10 Reasons Why Healthcare Sector Should No Longer Ignore Functional Skills

When working in the healthcare sector, there are some key skills that are required on a day-to-day basis. Not only do workers need communication, maths, and the ability to use technology, func-tional skills are also necessary. In essence, functional skills include English, digital, number, and employability skills that one might boast. As a member of the frontline in social care, these skills are pivotal and here’s why they shouldn’t be ignored.

• Firstly, communication is the heart that pumps key information around the social care system. Just recently, a patient started a hello my name is campaign because none of their carers even introduced themselves. When caring for patients and working in a team, communication is important.

• Reports and paperwork are now an essential part of health care so good English skills that include reading and writing are essential; without them, work may not be completed to an accurate standard. For example, there is now a large emphasis on the evidencing of services according to the Care Quality Commission and this involves many reports.

• By 2020, the sector has an aim to become paperless which means that all care workers will require the ability to work with technology.

• In social care, stress is a major problem and has one of the highest work-related illness percentages at 40%. As a result, workers need to be able to manage their own health as well as their patients’.

• In recent years, there has been a number of calls for health and care services to become integrated. Overall, nearly 1.5 million people are employed by 18,000 companies and many believe that these services need to become more integrated to support patients. If this were to happen, it requires communication and digital skills.

• According to the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, just under 20% of social care employers have skills gaps within their own workforce. For this reason, more qualified individuals are being sought.

• Every single day, math tasks are required whether it’s managing time, counting medication, taking measurements, calculating wages, completing a stock take, or anything else.

• With technology continually improving, more people are now choosing to have their care from home in the form of assistive living technologies and telecare systems. With this in mind, workers will need to develop the skills that allow this to happen. Not only do they need the digital skills, they need the knowledge to then support the decision to receive care from home to live more independently.

• According to the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, just under 20% of social care employers have skills gaps within their own workforce. For this reason, more qualified individuals are being sought.

• Finally, problem-solving skills are essential because health care workers need to be able to read a situation and then find the best solution. For example, a patient may need help in becoming more independent despite an illness or disability.

So there we have it, functional skills are only getting more important and it looks as though it will stay this way for some time to come!