Recruiters, employers and healthcare workers have welcomed plans for the introduction of a ‘skills passport’.

A one-year pilot project was conducted among nursing staff at seven English NHS Trusts during 2009/10 seeking to test ‘proof of concept’ for the passport which allows workers to create a verified online record of their skills, qualifications and experience. This can be viewed by prospective or existing employers as required.

According to research from sector skills council Skills for Health, employers liked the way the passport can cut unnecessary duplication of statutory and mandatory training and pre-employment checks each time a worker moves between employers, while nurses praised the passport’s potential contribution to career development and job mobility. 

Kate Bleasdale, executive vice chairman of HCL, told Recruiter: “With their uniquely transferable skills, the UK’s healthcare workforce is becoming more and more mobile and is also becoming increasingly inclined towards flexible working patterns. Any measure which supports these trends, and supports healthcare workers’ continued professional development, is welcome. With an increasing demand for healthcare professionals from a growing and aging population, it’s also vital for patient care that healthcare professionals can move seamlessly to new roles, with as little red tape as possible.”

Caron Ratcliffe, director of nursing, Apex Health + Social Care, adds: “As a supplier of temporary staff to the NHS we would welcome the introduction of a ‘skills passport.’

“The existence of a ‘skills passport’ would be a useful aid in the recruitment process. It would allow us to view and verify the skills of new applicants, therefore reducing paperwork and allowing us to place fully compliant staff into work within a shorter timeframe. As an agency we already use a bespoke IT system that allows us to track the training, qualifications and compliance of all our staff and we believe the electronic registering of health care staff to be a useful process.”