Making claims on nursing work

Throughout the NHS, the traditional boundaries between professional groups are breaking down to promote more flexible ways of working to deliver patient-centred care. Registered nurses (RNs) have responded to changing care demands through the development of innovative roles and extended roles and responsibilities. However, there are increasing numbers of healthcare assistants (HCAs) being employed by the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK to support RNs in providing nursing care. To date, little is known about the make-up of the health care assistant workforce and the changing nature of their role. This paper reports the findings of a single case study using mixed methods (survey, interviews, participant observations, focus groups and documentary analysis) to generate an in-depth account of HCAs'…