Developing the hospice workforce

Hospice UK works with members and other strategic partners to address challenges in the workforce. We want to help ensure that hospices have a workforce that is equipped to meet future demands.

Future Vision

The discovery phase of our Future Vision programme highlighted trends that will impact on the hospice workforce. This includes evolving delivery models, changing community needs and challenges with recruitment and retention. Hospices will have to address changing working patterns, greater flexibility of roles, a shortage of skilled workers and new educational arrangements.

As a result, there is a need for new thinking, strong leadership and innovative delivery of services.

Roles and skills of the workforce

As part of the work of the Commission into the Future of Hospice Care, we held an event with Skills for Health, the Sector Skills Council for health, which explored what the future of healthcare could look like, how hospices would fit into this context and the roles and skills that will be needed.

The report from this event is an invaluable resource, providing recommendations about how the hospice workforce should change to meet the opportunities and challenges in the future.

The Commission into the Future of Hospice Care was established in 2011 in order to provide guidance, information and options for hospices with the aim of informing their strategic position and support in addressing the changing and growing needs of their local communities. Two years after the Commission’s final report, a review was conducted into the impact for our member hospices of the Commission’s work.

This report describes the review and its findings.