Plans to train healthcare assistants "don't go far enough" But the patient safety charity, Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA) said the Government needed to do more, and to introduce regulation so that assistants who fail to care for patients can be "struck off" a central register of workers. Peter Walsh, AvMA chief executive said: "Whilst consistent training and a qualification is a step in the right direction, the Robert Francis report was unequivocal about the need for a register and some form of regulation for healthcare assistants. Without this there is inadequate protection for patients, with a small minority of healthcare assistants who are not fit to practise being free to move some one healthcare setting to another. Liz Kendall MP, Labour's Shadow Minister for Care and Older People, said there had been many previous initiatives to improve training for healthcare assistants, but that without such a system of registration, it was hard to guarantee any national standards of care. She said:"That's one reason why the Francis Report on Mid Staffordshire Hospital was right to call for the registration of Healthcare Assistants - but the Government has ignored this crucial recommendation. The Nursing and Midwifery Council, which regulates nurses, welcomed yesterday's recommendations, which also propose that anyone undergoing training to become a nurse should first work as a healthcare assistant.