Health assistants

A union has accused the health secretary Jeremy Hunt of being “out of touch” due to his refusal to introduce regulation of healthcare assistants.

General union Unite was commenting on a new survey by the British Journal of Healthcare Assistants which shows that 93% of those surveyed, agreed there should be a code of conduct and compulsory registration for healthcare support workers.

The recent Francis report into the scandal at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust was firmly in favour of regulation for support workers. But Hunt reportedly said this would not be introduced because it would create “a bureaucratic quagmire”.

Unite head of health Rachael Maskell said: “Once again, Jeremy Hunt has demonstrated that he is completely out of touch with what the NHS requires to meet today’s challenges.“