Scotland
Overview
The Scottish Health and Skills Agendas are devolved to the Holyrood Parliament the only exceptions are medicines licensing, abortion and related policies, and the regulation of clinicians. Scotland, therefore, decides on its own priorities, allocating a proportion of overall Government expenditure to health and the NHS.
The Scottish Health Sector varies from the rest of the UK in the following ways:
- NHS health services are delivered through 14 regional Health Boards, 8 special boards and The Scottish Ambulance Service
- There is greater emphasis on health improvement, community care, and all the efforts to join up policies and activities to make Scotland healthier. For example, the inclusion of Communities and Sport in the Health portfolio at Parliamentary level
- The greater scope of partnerships. For example, Employee Directors sit on boards and staff representatives take part in decision-making at all levels.
The key policy drivers for Scotland as are detailed in the BHBC Action Plan, see related documents.
Skills for Health in Scotland
Skills for Health in Scotland has a wide range of partners including universities, government bodies, voluntary and business organisations. See Partners and Stakeholders below for full list. We take an active part in the Alliance of SSCs in Scotland and we work closely with other Sector Skills Councils in Scotland.
Skills For Health in Scotland ensures all our competences are fit for purpose in the context of Scottish policies. Sector Skills Councils in Scotland share access to each others databases of National Occupational Standards and National Workforce Competences and work on joint projects, such as work with Skills for Justice to develop competences for health care in police custody.
Qualifications
Skills For Health main partner in Scotland for qualifications is the Scottish Qualifications Authority. SQA qualifications (mainly SVQs but also Professional Development Awards [PDAs], HNCs and HNDs) are developed in association with Skills For Health. We also work with City and Guilds and other awarding bodies.
There are many different kinds of Scottish qualifications - Highers, SVQs, HNDs, Degrees and many more. Each qualification has an SCQF Level and Credit Points so it is easy to compare one with another.
The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) promotes lifelong learning in Scotland. It supports everyone in Scotland, including learning providers and employers by providing:
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access to appropriate education and training so that people of all ages and circumstances can meet their full potential
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information and explanation of the full range of Scottish qualifications so that employers, learners and the general public understand how they relate to each other, to other forms of learning, and how different types of qualification can contribute to improving the skills of the workforce.
The Framework describes the courses and programmes that lead to qualifications and helps development of 'progression routes' for individuals to follow. It allows individuals to make the most of the opportunities to transfer credit points between qualifications.
Population and Workforce
Skills for Health Labour Market Intelligence report provides a valuable overall view of the whole of the healthcare sector within Scotland.
Scotland LMI report will follow shortly.
Sector Skills Agreement
In October 2006 Skills For Health launched the Sector Skills Agreement for Scotland (SSA). It identifies and prioritises the sector's future skills and workforce needs so that employers, those who deliver and fund education and training, the Government and Skills for Health can take appropriate action to address them. See related documents for Executive Summary and Action Plan.
Within the main SSA for Scotland, specific agreements were made with a range of agencies.
- Scottish Government Health and Wellbeing
- NHS Education for Scotland
- Scottish Funding Council
- Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA)
- Careers Scotland
- learndirect scotland
- Job Centre +
- Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC)
- Associations of Scotland's Colleges
- Scottish Enterprise
- Highlands and Islands Enterprise
Case Studies and Projects
Skills for Health in Scotland work hard to ensure skills and competences are utilised, in line with the Government's policy of Skills for Scotland which emphasises the use of skills above targets for student numbers.
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Forth Valley and Older People (pdf) - As care of older people moved to community hospitals, NHS Forth Valley identified the changed skills required in the new setting
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Diabetes in Highlands (pdf) - The University of the Highlands and Islands redesigned a post-graduate course using competences, and also redesigned the associated assessment process
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Remote and Rural Care (pdf) - National Occupational Standards were successfully used to assess population care needs in a variety of remote and rural communities.