The health and social care sector is vital to the health of the population in general and our workforce for the whole economy.

Given the continued growth in the population as a whole and the fact that the population is ageing there is increasing demand for health and social care services.

Prior to the pandemic we were seeing high demand for roles such as nurses and social care workers, this situation has been exacerbated by the increased demand on the sector due to COVID-19.

There are also opportunities in the sector to make better use of new digital medical technologies to improve quality, efficiency and patient experience as well as supporting more integrated care and improving the health of the population.

To support this digitisation of services there is a need for skills required for roles such as software developer, product owner, implementation facilitator, knowledge engineer (AI), health data analyst and cyber security specialist.

Locally Staffordshire University is aiming to create a healthcare cluster around a new innovation centre. The £5.8m Centre for Health Innovation at the University’s Stafford campus has recently been completed and it will allow medical products to be tested 'in the field'.

Top hard skills in demand:

Nursing

Mental Health

Personal Care

Learning Disabilities

Autism Spectrum Disorders

Rehabilitation

Dementia

Working With Children

Psychology

Auditing

Top common skills in demand:

Communications

Management

Enthusiasm

Teaching

Compassion

Leadership

Planning

Self-Motivation

Innovation

Resilience