View in browser

We Are Social Care Nursing

Welcome to this edition of our newsletter!

Deborah Sturdy shares her views on how the future workforce is critical to social care and what’s been done to improve placement opportunities. Continuing this theme, our ‘Shine a spotlight on’ this month features Ryan Allen, a newly qualified learning disability nurse in social care, who shares his experience and passion for working in the sector and looks at how nursing programmes prepare students for a career in social care.

You’ll also find details of Skills for Care’s new campaigns, some career stories that showcase the diverse roles nurses play in social care and the nurse leadership programme for internationally educated registered nurses, plus much more.

Go straight to what interests you:

A message from Deborah Sturdy

Like most nursing students, I envisioned a future within the National Health Service (NHS), however, throughout my nursing degree, I did not feel personally connected to my NHS professional practice placements. Although I was well connected with the NHS’s 6Cs of nursing, which guided my initial interest and passion for person-centred care, my desire to experience an alternative structure and to experience a different perspective of nursing practice pushed me to source a variety of social-care placements. I believe this was needed to further my nursing career prospects and ideas surrounding social care.

Read the full article

Skills for Care latest news 🗞️

Managing your service

This March, Skills for Care is shining our spotlight on managing a care service. Running a service within the care sector is a challenging job. You’re responsible for ensuring that your team delivers high-quality, person-centred care, all while thinking about compliance, Care Quality Commission (CQC) assessment and a huge variety of other pressures.

Our latest campaign will provide insight, guidance, tools and resources that can help you manage your people, resources and service performance.

⇨ Find out more about #ManagingYourService

Celebrating social care

This April, Skills for Care is once again #CelebratingSocialCare, focusing on the amazing people who work in care, and we’d love you to join the celebrations.

This is our fourth year running the campaign to raise the profile of social care and its important contribution to society, share positive stories and create a feeling of community, celebration, and pride among the social care workforce.

As part of this, we’re encouraging everyone working across social care to join in and shout out their colleagues or share something they’re particularly proud of via social media using #CelebratingSocialCare.

⇨ Find out how you can get involved

Medicines management resources

The resources have been developed for people who are responsible for purchasing and/or checking the quality of external or in-house medicines management training for care workers and managers. They include checklists for training and quality assurance, as well as guidance on how to assess competency with medicines management.

⇨ Find out more

Attracting and retaining the workforce 🔍

Education, training and research

The three-month programme features live online workshops, reflection sessions and self-guided learning exercises. We’ll provide the tools and techniques needed to better lead themselves and others, to understand their boundaries and to understand the role of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). We’ll also explore what social care is and how social care and health work together. It’s a fantastic opportunity to meet other internationally educated nurses and form a support network.

Open to registered nurses with an NMC PIN who’ve been in the UK less than two years. Bookings close on 16 May 2025.

⇨ Book now

Work-related quality of life and wellbeing of the adult social care workforce

In 2023 a survey of the adult social care workforce in England was commissioned to help the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) better understand the experience of people working in the sector and develop policies to support the workforce.  

The survey was developed, designed and conducted by Ipsos, the University of Kent and Skills for Care. It included questions on overall wellbeing, work related quality of life, experiences of harassment, abuse and bullying, learning and development and intentions to leave the sector.  

⇨ See the findings from the research

PMLD LINK Journal - the only publication solely focused on the needs of people with profound and multiple learning disabilities

PMLD LINK is a charity, specifically acting as a source of information, learning, networking and sharing of research and good practice in supporting people with profound and multiple learning disabilities of all ages, in all parts of society.

People with profound and multiple learning disabilities often get left out, in their local communities, from Government policy and generally in society. Their voices get missed and their needs get misunderstood or forgotten. The Trustees and Editorial Team members of PMLD LINK know this group of people have important views and experiences to share. We know when we get things right for people with profound and multiple learning disabilities, everyone benefits.

⇨ Find out more  

New guidance on integrating nurse leaders into workforce planning

The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has published a practical guide to including nurses in workforce planning decisions.

‘Involving Nurse Leaders in Strategic Health Workforce Planning’ provides guidance on how to engage nurses in the process and access the knowledge, insight and expertise of the nursing profession to better shape and drive health workforce plans for the entire health workforce.

⇨ Find out more  

Transformation

National Institute for Health and Care Research

NIHR's Research Programme for Social Care want to appoint social care researchers, academics, practitioners, commissioners and policy-makers from across all four nations of the United Kingdom to join its funding committees.

The closing date is Monday 24 March.  

⇨ Find out more

Funding and development

Events📅

The Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care Awards 🏅

Get involved - We’d love to hear from you

We Are Social Care Nursing aims to highlight and showcase what is going on in nursing, to give a voice to the nurses and nursing associates who are working in social care, and for colleagues to better understand the complexity of nursing roles.

We’d like the content to be led by the workforce to show what is happening on the ground and in reality, and so if you’d like to contribute by writing about a topic of your choice, maybe something that is particularly important to you, please email SocialCareNursing@skillsforcare.org.uk

You can also get in touch via social media using #WeAreSocialCareNursing and tagging @skillsforcare

Skills for Care Ltd, West Gate, Grace Street, Leeds, LS1 2RP

Registered company no. 3866683. Registered in England

Registered charity no. 1079836. Group VAT no 135 5383 15

Unsubcribe or change your email communication preferences