Skills for Health publishes English regional briefings on skills and labour market environment

New resources to help health sector employers understand and respond to the fast-changing regional skills and labour market environment have been published by Skills for Health, the UK's Skills Council for healthcare.

The nine intelligence briefings bring together the latest health and labour market statistics for each English region, providing a sound basis for local workforce planning activities by employers in the NHS, independent and voluntary sectors.

Key indicators for each region include current and anticipated demand for healthcare, the size and structure of the regional health sector, the characteristics of the regional workforce and the prevalence of skills gaps and skills shortages.

The briefings show that within England:

• The South-West has the highest number of health establishments reporting skills gaps in their current workforce (25%), while the East Midlands has the lowest (19 per cent)
• The North-East has the highest proportion of its regional workforce employed in the health care sector (7.9%), while London has the lowest (5.4%)
• The proportion of health sector staff employed in the independent sector is highest in London and the South-East (29% and 28% respectively) and lowest in the North-East and North-West (19% and 18%)
• The East of England has the highest ratio of population to health sector employees (one employee per 40 people); the lowest ratio, one employee to 31 population, is seen in the North-East, North-West and Yorkshire and The Humber
• The South-West has the highest percentage of part-time workers in its health sector workforce (49%) compared with London, which has the lowest percentage (31%)
• London has the highest proportion of health sector workers qualified to NVQ Level 4 or above (65%) while the lowest proportion is seen in Yorkshire and The Humber, East Midlands and East of England (57%).

This is the third year that Skills for Health has published its English regional briefings. They are produced as part of an ongoing programme of skills and labour market intelligence (SLMI), delivered within its remit as Sector Skills Council for healthcare.

Skills for Health also produces specific research reports to address gaps in knowledge about the health sector labour market, as well as 'future-oriented' horizon scanning workshops and seminars bringing together health sector employers from throughout the UK for discussion and debate.

Skills for Health also publishes a range of 'baseline' skills and labour market intelligence reports for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. As with the regional briefings for England, all are free to download from the Skills for Health website.

SOURCE Skills for Health