PLANS for a new academy to address the chronic shortage of people working within Scotland’s care sector are being developed by one of the country’s biggest local authorities.
North Lanarkshire Council said its plans could create thousands of jobs as well as dealing with the "ticking timebomb" of a lack of staff in the sector set against increasing demand and a growing elderly population.
When created, the Academy will bring together the council, NHS, voluntary sector and further and higher education partners to create education tailored for the workplace and high quality jobs.
A report passed by the authority, Scotland's fourth largest, states that the Health and Social Care Academy "will develop and promote a range of entry routes into health and social care roles that offer valued, sustainable and satisfying jobs with many opportunities and progression pathways".
However it warns it can only be delivered within the financial resources available to agencies who would be involved.
Over the next 20 years the council estimates there will be 36,000 more people aged 75 and over living in Lanarkshire, a rise of 48 per cent which will increase the health and social care pressures. But over the same period, it said the working age population is estimated to decline.
The report states: "Research and workforce analysis tells us that there will be a dearth of skilled staff in the health and social care sector if we do not invest now in the workforce of the future.
"The workforce needs to come from a variety of routes, foundation and modern apprenticeships, school leavers, those form college, university graduates, those wanting a career change in mid life after looking after relatives, those wishing to undertake volunteering and most importantly given the nature of health and social care we require a mixed gender balance at all ages."
It adds: "The system is starting to creak and given the future demographics we require to address the current workforce pressures. The danger if we don't plan (and invest) now for demographic growth and anticipate caring for our people who have more complex and multiple conditions at home or in the community we will have a system which will be at breaking point by 2030, if not before."
Frank McNally, convener of the council’s education committee, said: “Unemployment in North Lanarkshire is still unacceptably high and it’s important that we focus our efforts on where jobs will be required. This is an ambitious vision, bringing together all the relevant partners who can ensure we have sustainable services in the future and, at the same time, deliver on our commitments to jobs and the local economy.”
Paul Kelly, deputy leader of the council and a member of the joint integration board for health and social care, said: “It’s clear that we must act now to ensure a sustainable future for the sector."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here