Skills for Health

The UK's health sector employs approximately two million people. Their skills and competences will, at some point, impact on the health, well-being and lives of every person in the country.

The public, independent and voluntary services that make up the UK health care system are currently undergoing one of the most ambitious periods of reform, to ensure that future patient needs can be met. To achieve this, the sector must have the infrastructure in place to equip its workforce with the skills and competences it will need to meet these challenges, and provide a safe, effective and high quality service for patients now, and in the future.

That’s why the work of Skills for Health is so important. Skills for Health is the Sector Skills Council (SSC) for the UK health sector, licensed by the Secretary of State for Education and Skills in consultation with Ministers in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Our role is to help the sector develop solutions that will deliver a skilled and flexible workforce in order to improve health and healthcare.

Put simply, our role is to:

• address skills gaps and shortages
• improve productivity and performance
• increase opportunities to boost skills
• improve learning supply.

From hospital porters to heart surgeons - public to private sector organisations - each has a set of skills needs that, if met, will underpin their contribution to the future success of the health sector.

"If I were to ask my constituents, they would say healthcare skills are some of the most important skills that we need to address. Of course we can talk about education, we can talk about a lot of other policy areas, but a lot of people would say ‘I want the best possible health service and I want to see the best possible people working in it’. The benefits are clear: the more skilled the health sector’s workforce, the better health our country will enjoy."

Phil Hope MP for Corby and East Northamptonshire
and Minister for the Third Sector
April 2008