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Gloucestershire Council is retraining home care assistants to do some of the work of community nurses writes David Craik.

The new community care workers will undertake tasks such as taking urine samples, dressing simple wounds and dealing with catheters.

As the new role is pitched at NVQ level 3 rather than level 2, the council hopes to improve recruitment and retention.

The role, developed with the Cotswold and Vale primary care trust, was piloted by the palliative care team at Stonehouse, near Stroud. The team of eight is led by a nurse and supported by a social services home care organiser.

Vareta Bryan, assistant director of community services for Stroud, said: "As well as the traditional home care work of getting people up, washed, dressed and toileted, helping them prepare simple meals and putting them to bed, they also carry out clinical tasks.

"We have a problem recruiting home care workers in this region because of the area's socio-economic profile and not many young people are coming through."

Since the pilot, 12 community care workers have been recruited.

Bryan said the new position offered good career prospects for home care assistants and could be a route into social work or nursing. "It offers a real career progression for them. They will receive training in dementia and rehabilitation skills."

Most of the recruits are from domiciliary care. "The role really is for people with NVQ Level 2 experience," said Bryan. "But we hope to attract more of the public into the home care role now that there is progression there."