Developing Care Research Report
The JGA Group have conducted research into the demands for training in the health and social care sector as part of the Learning and Skills Council's Developing Care contract.
The Research Report was sent to members of the Learning and Skills Council as well as relevant bodies such as Skills for Care.
The aims of the research were as follows:
- To assess the requirements of the market for funded Health and Social Care training in West London, with specific reference to the issues relating to the recruitment and retention of staff in the health and social care sector.
- To assess whether the funded training available on the Learning and Skills Council London West Developing Care contract meets the requirements of individual care homes, and the market as a whole.
- To provide suggestions on the future provision of funded training in the health and social care sector based on the analysis of primary and secondary data collected from various sources within and relating to the health and social care sector.
The Executive Summary and excerpts from the Research Report can be found below.
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Executive Summary
Retention of staff in the Health and Social Care sector is, in most cases, a bigger problem than recruitment. Three main factors seem to be emerging. Firstly, there is a lack of a natural progression between the completion of a qualification at Level 2 and the commencement of a qualification at Level 3, which requires candidates to operate in a more senior or supervisory role. There is no real incentive to progress as the average level of pay for senior care workers is not significantly higher than the average level of pay for an ordinary care worker.
Secondly, there is a demand for “bite-size” training to cover specialist areas of health and social care, such as caring for patients with dementia. This bite-size training would help to bridge the gap between Level 2 and Level 3, though some acknowledged that their staff were inadequately prepared for Level 3 training as they did not operate in a supervisory role. 86% of employers surveyed expressed a demand for training at Level 3. Of that 86%, 83% expressed a demand for short courses in specialist areas.
This suggests that, apart from the mandatory NVQ Level 2, the highest demand for training in the health and social care sector is not necessarily at Level 3, but above Level 2, i.e. training to raise the skills of care workers already qualified at Level 2 to an appropriate standard for them to operate in a more senior or supervisory role, and progressively move towards achieving a Level 3 NVQ.
Finally, there is an emerging pattern of employees leaving their employers and moving on to a job offering a higher rate of pay and/or better prospects, either within the sector or in another employment sector, such as retail. 29% of employers surveyed had seen staff find employment elsewhere following the completion of their NVQ training. A significant contributing factor to this pattern is the lack of status and general recognition of those working in health and social care.
The difficulty of retaining staff is also highlighted by the continued demand for training at Level 2. 71% of employers surveyed expressed a demand for Level 2 training. 100% of health and social care providers surveyed had put candidates through Level 2 training within the last year. These figures suggest that retention, rather than recruitment of staff is the major problem.
In addition to the issues of staff retention stated above, effective communication with residents, visitors and other members of staff is a problem due to a low standard of spoken English amongst staff in the Health and Social Care sector. 57% of employers surveyed agreed that their staff could benefit from further training in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL).
Based on the findings from this research programme, the JGA Group makes the following recommendations:
- To continue funded provision of Level 2 training in Health and Social Care
- To offer funded “bite-size” training in specialist areas, and encourage candidates to take additional units, to help bridge the gap between Level 2 and Level 3
- To explore methods of reducing staff turnover
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Excerpts
From Section 4 -Training Needs Analysis - Assessing the demands of the care sector
Since June 2005, the JGA Group has conducted Training Needs Analyses (TNAs) with 218 care homes across , covering 697 employees.
From those 218 TNAs, there were 191 individual requests for NVQ training in Health and Social Care at Level 2, indicating a high demand for training at this level.
This suggests that many health and social care providers still fall below Standard 28.1 of the National Minimum Standards for Older People.
The TNAs demonstrated the demand for training in the health and social care sector, suggesting that there is a high demand for training that, so far, has not been available on LSC funded projects.
There are many examples of specialised training that appear frequently [in the TNAs] such as caring for patients with dementia and administering medicines. These training needs show the requirement for short, focused training courses, in addition to NVQ training, in all aspects of Health and Social Care.
In many cases, the demand for short courses appeared in addition to the demand for NVQ training. From this evidence, it is clear that although NVQ training in Health and Social Care is highly sought after, NVQ training in isolation does not cater fully to the demands of the care sector.
From Section 5 - Have Your Say - Views from the Health and Social Care sector
The high [demand] for training at Level 3 suggests that funding is not meeting the demand for training at this level. It also indicates a demand for training progressively beyond Level 2. 83% of those of those who expressed a demand for Level 3 training suggested, without prompting, that short training courses covering specialist areas would help to improve the performance of their staff.
Together, [this suggests] that, apart from the mandatory NVQ Level 2 training, the highest demand for training in the health and social care sector is not necessarily at Level 3, but above Level 2, i.e. training to raise the skills of care workers already qualified at Level 2 to an appropriate standard for them to operate in a more senior or supervisory role, and progressively move towards achieving a Level 3 NVQ.