Skills Passports

The Health Service Journal this week discussed how skills passports have a lot to offer recruiters by streamlining the recruitment process and avoiding duplication in training.

Skills passports for use in health are an online tool, brought about as part of the Modernising Nursing Careers initiative, run by Skills in Health. Each individual is provided with a unique log in to a secure online repository where they can enter the details of their skills, qualifications and work experience. "Every time a new competency or qualification is acquired, it can be validated in the system by the employer or training provider. Employers can then check prospective employees' credentials during the recruitment process."

Whilst this is a new venture for health care, the concept of using skills passports of this nature has already been implemented in other sectors such as catering and IT.

There is now a call for the independent health care sector, voluntary sector and entire NHS to adopt the use of skills passport, for at the moment skills passports are not used consistently across health care. Until this happens, the full benefit of this concept cannot be realised. A strategic working group has been set up to really test and understand the benefits of a skills passport. The outcome of this strategic group was that, "it offered huge benefits for employers [as well as staff], especially in the context of quality, innovation, productivity and prevention and the drive to realise efficiency savings", says Skills for Health project manager Sally-Ann Marciano.

Savings can be seen in training efficiencies too, particularly in statutory and mandatory training where there currently exists a significant level of duplication in training provided as a staff member moves from one organisation or role to another.

The question is, how can the concept of skills passports benefit other organisations or companies over and above those working in health care?

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