Health Care Assistants

The role of the Health Care Assistant is to support the delivery of patient care under the supervision and direction of qualified nursing personnel (Shannon et al., 2001).

The recognised qualification for Health Care Assistants is the FETAC (NCVA Level 5) Healthcare Support Certificate.

Patients/clients may require assistance in some or all activities of daily living. It is the duty of the nurse to assess, plan, implement and evaluate the care required by the patient. The primary role of the Health Care Assistant is to assist the nurse in the implementation of the care, as determined by the Registered Nurse.