Next steps in TYC
“Our Shared Ambition is for a world-class workforce, one that fosters economic growth and sustainable communities”
Developing a confident, knowledgeable and skilled social care workforce to support the well-being, choice and independence of individuals
There are over 50,000 people managing and delivering social work, social care and children’s services across Northern Ireland. Growing demand for care services provides a huge opportunity for our sector in terms of stimulating productivity and employment. Our challenge now is to equip the workforce with the skills and knowledge they need to use emerging technologies and revolutionise how we deliver care services.
People who use social care services can and should enjoy the same benefits that the changing world of technology can bring to us all. Many are finding that specific technology-based systems or devices have an increasingly important part to play in supporting their safety, well-being and independence. This is true not only for independence in a practical sense but also for enabling greater participation in family, social and economic life.
As technology becomes part of the way people are supported, the workforce must become confident, knowledgeable and skillful about technology and the contribution it can make. Quality training and development for the workforce is a key requirement to integrate new technologies into care services.
Currently, around 91 per cent of the workforce have no formal qualification in Assistive Technology and only 11 per cent of managers believe that their staff have sufficient related learning and support. To address this, NISCC has launched ‘Technology to Care’ – A Workforce Learning Strategy to embed Electronic Assistive Technology in social care.
‘Technology to Care’ is the roadmap for our sector to develop the skills our workforce needs on their journey to integrate the new technologies that have the potential to dramatically improve the delivery of care services in the next five years. ‘Technology to Care’ will play a key part for social care in developing the workforce needed to deliver innovative service solutions.
The achievement of Transforming Your Care is not dependent on a single organisation, profession or sector within Health and Social Care. It demands all of us to challenge and adapt the culture of service delivery – shifting to a model of care which sees the citizen as an active participant in all aspects of the service to meet their social and health care needs; with a strong emphasis on co-production at all stages of the care process. The use of electronic assistive technology is one of the key elements in adapting the culture of service delivery – the quiet revolution in social care.
We will continue to work with our partners in Connected Health to support the development of the workforce. Much needs to happen alongside technological developments in areas such as hardware, software and information and data management to ensure emerging technologies underpin the delivery of modern and person-centred social care services. There is a lot to be done, but between us all we have the energy and expertise to take this opportunity to build a world class workforce for health and care.
www.niscc.info
www.technologytocare.org.uk
www.aquestionofcare.co.uk
