Developing the role of the generic healthcare support worker: phase 1 of an action research study

This paper reports on the first phase of an action research practice develo pment project to explore, develop and evaluate the role of the generic heal thcare support worker in a high dependency rehabilitation service, The proj ect is being jointly conducted by staff from the University of Southampton, the University of Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Trust an d phase 1 is supported by a grant from the NHS Executive (South and West). The aim of phase 1 of the project is to explore the attitudes of staff towa rds the implementation of the role of the generic healthcare support worker , particularly regarding the practical, professional and ethico-legal probl ems of the role. Professional and support staff from different parts of the service were int erviewed in groups and the interviews were tape recorded, transcribed and s ubjected to a simple thematic analysis. Four themes emerged from the data r elating to the challenge to professional boundaries, being a generic worker , outcomes for service and patients and implementing the rule. As an action research project, the aim was not to produce findings that are generalizable beyond the practice areas in which they were generated, but it is nevertheless hoped that the reader might be able to apply some of the conclusions to his or her own setting. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.