The demand and need for health and healthcare services is changing rapidly in response to:
- an ageing population, with implications both for the health care workforce and future service demands
- the growth in chronic diseases and long term illness
- increasing emergency hospital admissions
- changing financial regimes
These factors are impacting on changes in the provision of services with:
- an increased focus on public health
- greater responsiveness to the population’s needs and expectations
- more use of patient pathways, multi-professional and multi-disciplinary working
- more diversity in, and a changing balance between, community and hospital based services
- the introduction of new technologies
- organisational change and the need for increased productivity
At the same time workforce change within the health sector is focused on:
- strategies to attract people to work in, or return to, careers in the health sector through a wider range of entry routes and qualification pathways
- the removal of barriers which limit opportunities for those with potential to progress their careers and to gain competences and qualifications
- incentives for staff to constantly renew and extend their skills and knowledge in order to develop and sustain new roles and ways of working
- developing a workforce profile more representative of the health and social care communities it serves
- addressing the implications of the European Working Time Directive and the impact of an ageing workforce
There are also parallel reforms in the education sector aimed at:
- promoting greater responsiveness and innovation in the delivery of learning
- establishing more seamless progression pathways and recognition of work- based learning
- developing policies to support lifelong learning, literacy, numeracy and IT skills with an emphasis on unlocking potential and ensuring continued employability through access to continuous learning and development opportunities
However the health sector still faces significant challenges in addressing the skills needs of the present and future workforce including:
- Skills shortages and gaps across a number of occupations, particularly in areas requiring new roles
- Inconsistent workforce data and workforce planning
- The diversity of professions and occupations in the sector with limited integration of education and training arrangements
- Continuing barriers to skills development as a result of inequalities in funding across different workforce groups
- Prospective reforms to the regulation of professional and other staff
- The need to develop employability as an integral element of workforce skills and development
- Meeting the need for innovative learning design solutions and more creative, customised learning to support work-based skill development.
