As the nurse role becomes more specialised, leaving the healthcare assistant (HCA) to deliver much of the direct care, questions arise about the nature of the HCA-patient relationship. Do HCAs have a distinctive relationship with patients and what form does this take? Addressing these questions,...

The sociology of work has treated the assistant role in a limited way: it has been seen as a ‘cheap’ source of labour or as a convenient ‘dumping ground’ for the delegation of routine tasks as ‘superordinate’ occupations seek to professionalise. This perspective is reflected in...

Debates on emotion at work have long acknowledged an interest in both the management of the workers’ emotions and those of the customer with whom the worker interacts. The weight of interest has, however, more consistently fallen on the former. Hochschild’s conception of the alienating...

Over the last decade, the British government’s attempt to modernise healthcare provision by developing cost efficient and effective services has led to fundamental challenges to established occupational jurisdictions. This has been reflected in the emergence of new occupational roles working...