The National Association of Assistants in Surgical Practice (NAASP) and the Association of Perioperative Practice (AfPP) have announced that the NAASP will, from 30 June, cease to exist, instead becoming part of a special interest arm of AfPP, with a view to providing a stronger voice within this sector of healthcare.
NAASP was founded in October 2001 to support an emerging group of non-medical practitioners who offer skilled assistance to consultant led surgical teams and their patients in the UK. As an association it has developed education, delivered academic courses and resources which allowed surgical care and advanced scrub practitioners to become accepted specialist roles within the perioperative team. NAASP Advanced Surgical Practitioner (ASP) members will join the existing AfPP ASP Specialist Interest Group, and a new AfPP Surgical Care Practitioners (SCP) Specialist Interest Group will be formed to accommodate NAASP SCP members. AfPP will continue to support the work already undertaken by NAASP in the production and delivery of the ASP and SCP courses and these courses will become part of AfPP’s training portfolio.
