Gateway to Health and Social Care: London Borough of Barking & Dagenham

This pilot project, managed by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, has established a gateway service for young people and adults into health and social care. This service is delivered by Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospitals Trust, which has tailor-made training packages focused on the needs of employers in this sector, including itself, local Primary Care Trusts, and the Borough's social services. Consequently, it is building links between stakeholders (e.g. schools, Jobcentres) and established training providers (e.g. Barking College) to achieve its goals.

Support from the LDA has been used to hire two project workers and an administrator. In addition to negotiating training, work experience, and job placements for groups such as school leavers, refugees, and long term unemployed people, they also provide pathways into Modern Apprenticeships in health and social care. The other side of their work is to ensure that local training providers are meeting the needs of the health and social care sector.

Since 1 May 2003, the gateway initiative has moved 25 people into employment, and its approach was recently recognised by the 2005 North East London Modernisation Awards, where it came first in the 'workforce innovation' category. In terms of the future, the project team will be moving into a new Lifelong Learning Centre in Barking in January 2006, from where they will continue to deliver this service after the end of LDA funding in March 2006.

For more information please visit the North East London NHS website or contact Mary Karpel: mary.karpel@lbbd.gov.uk, Tel: 0208 227 3644