A positive future

Graham Woodham, former Head of Regulated Professional Workforce at Skills for Care, reflects on his work at Skills for Care and his hopes for the future.

Change is a constant factor of the lives we lead and the work we do. As I’ve been going through a period of personal and professional change, I’ve found myself reflecting on what has gone before – perhaps easier than looking ahead, which can be scary and anxiety provoking.

I’ve been in adult social care for over 40 years and leading the work to support newly qualified social workers since 2009. I worked at Skills for Care for almost 20 years, heading up the regulated professional workforce team during that time which raised the profile of registered nurses, nursing associates, social workers and occupational therapists working in social care. Retirement is perhaps not the most accurate description but I’m intending to have a much better work life balance, taking some time for myself and planning to use my experience and skills through freelance work.

I have lots of positive feelings about the changes ahead. There is opportunity and excitement, time to do new things, all helping to offset the inevitable anxiety as to how it will all work out. What helps me to approach the future, seize its opportunities and face its challenges, are the many, many things that I can look back on; the things that have formed me into what I am now, and the things I’ve been privileged to be involved in which have created opportunities for the social care sector.

A new role, that of the nursing associate, was developed. I vividly remember the meetings with colleagues at (what was then) Health Education England as we tried to ensure that the new role was an opportunity for social care alongside the opportunities in health. There are some great stories about how this role is being used, but there is much more to do to really see this role embedded in the sector and making a difference to the lives of people drawing on care and support.

Over the last 10 years or so we have seen a considerable step change in the understanding of nursing in the social care sector. We’ve moved from having to apologise for intervening at (nearly) every meeting to ask about social care to having a Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care within the Department for Health and Social Care. Social care is now seen as a key setting which can contribute to the practice learning of student nurses, and whilst there is still some distance to travel in creating the capacity and infrastructure needed, there are resources available to help develop placements. Contemporary nursing in social care, and in other non-NHS settings, is a vital part of the care and health provision in our communities and must be valued. Person-centred, preventative services contribute to addressing health inequalities in society and promote independence and choice and result in care being delivered closer to home and in a more timely manner.

Occupational therapy is a small workforce within social care that delivers a ‘punch’ way above its weight. The importance of this service area can be seen in the fairly recent development of the principal occupational therapist role, signalling the importance of, and valuing the practice, of occupational therapists in the sector. Whilst new preceptorship standards have been published within the NHS, there is still not a clear model for supporting newly qualified occupational therapists in social care as there is for their social work colleagues. And again, it is clear what social care settings can offer to the practice education of student occupational therapists wherever they may choose to work when qualified.

In social work, for the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) – the first-year programme of support for newly qualified social workers, and for social work education and workforce development more broadly there are changes ahead for sure. Some of them we know about like the Early Career Framework currently being developed by the Department or Education and the new Readiness to Practiced Guidance shortly to be implemented by Social Work England, whilst of course, there will be other things to face which we don’t yet know about.

Employers of newly qualified social workers, with the help of Skills for Care and many assessors and supervisors, have built a programme which makes a difference to individuals and is a key part of recruitment and retention strategies. The ASYE has a positive future. It might be called something else one day – who knows - but essentially there is a concept, a programme, a set of principles, an understanding (as in many other professions) that it is right to support individuals specifically at the beginning of their professional career.

I’ve also had the privilege of supporting the development of placements needed to support the introduction of degree level qualifications for social workers, and being involved in training ASWs (Approved Social Workers - before Approved Mental Health Professionals were invented!) and supporting students and those training to be practice educators. Through all of this I still remember some of those people who I stood alongside as a mental health social worker and what I learnt from them.

These are just some of my reflections, but as individuals and organisations, whatever we’ve done and learnt will go with us and we can build on it.

One thing I am sure about is that the Workforce Strategy, which was developed by the sector and led by Skills for Care, is another key opportunity that will also help us to maintain a clear focus on the workforce demands for occupational therapy, social work and nursing in the years ahead. Having spent a lot of time in recent years working on the workforce needs of our future social care and health services, it’s clear to me that the way we work, the way we learn, and fundamentally the way we care for people in our society all present opportunities to change, to explore new ideas and to plan for a workforce able to meet the needs of people which will have our regulated professionals at its core.

Whatever the change, remember the people and the things that inform you and approach it with a sense of opportunity. We all have something positive to offer.

You can read more from Graham by visiting his Linkedin profile.

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