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How the Workforce Strategy can help us attract more regulated professionals

In this article, Professor John Unsworth, Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at Northumbria University Newcastle, discusses how the Workforce Strategy will support universities in better developing and attracting regulated professionals to social care.

Over the last year, I’ve been pleased to participate in the Strategy Steering Group that has supported the development of ‘Workforce Strategy for Adult Social Care’. I represented CoDH on this group by advising on how the sector can attract and develop regulated professionals, which includes nurses, nursing associates, occupational therapists and social workers.

As a nurse and educator, I’ve seen firsthand the struggles that the sector faces when it comes to the perception of nurses in social care. I think the Strategy is one of the biggest opportunities we have to change this perception and encourage more regulated professionals to pursue a career in this sector.

The Strategy takes important strides by recognising one of the biggest issues we have currently, which is that social care struggles to recruit and keep registered nurses, nursing associates, social workers and occupational therapists. These critical roles have high vacancy rates and turnover, which is hindering efforts to meet future needs for complex care.

In particular, registered nurses working in adult social care, of which there are around 33,000 currently, have seen their numbers shrink considerably, down 18,000 filled posts or 35.3% since 2012-13, and have a high turnover rate of 32.6%, compared to just 10% for NHS nurses.

I’m glad to see the Strategy addressing this head on by suggesting that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) should commission a partner to work with the CoDH and universities to increase social care placements for all nursing and nursing associate students and develop opportunities for newly registered nurses to join the social care sector.

However, I think it’s also important to note placement opportunities are just one part of the equation when it comes to attracting nursing talent to social care. I think we have to work to change the perception of nursing in social care, and this can only be done by the making a concerted effort to introduce more social care nursing theory and skills into university departments.

For too long, I think there’s been a trend towards favouring nursing with healthcare and the NHS in particular, while not offering proper recognition to those doing the highly challenging and rewarding nursing work within adult social care settings. I think this at least is partly due to the fact that there are far fewer nurses teaching within universities with social care experience, which reduces instances of teaching staff being able to demonstrate and outline the highly complex and valuable nature of this work during teaching. This makes nursing within social care less relatable and accessible to students during a crucial period in their development.

The Strategy recognises this struggle and highlights it as a priority, calling for CoDH to work, with its members, towards promoting adult social care within higher education and recommending ‘hybrid roles’ that bring social care experience into the classroom. This is something that I’ve long been a proponent of and I’m happy to say is being partly pursued already in my own university.

At Northumbria, we’ve started to utilise new kinds of roles by appointing assistant professors in practice, alongside those in research, to help us enhance experiential learning including that in social care. Similar roles exist as lecturer / practitioner hybrid roles. These roles can be difficult, as they’re typically working part of their week in education and part of it in a care setting, but I believe they’re crucial if we’re to have staff who can use real world examples of social care nursing in action, which in turn attracts students to the sector.

I’m hopeful that in time we’ll see real improvements by following this approach and continuing to promote and implement the Strategy’s recommendations. The first and most obvious measure of improvement that I’d like to see a shift in is the vacancy numbers and reduction in turnover rate. However, I think it’s also important for us to consider the qualitative measures of success, the biggest of which I believe to be how social care nursing is regarded both in universities and healthcare settings.

Social care is an amazing field to work in that offers a huge variety of benefits to those who choose it. Care continuity is one area where social care trumps almost all other kinds of care, and I think this can be a really important factor for those regulated professionals who want to develop a deep relationship with those they support. For hospital based nurses in particular, you’ll typically be with a patient for a very short period, whereas social care offers you the opportunity to be a part of their life for years in many cases. I think this is one of the biggest selling points of social care and is something that isn’t spoken about nearly enough.

Not only do I think social care roles offer ample benefits and opportunities to those who choose them, but they directly support and benefit the rest of our struggling care and health infrastructure to a great degree. The NHS relies on effective social care to be able to discharge its patients back into community settings, meaning that without people taking up these vital jobs, we won’t be able to address problems across the health and care system. Making sure that our students realise the myriad benefits and quality of this kind of work is imperative if we’re to ensure it’s viewed as equal to the work of its healthcare counterpart.

I think the Workforce Strategy outlines a brilliant long-term vision for regulated professionals in social care, emphasising person-cantered care and the integration of social care expertise into the broader healthcare system and higher education. It cannot be stressed enough how crucial these job roles are, and I believe the Strategy is a hugely positive step in the right direction for regulated professionals and care as a whole.

Find out more about the ‘Workforce Strategy for Adult Social Care’ by checking out the Strategy recommendations or by visiting our campaign hub. You can also read more about our nursing resources by clicking here.

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