Skills for Care, the sector skills council for social care work, has received £3m from the Department of Health to launch phase two of a programme to shape the sector’s future workforce. The New Types of Worker programme was launched in March 2003 to identify how roles need to adapt to deliver the health and social care reforms outlined in the White Paper, Our Health, Our Care, Our Say. It has so far identified how roles in social care are evolving in response to the needs of people who use the services. Under phase two, it will identify the impact of the findings on the development of the workforce in the short-, medium- and long-term. The programme will assess whether the current National Occupational Standards and qualifications will meet the needs of the future workforce. From this, Skills for Care will set out the necessary standards of skills and qualifications to enable workers to develop their roles to meet the changing needs of the sector. This programme will link to workforce reforms in the NHS and in children’s services. Andrea Rowe, chief executive at Skills for Care said: “The programme has already provided some fascinating insights into the way social care roles need to change to provide more person-centred care. “We will now establish what skills, competences and qualifications people who work in these roles need to acquire in order to deliver the White Paper, and what barriers need to be addressed for them to make that journey.” Vic Citarella, chair of Skills for Care’s New Types of Worker, Task and Finish Group, added: “Phase one of the programme found that, in the past, many people have been frustrated by disjointed service provision, lack of equality in pay and conditions and inflexible support systems between health and social care services. Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday “These are the things the sector needs to address in identifying how roles need to develop through phase two.”
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