How integrated care systems are working together on shared recruitment initiatives

In July 2022, 42 integrated care systems (ICSs) were established across England. They bring together organisations and professionals from across social care, health and other sectors to coordinate services and collaborate on initiatives to make integration happen at a local level.

Skills for Care has spoken to several ICSs since their inception to learn about what they are doing and has produced a series of case studies outlining their activity. In this article, we focus on how many are working effectively together to address recruitment challenges across both the social care and the health sectors.

Through the Black Country ICS, the establishment of a specific Social Care Recruitment and Retention network across the local area has led to great successes. The network has funded initiatives across the system to support providers to overcome recruitment and retention challenges. Over 50 organisations are now represented on the network, including providers and local authority commissioning contacts.

One of the core activities of the network was to create a shared database of organisations who support with recruitment and induction training across the area. Having this trusted database has freed up time for social care and health organisations, meaning they can better focus their attention and resources elsewhere. It has resulted in clearer and more consistent recruitment services for providers. Indeed.com was one of the suppliers in this group and have since been approached to do bespoke work for providers, with support from funding by the ICS.

Many ICSs have realised the importance of looking at careers that take into account roles across both social care and health. Northamptonshire ICSs social care nursing placement programme has proved successful in establishing greater relationships between health and social care providers. The programme makes careers in care more attractive to potential recruits and helps to fill workforce gaps across sectors. It is actively changing people’s perceptions of different roles and care settings, and increasing understanding of social care across the region.

Northamptonshire ICS’ People Board also secured funding to create a specific job role dedicated to expanding social care placements across the region. The new role engages directly with providers to understand where there is capacity to welcome trainee nurses into a care placement. They also work with student nurses to arrange for them to undertake a section of their training at a local university. One registered manager has welcomed eight student nurses into her residential care home for their training because of this.

Another initiative to promote careers across both health and social care has been adopted in Suffolk. As a result of funding secured via their ICB Workforce Team, a recruitment bus toured the area promoting careers in both health and social care, reaching over 300 people. The bus signposted people to social care and health careers advice and created a space to speak with someone to learn more.

Similar efforts are underway in the South West of England. The Proud to Care South West network is a partnership of local authorities, healthcare organisations and ICSs working together across the region to raise the profile of careers in health and social care. While in its early days, the network will allow people to join up and work together on recruitment and retention. The network has at its core an understanding of the importance of joint workforce planning, in particular in light of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan and Workforce Strategy for Adult Social Care in England.

Suffolk Care Association shared a positive example of how they are working with their ICS to create smoother recruitment processes for oversees workers. They had recognised that there were large numbers of people who were nurses in their own country unable to serve in the same role here due to barriers in the training pathway.

The care association approached their integrated care board (ICB) and agreed that vacant hospital Observed Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) training places could be offered to social care workers. The example highlights how the new structures created as part of the ICS, alongside a willingness to work with colleagues across health and social care to find solutions, has had a positive impact on getting people into roles more quickly. It has since connected many internationally recruited healthcare workers to new sponsors.

International recruitment has featured as a priority in other areas. Lincolnshire ICB have focused instead on the importance of pastoral support for health and social care workers recruited from overseas. They understand how this support is essential to ensuring that new workers are kept within the health and care system and able to get up to speed quickly and effectively.

Practical guides and resources have been created to help international recruits understand the local culture, dialect, pronunciation, food, and the wider cultural differences between their home country and the UK. They are hosted on the Lincolnshire One Workforce website for oversees staff to become familiar with Lincolnshire. The ICB has funded the website as well as all the resources it hosts.

Find all of our #IntegratedCare case studies.

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