An Education Programme for the Stoma Care Support Worker

An Education Programme for the Stoma Care Support Worker.    As the UK society changes with people living longer with chronic conditions and there are less people of working age to provide nursing care, it becomes important to decide how healthcare can be organised and delivered. This then is likely to have an effect on the non-registered component of the healthcare workforce and the breaking down of boundaries on the way care is delivered and by whom. Concurrently, a national group was set up in October 2008 to review the role of the assistant paractitioner (AP) in England. With this information, the author and colleagues looked at what education and training needs the Health Care Support Worker (HCSW) in stoma care would need.    A programme of self directed learning with mentorship was developed with time frames for each of the 4 modules, with the whole programme being completed in 3 months from registration.Running alongside the theory element is a practical element that is undertaken and supervised at the students own hospital. The competencies are arranged around Skills for Health(1) and on satisfactory completion of the programme the student will receive accreditation from a nationally recognised body, City and Guilds. This accreditation of experiential learning is carried with the HCSW through their working life as evidence of their expertise in stoma care.