NHS staffer cast runes (5)
I believe the answer is:
nurse
'nhs staffer' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I don't see?
'cast runes' is the wordplay.
'cast' is an anagram indicator (letters are dispersed or cast around).
'runes' is an anagram of 'NURSE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nurse that I've seen before include "One caring for patient" , "Runes (anag)" , "Tend the sick" , "Tend - care for" , "dogfish or > worker bee" .)