Support matters: Use of assistant staff in the delivery of primary and community nursing services in England
The aims and objectives of this study are to:
- Describe numbers, types and roles of assistant staff (at levels 2, 3 and 4) delivering services and care in NHS adult district nursing services.
- Examine how assistant roles impact on the organisation, management and supervision of work across these settings; particularly wherre new integrated organisational models and ways of delivering services exist.
- Explore how current (or planned) use of assistants in these settings impacts on (or has the potential to impact on) health care professional workload, service user experience and choice, service delivery and quality and potential costs and cost savings of assistant staff being part of the district nursing team.
- Synthesise findings and recommendations from the study for policy makers, service users, commissioners, providers, practitioners, managers and researchers.