£2.7m funding awarded to plug “hidden” healthcare skills gaps in the North East

In 2019, the government pledged to recruit an additional 50,000 nurses to the NHS by 2024. But what of other roles, like pharmacists and healthcare scientists, which form the “hidden backbone” of the health sector?

A new group has recently secured £2.7m, from the government’s Strategic Development Fund (SDF) which helps Further Education providers respond to skills needs, to increase healthcare training provision and align it with the needs of employers in the North East.

East Durham College who led on the bid will receive £900k, which will enable them to create a new pharma lab, clean room and extend their recently developed mock-hospital ward.

Suzanne Duncan, principal and CEO, East Durham College, and chair of the North East Regional Health Skills Hub group, explains how this vital funding will help the region’s healthcare sector and jobs: “The health sector is the biggest employer in the North East and in the UK.

“Globally, the NHS is the eighth biggest employer, only exceeded by organisations like the US Department of Defence and the People’s Liberation Army of China. But we know that a maturing workforce is leading to skills shortages and that both public and private sector health employers are struggling to recruit the people they need.

“And this is by no means limited to the more obvious roles, like the 50,000 nurses that the government has promised. It’s also the many, many behind-the-scenes roles like healthcare scientists, pharmacists and manufacturers which are the backbone of the NHS and our health sector.

“In the North East, we recognised that the needs of the health sector are so great that no one organisation or college can meet them individually. We needed to work collaboratively to solve skills shortages, with a focus on these ‘hidden’ roles.”

To help address this issue, 18 months ago, the health and education sectors came together to form the North East Regional Health Skills Hub.

The group is made up of a number of further education colleges: Bishop Auckland, Derwentside, East Durham, Gateshead, New College Durham, Sunderland and Tyne Coast along with the University of Sunderland, private training provider Learning Curve Group and Health Education England as well as the North East LEP.

Suzanne continued: “The group has a strong relationship with Health Education England, facilitated by the North East LEP, who have shared data with us about the shortages of skilled workers for particular jobs.

“Thanks to their insight, the hub can pinpoint roles like aseptic pharmacy technicians which are in real demand, and which will continue to be needed in our region in the future.”

By Matthew Neville – Correspondent, Bdaily

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