Department of Health

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Model career

The NHS must provide a model career if it wants to achieve the objectives of more staff, working differently. Employees should have the freedom to fulfil their potential, and exercise choice over their career development.

Skills Escalator

The Skills Escalator is the structure by which the NHS will enable staff to acquire new skills and invest in professional development. This means staff will have greater influence over their careers, and the diversity of the NHS workforce will increase.

Introduction to the Skills Escalator

One of the four pillars of The HR in the NHS Plan is ensuring that the NHS provides a model career offering a Skills Escalator.

Transfer of responsibility to Skills for Health

Responsibility for the implementation of the Skills Escalator transferred to Skills for Health on the 30th September 2004. The Skills Escalator team will still be based within Quarry House and all contact details will remain the same until the move to new office accommodation in central Leeds. The Skills Escalator team will be pleased to address any queries you may have regarding this change. Please contact stephanie.eagleton@dh.gsi.gov.uk or sally.chubb@dh.gsi.gov.uk.

The Skills Escalator Team

Contact details.

Skills Escalator resource pack: Achieving your potential

The purpose of this resource is to give an overview of the Skills Escalator and to bring together all related policies and guidance into one pack to demonstrate how they work together into a cohesive whole. It points users in the direction of other resources for more comprehensive guidance on specific topics and aspects of the Skills Escalator.

Skills Escalator examples

Organisation-wide examples, and local and national schemes in seven progressive categories of development. (All examples are in Portable Document Format).

Skills Escalator FAQ

Answers to commonly asked questions about the Skills Escalator.

Mapping the progress of skills escalator activity

Published: 01/07/2004

This report contains some early findings from a research project, commissioned by the Department of Health, on skills escalator activity in the NHS and social care community. The skills escalator aims to attract a wider range of people to work in the NHS whilst also supporting career potential and development across its workforce. Through investing in a lifelong learning approach, the NHS seeks to encourage staff to new ways of working which extend their current skills and contribute to wider service/process redesign and improvements in health services. This report starts with an overview of the project and research methodology. It continues with five chapters of findings from Phase 1: Part 1. The report concludes with the identification of key issues for future research within the project.

Skills Escalator Reference Network

Report of meeting 19 February 2004.

Skills Escalator Event

On the 17th October 2003, the Department of Health held a Skills Escalator event at the Cedar Court Hotel Harrogate. The day was very successful with a lot of useful and positive feedback. The following links open documents (in Portable Document Format) and PowerPoint presentations from the day.

Additional links

Learning and personal development (LPD)

The opportunity for all staff to learn and develop is a crucial factor in achieving new ways of patient-centred working. This section sets out how existing learning structures are changing, and how flexible learning programmes are becoming available to NHS staff.

Model employer

Policies designed to make the NHS a better, fairer and more flexible employer can be found in this section. Measures to ensure equality and diversity, childcare options, pensions, occupational health issues and Improving Working Lives (IWL) are all addressed.

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