Skills for Care’s latest campaign aims to showcase how data drives change in the adult social care sector.
Throughout October, the Data Drives Change campaign will highlight the important role that data plays in raising awareness of social care and shaping care sector policies.
The national adult social care workforce development charity says that social care data can aid decision-making at all levels and helps government and other leaders and stakeholders to improve their understanding of the sector.
Skills for Care use care data for national reports and sector insights
Skills for Care regularly publishes national reports and insights into the adult social care workforce, utilising data from the 21,000+ social care organisations who use its Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set (ASC-WDS).
In fact, they are due to publish their annual ‘State of the adult social care sector and workforce report’ later this month. This report includes insights on vacancy rates, pay, qualifications, skills and demographics across the sector.
These insights help to inform government policy on adult social care.
Skills for Care says that employers in care can also use data to help them with workplace planning, training, recruitment and retention.
Using their specific data alongside Skills for Care’s national report, they can also gain a clearer understanding of how their individual organisation fits within the local and national market.
Learn how data is being used in care
Skills for Care will run the Data Drives Change campaign across their website, social media and other communication channels.
They will provide free information and resources, including real-life examples of how data is being used by social care providers and stakeholders, the influence that this data has on social care policy and how data can be used to support business planning, people management and decision-making.
The Head of Workforce Intelligence at Skills for Care, Dave Griffiths, said they were “really excited” to launch the Data Drives Change campaign to showcase how “vital” data is in supporting care leaders, stakeholders and ministers “to gain a better understanding of the social care sector and workforce, and to make decisions that can improve social care for the people who work in care and the people who draw on care and support.”
He added:
“Our data is used to develop and monitor key sector policies – for example the use of Health and Care Worker visas and the Care Workforce Pathway. Equally importantly, it evidences the nature and scale of issues affecting care providers, particularly the challenges in recruiting and retaining workers in a growing sector. Our data is also used at regional and local levels and by care providers themselves.”
Skills for Care will be providing updates across their social media and in their regular newsletters and other communications, using the hashtag #DataDrivesChange.
They have also launched a new LinkedIn Showcase Page to provide up to date information about their latest data report releases and insights about the adult social care workforce and sector.
Care Training and Support
First Response Training (FRT) is a leading, national training provider. They deliver over 7,000 courses each year in the fields of health and safety, first aid, fire safety, food hygiene, mental health, health and social care and more.
Their health and social care range includes Moving and Assisting, Person Centred Care, Duty of Care, Safeguarding Adults and many more.
A trainer from FRT says:
“Leaders and managers in care help to ensure the effectiveness of care services using effective data and information, and the insights these provide.
“It’s great that Skills for Care is taking this time to highlight the importance of good data and to support care providers across the sector to understand how they can use data to their advantage.”
For more information on the training that FRT can provide, please call them today on freephone 0800 310 2300 or send an e-mail to info@firstresponsetraining.com.