The Sean McHugh report, Role and Function of Health Care Assistants, was issued in 2018 following a long campaign by SIPTU members to review and acknowledge the ever-expanding role of the Health Care Assistant.
SIPTU’s Care Sector continued to campaign for the implementation of the report, and in 2022, the Health Care Assistant programme was launched to oversee and implement the recommendations of the 2018 report, in which SIPTU Care Sector and SIPTU Nursing Sector participated as stakeholders.
The review made 19 recommendations (36 sub-recommendations) for the HCA programme to implement.
The HCA report has now been published.
Key Achievements of the HCA Programme:
- Health Care Assistant job title standardised across the Health Service for grade codes 6075 and 6012
- 10 job descriptions agreed for HCA’s dependent on the area they work in. Link here: Patient & Client Care – Health and Social Care Assistants – HSE.ie
- Revised eligibility criteria for recruitment of HCA’s agreed. Link here: Patient & Client Care, Eligibility Criteria – HSE.ie
- HCA’s recognised as an integral part of the multidisciplinary team and must be included in handovers, team meetings and care planning
- Existing career pathways both vertically and horizontally for HCA’s identified and agreed. Link here: PW HCA – HSE Career Hub
- Online training courses recommended for HCA’s have been compiled for Life-Long Learning opportunities. Link here: https://www.hseland.ie/dash/Account/PreLogin
- QQI level 5 training opportunities for HCA’s are hosted on a dedicated ONMSD CCNME webpage which signposts to individual centres where the prospectus can be accessed. Link here: Office of the Nursing and Midwifery Services Director (ONMSD)
- CNMEs will provide hands-on training for HCAs on accessing and using library services.
- An action plan has been developed to ensure HCAs have access to supportive pathways to acquire a QQI Level 5 in Health Service Skills
- Recognition of prior learning. Eligibility criteria have been revised to include NARIC (QQI Framework) recommendation
- Recognition of HCA as an identifiable role achieved through achievement of a clearly identifiable uniform to differentiate HCAs from other grades and a rollout of the “My Name is” campaign across all areas
- Continued campaign by SIPTU Care Sector to establish a permanent national forum has been achieved. This forum’s objective is to ensure the ongoing implementation of the recommendations in the Sean McHugh report and the HCA programme outputs. This forum will ensure HCAs are represented where their role is being discussed or likely to be impacted by those discussions.
SIPTU Care Sector President and SIPTU NEC member, Ann Marie Tibby said: “We really welcome this report and are so delighted that it has been issued. Going forward, we hope it’s going to benefit HCAs and bring them into a better place where they are more professionally recognised and hopefully registered.”
The report is available to read here: https://about.hse.ie/api/v2/download-file/file_based_publications/Report_on_the_Health_Care_Assistants_Programme_May_2026.pdf/