New healthcare vocational qualifications come in

Vocational qualifications in health and social care ‘go live’ this month, replacing the existing range of NVQs.

Subjects on offer range from Health Informatics to Emergency Care Assistance, Maternity and Paediatric Support and Optical Retail Skills.

The new qualifications will be “more flexible and more responsive to employers’ needs”, according to Skills for Health, which developed them with input from those employers and training providers.

Skills for Health Director for Qualifications Strategy, Anne Eaton, said: “Education and training is vital to our sector but it is important that the qualifications offered are flexible and can respond to the fast-changing needs of employers and their staff.

“The introduction of these new vocational qualifications on the Qualifications and Credit Framework will help to ensure that our workforce is competent in the skills they need to do their jobs.”

The new qualifications have been approved by the regulator and will become the benchmark for the sector.

Qualifications in Scotland will continue to be regulated by the Scottish Qualifications Authority.