We are consulting on a new qualification, still in development, which will allow individuals to work across different roles and settings.
As part of government policy to progress integrated health and social care services we are working with NHS Education for Scotland (NES), Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and stakeholders from across health and social care to co-design this new SVQ.
Why we developed this qualification
Traditional roles and boundaries across services have reformed into more collaborative and shared ways of delivering health and social care, reducing barriers to care from hospital to community settings and supporting continuity of care for young people transitioning to adult health and social care services.
Social care and health support workers and practitioners now share similar features within their skill sets, delivering care which meets personal outcomes. This must now be reflected in their professional qualifications.
This qualification will cover a range of transferable knowledge and skills, suitable for the professionalism and flexibility of workers who adapt to the diverse health and social care outcomes of people in integrated health and social care settings. It aims to strengthen movement between workplace roles and career pathways across the health care, social care and the children and young people workforce.
Our intention is for this qualification to complement rather than replace current SVQs in social services or health care support, offering a wider range of qualifications. This qualification will be accepted to register with the SSSC on relevant parts of the Register.
Who is the qualification for?
This qualification is suitable for any health and/or social care worker whose job role matches the SCQF level and National Occupational Standards (NOS) in the qualification. It holds NOS which are suitable for health care support and social service roles, in adult and children and young people services. Stakeholder consultation has identified the following priority groups:
- health care support workers, support workers, practitioners and supervisors employed in health and social care services or settings (particularly community based, primary care and integrated teams)
- school leavers interested in working across services or yet to find their preferred health and social care vocational route
- people working across different settings or services
- workers wishing a career change or progression within a different health and social care settings or service
- workers in discrete geographical communities, such as island or rural communities
- workers in care at home who work with children and young people and/or adults
- workers who may need to support children and young people transitioning from children and young people to adult support.
Who should take part in this consultation?
We would like to hear views from employers, training providers, SVQ assessors, verifiers and other stakeholders across the social care and children and young people workforce, including integrated health and social care sectors.
We are consulting on this first draft of the qualification while it is still in development, to make sure it suitable for the current and future workforce. Your views will inform our final draft of the qualification which we will submit to SQA Accreditation for approval in 2024.