A Workforce Revolution: How Enhanced Roles are Transforming Health & Social Care in North East London
At Care City, we believe that the future of care lies in breaking down barriers between health and social care and empowering the workforce that sits at the heart of both. That’s why, with funding from The Rayne Foundation, we’re leading a transformational project to develop and embed Nursing Associate and AHP Assistant Practitioner roles within social care settings—bridging the gap between care providers and NHS Trusts.
This is not just another workforce development initiative—this is a fundamental shift in how we think about care delivery. By creating clear career pathways for care staff and providing them with specialist training, we are unlocking untapped potential within the social care workforce to ease pressures on the NHS, improve health outcomes, and ensure people receive the right care at the right time, in the right place.
Why this matters
We know the challenges all too well:
- Workforce shortages—Nursing and AHP staff shortages are exacerbating waiting lists and delaying essential care.
- Underutilised talent—There is huge potential within the social care workforce to support preventative health interventions, but no sustainable pathway to upskill staff into these roles.
- Lack of integration—Health and care services too often operate in silos, missing opportunities to work together to improve outcomes and avoid hospital admissions.
This programme directly tackles these challenges by “growing our own” skilled workforce from within care settings, giving staff the opportunity to develop into qualified roles and career paths they once may never have thought possible.
A New Era of Integrated Care
We are already seeing huge enthusiasm for this work. Over the last few months, we have spoken to District Nurses and AHPs across all seven Boroughs in North East London, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive:
“This work marks a real step forward in integrating our health and care workforce across North East London. As we launch the North East London People and Workforce Strategy, initiatives like this show how we can create new career pathways, develop skills within social care, and build a workforce that is truly fit for the future. The enthusiasm from across our system—from District Nurses to AHPs—demonstrates the appetite for change, and I look forward to seeing these new roles in action in Newham and Redbridge, with the ambition to scale across all seven Boroughs.”
Gareth Noble, Deputy Director of Workforce Programmes, North East London
Building on the learning and partnerships generated through our earlier pilots in NEL our work will focus on:
- Aligning with service priorities: Collaborating with Nursing, AHP and commissioning colleagues to identify areas of high service demand/capacity challenge and aligning the new roles to ease pressure points and reflect commissioning priorities.
- Creating new roles based in care: Creating both apprentice and qualified Nursing Associate and Assistant Practitioner posts with key care providers, supporting co-development of Job Descriptions and ways of working, training delivery models and provision of funding.
- Governance for co-working: Establishing organisation-to-organisation delegation and supervision and governance models agreed at North East London level between care providers, Trusts and other stakeholders.
- Sustained funding for posts and services: Establishing financial principles to fund and sustain the qualified roles within care settings as well as address ongoing affordability issues with apprenticeships
- Measuring outcome: Development of a monitoring and evaluation framework, co-designed with stakeholders to measure health interventions and outcomes delivered by the new roles and the overall impact of the project.
Making It Happen – Starting in Newham & Redbridge
We are delighted that the first of these roles will be launched in Newham and Redbridge this September. However, our ambition doesn’t stop there—we want to see all seven Boroughs in North East London adopt this model.
Success will mean:
- Stronger prevention & faster discharge—Keeping people well at home, avoiding hospital stays, and ensuring rapid support when they leave.
- A skilled & motivated workforce—Creating genuine career pathways in social care, improving retention and job satisfaction.
- Reduced NHS pressures—Freeing up nurses and AHPs to focus on higher-level interventions, while care teams take on essential delegated tasks.
- Closer collaboration—Bringing health and care together in a way that works for professionals and for the people they serve.
If you work in health and care in North East London and want to bring these roles to your Borough, we want to hear from you. Let’s scale this work together and ensure more people get the right care, in the right place, at the right time.
