a band 5 (for less pay) without 3 years at uni and dont have the stress of administering drugs or working in ICU. I can work in high care with Cpap but no more than that.I take blood but don't site cannulas.
I do think it's a money saving exercise, there are 15 of us now and we have the newly qualified band 5's shadowing us

NA’s will do medicines management though it is a limited remit (limited routes - PO, PR, subcut, inhaled & topical). So not even IM injections by the looks of things, nevermind IV or enteral administration. Trusts wanting NA’s to do that will have to train them specifically and evidence competency. That’s from the Health Education England Advisory Guidance. The issue of CDs though seems to be a bit muddy (Page 9)

I do actually feel sorry for the registered nurses when there are mostly AP's on the ward as they have to find another nurse to second check drugs which takes them away from their own patients.

It is infuriating and a recipe for errors and corner cutting, meds management wise.

It's a good job in the short term but there is no career progression without doing a nursing/allied health degree.

For the nursing profession as a whole and for patients it's a step backwards.

Just to note - the implementation of course fees is not the reason for the shortage of nurses; there are still more applicants than places. The problem is that we can't train enough and we can't retain them once they are trained.

Agree it's a step back to the 70's/ 80's two tier system.

We have a nursing associate just started with us and she is fantastic!!! 😁

I forgot about this thread. I applied for the post in November and got it!
Started on the 17th December. Had my first spoke placement and start on a ward tomorrow. It's NMC regulated due to the qualified Nursing associate being able to give out drugs. I very excited.

The TNAs at my trust who are due to qualify in the next couple of weeks have been told by their university that they can do an 18 months top up course to be registered nurses. They have to self-fund though. The couple I’ve spoken to are going to do it.
So they’ll end up as band 5s anyway.

Should also have said congratulations op!

Thank you 😊

Well I'm half way through my first placement already. Got my interim interview tomorrow. I admit patients, do ward rounds, prep for surgery, post operative care. All under supervision. Done wound site care, so drains , staples, etc. Loving it. But the bloody writing 😒 never understood how much writing comes into nursing. I need to think of some other things I can do over the next 4 weeks until I leave. We are encouraged to do and experience everything within reason.
The patients are very interested in the role, same with the families. The other HCA totally indifferent, I've worked with them for years. Staff nurses not so sure. It's student nurses , They are a bit arsey that we get more training on the job than them. That we get to do medicine management and give out meds under supervision, and it's only 2 years. I've explained that they will get to do this and be more qualified than me. That we aren't taking their jobs, it's a new role still in its infancy. They seemed to be even more concerned about how we will describe ourselves! More qualified than a HCA within limits of a staff nurse is how I put it. I get a bag of patients but if I notice a poorly patient I escalate to a staff nurse. That is my limit. Sorry going on now.
To anyone thinking of this , do it.

I get a bay of patients not a bag🤨 don't know what happened there

The ones on my ward are fantastic. But they are being used as a replacement RN which apparently wasn't supposed to happen but we all predicted it would.

Start my mental health placements today. I finished 3 months of surgical which I loved. Bit nervous , but excited at the same time!

I’m in Scotland so we don’t have these but I’ve just been offered an interview to do my adult nursing degree through the open uni, I’m currently a band 2 hca with the district nurses with way more responsibility than my band pay, not to mention the lone worker side of things.

Good luck with the interview. I noticed that in some places I've been too , most of the roles are band 2. I couldn't believe it. Sorry if I've got the name wrong but a theatre technician, who hand instruments to surgeon was a band 2! Band 3 at a push . Met 1 who was band 4 AP. The grading is all wrong in the nhs . But that's a different thread.

I write the nursing associte programme - pm me if you wish

The answer regarding career progression for NAs is wrong. A NA lecturer academic ( so not a nurse but a nursing associate)has just been appionted in my region.

I loving all the experiences I have with the TNA programme , do get some negative comments from staff nurses and other HCA . Along the lines of why be a cheap band 5. But once I explain what the role has to offer, they get some kind of understanding.
I have told other HCA to go for it when and if the trust put out the next cohort in 2020. This role is a benefit to all, the patients are very interested and are happy for you to learn while they are on their journey. This is the best thing I have ever done and I've had a stupid smile on my face since December when I started!