Abstract

Health care assistants: the views of managers of health care agencieson training and employmentAim: The aim of this study was to obtain the views of managers of health careagencies to assess whether they would employ trained health care assistants (HCAs).Background: In 2000/2001, a training programme for HCAs was piloted in theRepublic of Ireland. It was important to ascertain if the training programme was capable of producing HCAs that health care agencies would employ.Methods: A self-administrated postal survey was distributed to health care agencies.Results: Findings included suggestions on how the content of the programme could be made more relevant; most of the managers surveyed would employ a HCA trained on the programme; respondents did not believe that the HCA role encroached on that of the nurse and/or midwife and; most already employed HCAs with some offering informal, in-house training.Conclusion: Overall, respondents views of the training programme were extremely positive with many recommending that it be continued and expanded.