title: Workforce.
abstract: The recent suggestion that assistant practitioners (APs) could be regulated as 'second level nurses' brings us full circle. The nursing profession presided over the demise of the enrolled nurse role, but is now seeing it return as an employer-led 'solution' to costs.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of health and social sciences at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Buchan