Introducing and Implementing Sector Based Work Academy Programmes

HALN member and Learning Set participant Oli Fletcher, of Somerset Integrated Care System, and Cody Hyland of Somerset NHS Foundation Trust share their experiences of running Sector Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs).

In Somerset, as indeed across the UK, Covid-19 led to increased redundancies, furlough and an urgent need to train and place people as Covid-19 vaccinators.

SWAPs were originally developed by Somerset ICS to meet this need, but have developed into thriving training and support programmes kickstarting local residents’ careers in the NHS.

Setting the context

Somerset Integrated Care System is perhaps the ‘simplest’ in England. Two NHS Trusts are merging into one, while a quarter of its GP Practices are provided by Symphony Healthcare Services; itself a subsidiary of the NHS Trust. From 2023, Somerset will have one NHS Foundation Trust, one unitary authority, one Integrated Care Board.

In the winter of 2020-21, Somerset experienced large numbers of redundancies, including 800 in one local factory, and nearing 300 with a retailer who headquartered in the county. Simultaneously, there was a concern about how Somerset Foundation Trust could grow a workforce to support the mass vaccination programme.

Alongside nuclear and aerospace, the Health and Care sector dominates the local economic landscape, accounting for 20% of employment in some parts of the county. Recognising that as a local anchor it has significant assets and spending power, Somerset ICS has focused much of its own resources on upskilling residents, increasing local employment opportunities and tackling the problem of understaffing in their local NHS at the same time.

What are SWAPs and how did they originate?

In November 2020, the Somerset People Board for Health and Social Care introduced an ICS Economic Response, targeted at employers making large numbers of redundancies, which included SWAPs: programmes comprising distance learning, a short in-person course and then a guaranteed interview for those wanting to leave their role prior to redundancy.

The ICS committed to offering “good job security in a time of economic uncertainty as well as being really rewarding – truly being able to make a difference in people’s lives” (quotation from an open letter to Oscar Mayer & Debenhams staff facing redundancy).

Care providers, the CCG, the local authority and NHS Trusts all signed up to the ICS Economic Response. Operationally, SWAPs were to be delivered by a college partner alongside Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, and funded by the Department for Work & Pensions.

SWAPs presented a win-win; increasing candidate supply for employers with vacancies, while satisfying a commitment to system working & population health. Overwhelmingly, initial vacancies in the Mass Vaccination Programme were served, with 101 contracts issued through the SWAPs route.

SWAPs today

SWAPs sits within Somerset NHS Foundation Trust and is part of a collection of initiatives to tackle social determinants of health.

Outcomes for the SWAPs programme are shared across the system by narrowing the gap between health provision and employment support, and supporting social mobility. So far, SWAPs has had 500 referrals and led to almost 200 contracts. Where someone has obtained a bank contract, the team continues to support the individual to find a substantive post. The main reasons for withdrawal are non-engagement and access to identity documents.

The SWAPs programme “was the best thing I have ever done – it has literally changed my life”

Every person is on a named professional’s case load; the support offered has led to high rates of passing the training and success at interview. One SWAPs participant said, “My experience was completely different than I expected. I was welcomed right from the beginning, everyone was treated exactly the same. The tutor carefully answered every question I had and explained everything properly”.

Another reported: “The course made me realise that I do have skills and reinforced my belief in myself, that I have transferable skills and I can do more than I think I can!”

To hear more, watch this video from one of the SWAPs ambassadors.

There are around 20 programme starters per month. Pre-employment checks and onboarding happen prior to interview to shorten the wait for employment. Where candidates are initially unsuccessful at interview, they continue to be supported by an NHS career coach. Role selection is reactive, sometimes to corporate need; such as mass vaccination, community phlebotomy and social care discharge teams, alongside hard to fill roles including Estates and Facilities. A small number of candidates have taken up roles outside of Health and Care, having benefited from the employability support but ultimately finding the sector isn’t for them.

The future of SWAPs

As the country emerged from the pandemic and Somerset ICS’s economy work became ‘business as usual’, some parts of the ICS Economic Response fell away. As a ‘business as usual’ offer, the project should not be limited to set employers, and not change over time for ease of signposting and Jobcentre Plus referral. Internally, this process saw mass vaccination recruitment colleagues moved into the SWAPs team, supporting a broader range of roles and improving the knowledge-base for supporting economically deprived individuals. The project balances increasing candidate supply with providing high quality work to our population.

Crucially, ownership of the programme has always been and remains shared. This includes local authority colleagues delivering the programme and a multi-agency approach to training delivery and matching roles for candidates. However, outputs fall overwhelmingly to Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, and not the wider system. 184 contracts have been offered within the Trust as of August 2022, compared to 7 Integrated Care Board contracts, 3 contracts in Primary Care and 1 contract in social care.

Evidence from people who have been through the SWAPs programme suggests this is a consequence of making access to NHS roles easier. The SWAP has comparably disincentivised employment in partners with historically streamlined recruitment processes, an advantage social care has above the NHS. We are now running pilots with four social care providers to see how we improve pathways for SWAPs candidates into Social Care roles. To maintain the broad spectrum of partners involved, we need to address this overwhelming imbalance.

We aim for the SWAPs programme to expand its reach across the ICS into Social Care and Primary Care roles and launch a parallel SWAP for non-clinical roles including business support and estates. The SWAP will be targeted to the most deprived PCNs and to communities such as Ukrainian Refugees through community hubs. We will also expand the number of college partners to increase the number of places each month on offer.

For more information on this topic contact SWAPS@Somersetft.nhs.uk or visit the SWAPs webpage.

Authors
Cody Hyland, Talent Hub Project Lead at Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
Oli Fletcher, Workforce Programme Lead, Somerset Integrated Care System