New core standards for Assistant Practitioners are published today by Skills for Health, the Sector Skills Council for healthcare.
The standards were developed in response to requests from employers and commissioners concerned at variation in the responsibilities, education and training of staff employed in the role.

MRSA is a major problem in nursing homes with one in four residents carrying the bacteria, a study by Queen’s University Belfast and Antrim Area Hospital has found.
Its authors say that the findings, which have been published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, highlight the need for infection control strategies to be given [...]