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The Welsh government has accepted the report's recommendations and will look at how support workers could be regulated over the coming months. It will also develop a guide setting out the standards of conduct and practice that NHS Wales requires of them by the end of this year.

The review focused on how NHS Wales could develop a more flexible and sustainable workforce and make best use of staff skills. Once nurses on band 5 gain experience after registration, they should begin to 'support innovative service development ... by managing delivery by lower band workers', the report said.

It added that there would be a blurring of professional roles as staff work increasingly across traditional specialties, organisations and sectors.

The review also recommended minimum educational standards for healthcare support workers in bands 2, 3 and 4.

Four trusts across the country are trialling a scheme involving support workers taking on more responsibilities, reducing the number of non-clinical tasks undertaken by doctors and nurses.

Health minister Edwina Hart said: 'To ensure we continue to attract and retain staff, we must provide more opportunities for career development. It will help relieve pressure on specialist staff by reducing some of the less complex roles they do.'

Richard Jones, interim director of RCN Wales, said: 'We look forward to the regulation of healthcare support workers and the necessary investment required in training and professional development to achieve the flexibility and sustainability demanded by today's healthcare environment.'

Nurses at this month's RCN Congress voted to lobby the DoH to regulate healthcare assistants ('RCN votes to lobby for HCA regulation', IN, 5 May).

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