Social Care Wales alongside Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) have published the priorities for the second phase of ‘A Healthier Wales: Our Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care’.
‘A Healthier Wales: Our Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care’, was launched in October 2020 following extensive engagement and consultation. The ten-year strategy sets out the ambition to have a motivated, engaged and valued health and social care workforce with the capacity, competence and confidence to meet the needs of the people of Wales.
HEIW and Social Care Wales, who lead on the implementation of the strategy, recently held a joint Board meeting to review the progress of phase one and confirm the priorities for phase two, which runs from 2024 to 2027.
Since the workforce strategy was published, health and social care have continued to face significant challenges within the context of financial constraints.
The progress made in phase one reflects the hard work, commitment and collaborative spirit of everyone in the Welsh health and social care sector, including employers, unions, the workforce, stakeholders and national bodies.
This progress was made at the same time as carrying out extensive engagement work, evidence collection and consultation across Wales to shape the priorities for phase two of the workforce strategy.
These priorities are outlined in the joint plan “Working Together ” which aligns to the Social Care Workforce Delivery Plan 2024 to 2027 and Welsh Government’s National Workforce Implementation Plan: Addressing NHS Wales Workforce Challenges. Social Care Wales and HEIW also both remain committed to the joint delivery of the strategic mental health workforce plan.
Sarah McCarty, Chief Executive at Social Care Wales said: “During the first phase of the workforce strategy we’ve seen unprecedented pressures on the workforce and there are still major workforce challenges within both sectors.
“These challenges have shown us how essential it is for the skilled professionals working in health and social care to work together closely to benefit the people of Wales. We’re pleased to publish these reports, which highlight the progress made so far and to set out clearly our joint commitments for the next three years.”
Alex Howells, Chief Executive of Health Education and Improvement Wales said:
“The Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care continues to provide an effective framework and direction for our work, and our experience over recent years has only underlined the importance of its central focus on workforce well-being.
“Being a joint workforce strategy, the ambition won’t be achieved by one partner or one stakeholder alone and we will continue through this next stage of delivery with the collaborative and partnership working at all levels across the health and social care system in Wales, which has ensured the progress made so far.”
August 2024