Wales

Skills for Health supports the Welsh Language Act (1993) and has implemented its own Welsh language scheme.

We are committed to considering the Welsh language in relation to standards training frameworks, research, Information Advice and Guidance, sectoral development and partnerships. This includes developing a bilingual section of the website and bilingual materials. We will also be working with learning providers to ensure that they recognise and respond to the training needs of a bilingual Wales.

Our Welsh language scheme has been approved by the Welsh Language Board and can be found here. 

Skills for Health’s main partner in qualification development in Wales is the Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills (DCELLS)

The Credit and Qualifications Framework for Wales is a single framework which merges learning achievements (credit) with the level of learning achieved to create a system that embraces all types and styles of learning and all qualifications.

There are a wide range of qualifications and awards available and each accredited qualification below Higher Education has a level and credit rating on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF), which will be replaced by the QCF from 2010. Higher Education qualifications sit on the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ) and there are links between the two frameworks to allow comparisons.

In Wales as elsewhere in the UK, major reform of vocational qualifications is under way. At the heart of this process is the introduction of a Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) which represents a new way of recognising skills and qualifications. It does this by awarding credit for qualifications and units (small steps of learning) and thereby enables learners to gain qualifications at their own pace along flexible routes.

As part of this wider work, Skills for Health has developed a Sector Qualification Strategy (SQS) for Wales.

Other key developments include: 

• Creation of a set of Learning Design Principles
• The Skills for Health Higher Education Strategy
• North Wales Exemplar - Designed for Competence is the largest Skills for Health demonstration site in the UK. The project focuses on the management of chronic conditions regionally across North Wales and is an exemplar across the UK to inform future workforce developments. The project, which involves partnership working between NLIAH, Higher Education and Skills for Health, aims to support the development of a Locality Team approach across North Wales health communities and there will be information available from Skills for Health on its progress throughout 2009. [insert link to Project Newsletter – to be uploaded]

One of Skills for Health’s key strategic aims is to profile the workforce in our sector.
As part of this work we have produced Labour Market Information manuals for each UK country. These include comprehensive demographic and labour market information for each nation.

The Wales LMI and Skills 2010 is now available. We have also developed a web based LMI tool to provide employers and others requiring workforce information with a single point of access to available data sources for the health sector.

Research is also being undertaken currently on the Independent Sector in Wales which aims to profile the independent sector workforce and carry out primary research into skills needs within the sector, and further work into the Independent sector is planned for 2009/10.

We will continue to work with employers and other stakeholders to identify LMI and research priorities for our sector.

The development of Sector Skills Agreements (SSAs) is a key priority for all Sector Skills Councils. The aim of an SSA is to profile the skills needs and gaps within a particular sector, both now and moving into the future and to develop solutions to address these together with key partners and stakeholders.

The Wales SSA launched in 2006 by Brian Gibbons, the then Minister for Health and Social Services, provides a clear framework for action. Further agreements will be taken forward in Wales with stakeholders such as Trade unions, Further and Higher Education.

Within the main SSA for Wales, specific agreements are being made with a range of agencies.

• Welsh Assembly Government
• National Leadership and Innovation Agency for Healthcare
• Wales Council for Voluntary Action
• The Welsh NHS Partnership Forum
• Careers Wales.

Information specific Skills for Health projects within Wales can be found below:

Adopting a competence-based approach to help achieve excellence in independent healthcare Wrexham Maelor Hospital – developing the role of the Acute Coronary Syndrome Nurse

For information on other Skills for Health case studies across the UK, please click here

Partnership Working in Wales (available in English and Welsh)

Welsh Health Sector Careers Information Advice and Guidance Strategic Partnership