"No information on qualifications of Health Care…"

The Park End website shows the academic and professional qualifications of the GPs, trainees GPs and Practice Nurse, but there are no details of the credentials of the two quite long-serving Health Care Assistants. Only their names are included in the list of the Park End team - nothing about any relevant awards or diplomas or other achievements they may have or be working towards, as if this kind of information is of no importance or of no interest to patients in 2019. The NHS contract does not oblige GPs to publish this information in the practice leaflet or on the website because HCAs are not regarded as being health care professionals. However, I feel strongly that if HCAs do phlebotomy, ear-syringing, smoking cessation, can take my pulse and blood pressure, and are involved in confidential casework and record-keeping it is sensible and natural to want to know their credentials. Five years ago, when the Nurse was away, the HCAs took on some aspects of the nurse's tasks. Please could readers of this review consider that not disclosing their credentials is insulting to HCAs and does not help to increase public understanding and discussion of HCAs' role and position in the healthcare workforce and of what to expect from them. I do not see why a work-based competency award or diploma like the old National Vocational Qualification Level 3 should be kept hidden from patients just because it is classified as a non-academic vocational attainment. It should not be necessary to go to a HCA's LinkedIn page to discover her or his training rather than finding out these things in the normal course of activity as a patient attending the HCA's workplace, the surgery, or on the Practice website. In fact, Park End does not have a coherent or consistent policy in this matter. The website shows the professional qualification of the Nurse but no such information about the second nurse, who recently joined the Team. Similarly, the website provides no clues as to the professional qualification of the Pharmacist now working in the Team. Park End Surgery's manager is also the manager at another GP practice a short walk from Park End. This other practice's leaflet does indicate the NVQ3 qualification of their HCA. In my case, one of the main goals of health care is to feel less tired and withdrawn. I find all this confusion tiring and debilitating. It weakens my confidence in the GP Partners.