Research Article in FrontHealthServ: Exploring a Career Pathway for Home Support Workers in Ireland

Our focus in LHP Skillnet is on areas of upskilling that are identified by our member companies as a priority for them to grow and become stronger. As businesses within the healthcare sector, upskilling and continued professional development of staff directly impacts on the person in receipt of care. This is why ensuring quality in everything we do is our priority. We also commission research, where required, to enable us to identify evidence-based solutions to support our members with workforce development.

The home care sector is facing significant workforce challenges with an acute shortage of care workers against a background of rising demand for care. Attracting and developing a competent and motivated home support workforce is essential for expanding capacity, enhancing skills, improving job satisfaction, and achieving the goal of providing effective home-based support. The development of a competency framework (linked to training, qualifications, grades of employment and pay rates) that would support career development and address some of the challenges around recruitment and retention of Home Support Workers (HSWs) is needed.

LHP Skillnet engaged the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery RCSI to conduct a systematic scoping review of international evidence on career pathways for home support workers with the aim of producing actionable recommendations in a White Paper to inform policy, research, and practice on a career pathway for HSWs. An initial Green Paper set out the findings of the scoping review and it was shared with key stakeholders for feedback. This will be followed on by the White Paper which outlines recommendations based on the evidence.

The international scoping review provides foundational evidence to establish career pathways for HSWs, identifying key areas for development such as data collection, care model transformation, career progression structures, and systems for safety and quality improvement.

The evidence highlights:

• a comprehensive view on career pathways for home support workers (HSWs) offering insights into key issues and areas for workforce development and career building.
• the critical need to prioritise leadership, collaboration, and data-driven decision-making to shape the future of the home support sector in line with the needs of ageing populations.
• that clearer career structures could help to attract and retain HSWs, offering opportunities for core competency and advanced training, leadership development, and progression to more skilled work aligned to specific client group needs, and higher grades of remuneration.
• that strategies to cultivate successful careers and a thriving workforce should focus on safeguarding the rights, personal safety, and wellbeing of HSWs and clients as well as involving HSWs more in teams, organisations, and policy decisions.
• that fostering quality and impact in home support work requires developing systems for quality improvement and measures of service evaluation that recognise relational aspects of supportive care.

You can find out more information about the systematic scoping review in the article below which was published in Frontiers in Health Services on the 13th March 2024. Frontiers in Health Services is a multidisciplinary journal that informs the design and delivery of healthcare, ultimately improving patient experiences, outcomes, and the efficiency of health systems.