Staff shortages are reportedly leaving patients in the hands of untrained Healthcare Assistants who are forced to step in and do the jobs of doctors and nurses without proper training and qualifications.
Healthcare Assistants are, of course, vital for the care of patients, and it’s certainly not their fault that they’re having to fill the gaps due to staff shortages. But this is very dangerous. Staff having to undertake the type of care that requires training and proper supervision is leaving patients in a vulnerable position, and it’s not fair on the Healthcare Assistants either.
According to the results of a recent survey, patients are at risk as a result of staff shortages that are leaving Healthcare Assistants to fill in the gaps left by doctors and nurses. Almost 2,000 Healthcare Assistants took part in the survey, and the results are worrying:
- Nearly two-thirds have been left to care for patients without the support of a doctor or a nurse;
- Around half have not received proper training;
- Around three-quarters of the cases are caused as a result of nurse shortages.
Many Healthcare Assistants have admitted that they simply don’t feel confident doing some of the jobs that should be for the doctors and nurses. Attending wounds and changing stoma bags are two examples of the kinds of roles they have had to fill in for, and this kind of problem leaves patients at risk, and it’s not fair on the Healthcare Assistants either.
The situation has said to have been getting worse in recent months as well.
An untenable position
We cannot have Healthcare Assistants being left in a position where they are forced to undertake care for patients that they have not been trained for, and where there is a lack of supervision. We know that the continual funding issues in the NHS remain at the heart of why these issues are occurring, but a patient left in the care of an untrained and unsupervised Healthcare Assistant is a medical negligence situation waiting to happen.
It’s not fair on the patient, nor is it fair for the hard-working Healthcare Assistants who are being put in such positions.
If a mistake happens as a result of a lack of training or staff, a patient is fully entitled to claim for medical negligence compensation for the suffering they have to endure. We must not allow patients to be exposed to such avoidable risks.
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