NHS crisis: untrained staff left to take blood and insert drips But Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt refused to initiate full-blown regulation for HCAs, saying that it could lead to a "bureaucratic quagmire." He instead commissioned the latest review, led by Ms Cavendish. Healthcare assistants and support staff in care homes are responsible for some of the most basic levels of care in the health service including washing, dressing and feeding patients. Would you be happy to have a drip inserted by a healthcare assistant? The review found "pockets of excellence" which recognise the importance of training their support staff. "But overall, training is neither sufficiently consistent, nor sufficiently well supervised, to guarantee the safety of all patients and users in health and social care," it said. In domiciliary care, we have heard of instances of staff being sent unsupervised into clients" homes with no training." Healthcare assistants (HCAs) have "no compulsory or consistent training," and a profusion of job titles. Patients are confused, often assuming that everyone around them is a trained nurse. Some nurses, however, are "not always sure which tasks they can safely delegate" to their support colleagues. "Some HCAs are now doing jobs that used to be the preserve of nurses, even doctors," the report said. The review met a group of healthcare assistants from a busy A&E who are inserting IV drips, taking blood and plastering. Yet they are paid at three levels below a newly qualified nurse. There is no standard training for staff who provide fundamental care in NHS hospitals and care homes. The review says there are there are more than 1.3 million frontline staff who are not registered nurses but who deliver the bulk of hands-on care in hospitals, care homes and in the homes of people needing support. It concludes that all HCAs and social care support workers should undergo the same basic training and earn a "Certificate of Fundamental Care" before they can handle patients without supervision. When HCAs earn the qualification they should be allowed to use the title "Nursing Assistant," it said. Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, welcomed the findings but stopped short of promising to introduce the recommendation for compulsory basic training. The government will provide a full formal response to the report in the autumn.