The Royal College of Nursing has warned that the proposed new nursing associate role must not be used as a substitute for registered nurses.
Plans to create the role, which have divided opinion, were revealed by Nursing Times last year and subsequently confirmed in a government announcement in December.
The move is intended to bridge the gap between healthcare assistants and nurses, and create potential a new route into registered nursing. A consultation on it, spear-headed by Health Education England, has now closed and the body is in the process of analysing the results.
Full story in The Nursing Times 18 March 2016