Welcome to the first issue of Skills for Health News which focuses on what is new in skills development in the healthcare sector across the UK. Over the coming months we will be bringing analysis of health sector workforce trends, exploring strategic issues and highlighting the latest developments in workforce planning.
As part of realising the Sector Skills Agreement for Health in England, Skills for Health has brokered a new multi-million pound Joint Investment Framework between Strategic Health Authorities and the Learning and Skills Council.
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With only a year to go, young people will soon be able to choose the new Society, Health and Development Diploma (SHD Diploma) as part of their options in schools and colleges. The SHD Diploma will roll out in a small number of sites across England in 2008 and will become part of the English national entitlement in 2013.
Click here to read moreWhen it comes to scoping out the workforce of the future, a crucial ingredient is reliable data that is meaningful and accessible. Skills for Health is working with stakeholders across the UK nations and the English regions to make this sort of data a reality to inform strategic workforce modelling. We are producing the first series of labour market intelligence (LMI) reports for use in each country and separate manuals for each English region. We will continue to refine these over time in the light of feedback.
Click here to read moreSkills for Health has produced its report on sector qualifications following an extensive review of how well existing qualifications meet the needs of the health sector. An important part of this visionary work has been our discussions with the sector about how to improve education and training for the future.
Click here to read moreSkills for Health has been developing a range of initiatives around workforce development to support the reduction in waiting times for healthcare services. In England, we are working with the Department of Health to look at how the health workforce can be redesigned to meet the 18 week target. It is hoped that the learning from this work might be adapted to support similar policy objectives in other UK countries.
Click here to read moreA new health functional mapping tool is launched on the Skills for Health website in September. The tool will help managers to find competences that are relevant to the functions of their service from the 2000 competence database. See http://www.skillsforhealth.org.uk/page/competence-application-tools for more details.
Click here to read moreFrom the 1st September 2007, the Widening Participation in Learning Strategy Unit (WPSU) for England moved to Skills for Health. The Unit is now led by Jill Brunt, who has been leading work on widening participation for a number of years, and is continuing the strategic direction established by Professor Bob Fryer’s report “Learning for a Change in Healthcare”. Professor Fryer has moved into a new role as Chief Learning Advisor to the Department of Health. He retains an interest in and support of the Widening Participation Unit, but is not involved in the management of the Unit.
Click here to read moreSkills for Health and Department of Health (England) have developed six national demonstrator sites to show how the products and services we are developing can be used on the ground. These are building a strong track record demonstrating best practice, workforce development tools and underlining the importance of National Occupational Standards.
Click here to read moreConsultation on the Quality Assurance Framework for healthcare education runs from 28th September 2007 to 31st December 2007. The QA framework aims to support and enhance healthcare education, so it is of a higher quality ultimately to improve patient care. During the consultation period, we will be holding regional events to help explain the QA framework.
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