We have established a Health and Social Care Academy (HSCA) for Warrington, repurposing an existing building on Warrington and Vale Royal College’s Winwick Road campus.

Recognising that an individual in need of support might require assistance from multiple agencies across health and social care, the HSCA will support collaborative working with partners in health, adult and children’s social care. It will establish informal and formal networks and teams that are centred around the individual in need of support and, crucially, to discuss how cross-sectoral workforce planning might develop over time.

The academy officially opened in October 2022!

The HSCA is:

• a cutting edge facility dedicated to the provision of values-driven education and skills training – from pre-entry to level seven – that supports professional progression into and across the health and social care sectors
• highly collaborative, ensuring that the HSCA’s education and skills training offer complements and augments other provision across the town
• instrumental in bringing together key stakeholders  - further education and higher education, local authority, employers and the voluntary / third sectors - across Warrington to evolve the concept of the HSCA, discuss and approve its design, facilities and resources and, crucially, its  education and skills training offer over the short, medium and longer term
• central to the longevity of an ambitious, mutually beneficial partnerships and supportive of the long-term workforce strategies in health and adult and children’s social care, focusing especially on integrated care services
• a regional – if not national – centre of excellence.