The nursing assistant arrives, also to help in the care of chronically ill and disabled patients

A step forward towards the inclusion of the new figure of the nursing assistant in the health service. The decree of the President of the Council of Ministers that implements the State-Regions Agreement that in October of last year established the new professional profile has been published in the Official Journal.

The nursing assistant will be a healthcare worker in all respects: his/her activities, as stated in the decree, "are aimed at the person and are designed to satisfy the healthcare needs of adults with predominantly chronic, acute health problems in situations of clinical stability, disability, mental health disorders, pathological dependence, in all phases of life, including terminality". He/she will carry out "his/her activities according to the indications of the nurse and in collaboration and integration with the other operators".

Those who already have a qualification as a social-health worker (Oss) and will follow a further training course lasting "a total of not less than five hundred hours, to be carried out in a period of time not less than six months and not more than twelve months" will be able to access the new professional profile; this will be followed by an internship.

The new figure will have the obligation to professionally update and will be able to work in all healthcare contexts: "territorial and hospital, healthcare, socio-healthcare and social, in residential, semi-residential and day services and facilities, in the person's home, in facilities specifically dedicated to disability, outpatient services and in other areas of intervention".