Our focus for 2023-26

Our focus is to build careers, lives and the future sustainability of the health and social care workforce through a focus on people, partnerships and performance. We will deliver our strategic ambition through our medium term plan and annual delivery plans, measuring and managing our performance against Key Performance Indicators.

People

Objectives

We will:

• Support NES staff to be the best they can be through developing new career pathways and ways of working, well being initiatives and enabling their professional development.

• Seek to eliminate the gender pay gap across all protected characteristics and engage younger people in the NES Workforce.

• Support role re-design and transformation to enable early intervention and prevention, optimise care pathways, address workforce shortages and complement wider service reform and transformation activity across the health and social care system.

• Scope, design and deliver a programme of workforce development activity to increase the capacity and capability of the social care workforce, working collaboratively with the Scottish Social Services Council.

• Increase capacity and capability to deliver psychological interventions and therapies to support the people of Scotland including the health and social care workforce.

• Lead and deliver high-quality education, training and continuous professional development across all health and social care disciplines.

• Develop the education, training and tools required to support health and care professionals in meeting the Health and Social Care standards, practising Realistic Medicine and delivering value-based health and care in a way which is meaningful to their roles and those they support.

• Support the health and social care workforce including children, young people and justice services to become trauma informed and trauma responsive.

• Support professionalism in education across health and social care, with a particular focus on digitally enabled learning.

• Deliver the NES Workforce Plan and Organisational Development Plan.

Outcomes

Commitments, contributions and collaborations

• We are committed to 'The Promise,' which is Scotland's goal to be the best place in the world for children to grow up. We want children to be loved, safe, respected, and realise their full potential. As a corporate parent, we are dedicated to achieving this goal.

• We will increase our focus on developing education and training for the health and social care sector and particularly for the children and young people and justice workforce so that they are equipped with the rights skills to enable good outcomes and experiences.

• We will increase education, training and promote apprenticeships for young people, supporting them to be better prepared for the world of work and to understand the opportunities available through a career in health and social care.

• We will care for the wellbeing, health, and safety of our staff and those who access our education and training, providing opportunities for them to achieve their full potential.

• We will support the values of care and compassion, dignity and respect, openness, honesty, responsibility, quality and teamwork, by encouraging positive behaviours and workplace practices so staff across the health and social care workforce experience a workplace culture which is aligned to those values.

• We will enable a diverse range of people to flourish by widening access to careers in health and social care so that, whatever a person’s life experience, they have access to education and training to support them with their role and career aspirations.
• We will support transformation in roles and ways of working across health and social care to improve the care and wellbeing of people in Scotland by making careers in health and social care more accessible and attractive and enhancing our reach and approach to educational research, innovation, and technology.

Partnerships

Objectives

We will:

• Improve the range, quality, detail, analysis, and reporting of workforce data linked to population health and care needs, working in collaboration with partners.
• Work in partnership to scope the skills and training required to deliver and implement health care research, development and innovation.
• Build our capability around workforce supply to develop resourcing strategies which address supply shortages and provide centralised co-ordination and recruitment expertise.
• Develop and deliver accelerated training in areas of need through the NHS Scotland Academy.
• Act as the strategic delivery partner to Scottish Government on activities which target skills development in areas such as leadership, digital and data. 
• Scope and develop a National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Social Care.
• Develop and implement engagement and participation activities in partnership with people with lived experience to inform our work.
• Work with partners and staff to provide high quality and relevant equality and human rights education and learning resources.
• Support development of a portable passport of learning – to support professional development, which will be portable across employers and aid career development.

Outcomes

Commitments, contribution and collaborations

• We will actively involve partners and those with lived or living experience of health and social care in the design of our education, learning, workforce, and technology development, to support achievement of the outcomes that matter most to people.

• We will understand and articulate national and local workforce needs through our work with a diverse range of stakeholders and the combined analysis of a range of data sources to build a picture of national and local workforce needs to inform planning and service delivery.

• We will contribute to community wealth-building and improving population health through employability and skills. We will do this by codesigning and delivering the highest quality education, training, and workforce development, to support the creation and retention of good quality local employment opportunities in health and social care.

• We will work with partners to encourage proactive and preventative care approaches supporting improved outcomes and the sustainability of health and social care services.

• We will work collaboratively to widen access to careers in health and social care so that, whatever a person’s life experience, they have better access to job opportunities, learning and development.

• We will work with the health and social care sector to identify the barriers to delivering improved outcomes and shape solutions, acknowledging the differences in terms and conditions, accessibility, connectivity as well as the aspirations of the Fair Work agenda.

• We will broaden our reach and form new alliances and partnerships, at home and abroad, to share learning and develop new ways of working that meet the needs of our communities.
  
  

Performance

Objectives

We will:

• Develop and deliver the National Digital Platform, Digital Front Door and Digitally Enabled Workforce Programme in collaboration with partners such as Scottish Government, COSLA, NHS National Services Scotland and the Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre.
• Maximise the efficiency of our organisation, clearly demonstrating best value in our work.
• Refresh and redesign our learning experience platforms and user interfaces to reduce duplication, promote quality, consistency and best value as well as responding to Board, Health and Social Care Partnership/Third and Independent sector needs.
• Scope and deliver a range of national leadership and quality improvement programmes and resources for the health and social care workforce.
• Develop education and training products that encompass sustainability and climate change to develop the knowledge and skills of the workforce in protecting our environment and tackling the climate emergency.
• Strengthen our organisational focus on sustainability and climate change to achieve carbon efficiency.

Outcomes

Commitments, contribution and collaborations

• We will achieve best value in the delivery of our long-term plan through transforming our business systems, governance, and operating model and maximising the opportunity to transform pathways and service delivery supporting longer term national ambitions of public sector reform.

• We will support the delivery of more sustainable care and help tackle the climate emergency by ensuring these are key areas within our education, training and workforce development.

• We will strive for continual improvement in our organisational sustainability and carbon performance.

• We will support “Once for Scotland” principles by proactively sharing our resources, learning and experience with partners to maximise value and impact.

• We will work collaboratively to measure the impact of our activities, enabling us to demonstrate the difference we make through our work.

• We will achieve the status of a credit-rating body, conferring multiple benefits for learners, employers and the wider system as well as enhancing our credibility as the leader of education and training in the health and social care sector.