Cedar Contributes to Launch of New 10-year Social Care Workforce Strategy

The Department of Health NI recently published a new ten year Social Care Workforce Strategy. Its purpose is to ensure that Northern Ireland has a social care workforce that is well trained, adequately resourced and supported to deliver high quality care to those in need. 

Health Minister Mike Nesbitt, and Deputy Permanent Secretary, Peter Toogood launched the strategy at an event at Parliament Buildings, Stormont. Our CEO, Elaine Armstrong, presented at the event providing attendees with valuable insight from an employers' perspective. 

Elaine highlighted that as an organisation we are committed to supporting people to Live, Work and Learn and to Connect. We also support wider communities and employers to achieve sustainable inclusion. She explained that through having an assets-based approach we can provide intervention services and connect with opportunities that already exist to influence positive change so that people can experience real choices in their lives. She reiterated that our vision at Cedar is to provide an inclusive society for all and that our community-based services are designed with disabled people and their families to live the lives they choose through a person centred approach.

Speaking at the event, Elaine said:

“Our social care practitioners have developed specialisms in physical disability, learning disability, autism, brain injury, and a range of lifelong health conditions to support every individual in a person-centred way.  We work in partnership with other social care practitioners across organisations – both statutory and community and voluntary sectors to coordinate our efforts to get the best possible outcomes for people. We believe our focus on quality service provision, prevention and early intervention is key to support lasting change in health and wellbeing overall for everyone. We know, and I am sure you will wholeheartedly agree wherever you work in social care, that our dedicated workforce is critical to successfully deliver on all of this." 

Elaine added:

"The values and priorities of the strategy are reflective of our ambitions as an employer and a service provider in social care. The solutions are set out to be evidence based and collaborative at all levels. We welcome this."

The presentation was concluded the acknowledgment the strategy is a significant enabler for all to collectively move forward and support reform in our health and social care system. She welcomed how this strategy links with other reform work such as the Fair Work Forum and Social Care Collaborative Forum and noted its success will be interlinked with these.

"We have invested our time in collaborating on the strategy to ensure it will meet the needs of the whole social care workforce, those registered with NISCC, and others, in delivering commissioned services in the community. We know that Cedar are a part of a very large and diverse social care workforce, however, we additionally recognise that we all have a part to play collectively." 

Do you want to know more about the Social Care Workforce Strategy 2025 - 2035?

The Social Care Workforce Strategy 2025 - 2035 strategy aims to enhance training, improve recruitment and retention, and prioritise the well-being of social care workforce to deliver high-quality care. It focuses on providing necessary resources, collaboration across sectors, and addressing the growing demand for social care services, particularly in response to an aging population. The long-term goal is to create a sustainable and effective workforce capable of meeting future care needs. If you would like to access the full strategty please follow the link: Social Care Workforce Strategy 2025-2035.