Skills for Health launch new online tool to define job roles

Skills for Health have launched a new Roles Directory, an online resource designed to promote the sharing of jobs and roles across the NHS, independent and voluntary sectors.

The Directory is an interactive library of over 170 roles that will act as a valuable resource for the development of new or redesigned roles. The overriding aim is to assist the health sector provide high quality, productive services so that patient care can be continually improved across the whole workforce.

The Roles Directory

Bringing together the Health Career Framework, Transferrable Roles Templates and the Employability Skills Matrix, the Directory provides detailed and objective information about jobs and roles in the broader health sector.

A diverse range of roles (Levels 1-8) from administration and clerical functions to specialist clinicians have been developed by the sector using Skills for Health Role (Re)design methodology as well as being imported from the Health Career Framework tool. So, all jobs are real jobs and roles from the sector which SfH developed with employers from across the UK.

Skills for Health have also created a Transferable Role Template, developed in order to provide consistency within the approach of defining skills and competences needed to fulfil the requirements within the role. The template helps to outline the learning and development needs for staff already working in these roles and to support the establishment of transferable roles where appropriate.

Each role template consists of the following:

•     Outline of the role
•     Career framework level and associated descriptors
•     The core competencies- National Occupational Standards (NOS), relevant to the Career Framework
•     Specific competencies (NOS) required by the role
•     The performance criteria- what the applicant would be assessed against, including the knowledge and understanding that is required within the role.

The Directory will allow users to tailor the template and create a job description based on the role incorporating the Employability Skills (values, attitudes and behaviours) required in an associated personal specification. Every service area across the health sector varies, and so roles need to be adaptable in order to deliver the right level of care.

The Directory will act as a valuable tool for commissioners, service managers, workforce developers, workforce planners, service improvement managers, human resource personnel and employees.

Jan Parfitt, Senior Consultant at Skills for Health comments:”The Roles Directory is an exciting new initiative from Skills for Health which provides practical help and support on developing and redesigning roles. In real terms, this means that you don’t always have to start from scratch or “reinvent the wheel” – you can see if anyone else has designed a role similar; how they’ve described the scope, what career framework level descriptors apply and what competences are required, as well as reviewing what indicative learning and development they’ve identified.

“We strive to promote sharing within the sector and are delighted to be able to launch this as a free resource so that everyone can have access to the most up to date information on healthcare roles and amend them to suit their own needs. In turn, we hope that as this tool is implemented across the sector, it will achieve the much broader objective of creating a more productive and efficient service.”

The library is free and can be accessed here: https://tools.skillsforhealth.org.uk