Employability Skills in Health and Social Care: A Comprehensive Guide

This assignment delves into the crucial role of employability skills in the dynamic health and social care sector. It explores the importance of these skills in meeting the demands of a competitive job market, analyzing the effectiveness of employees against defined objectives. The assignment also examines motivational theories and their impact on employee performance, providing recommendations for improvement. Through a self-appraisal form, continuous development evidence, and a team dynamics journal, the assignment offers a comprehensive understanding of the skills and strategies needed for success in this field.

EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1 SELF APPRAISAL FORM....................................................................................................3
TASK 2 CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT EVIDENCE FORM...........................................................13
TASK 3 TEAM DYNAMICS JOURNAL...........................................................................................18
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................20
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................21

INTRODUCTION
With the rapid development of economies and societies, there is also a rapid increase in
competition among the companies. The employers in the present market situation do not focus
on degrees rather they are more concerned about the employability skills of the candidates.
Even the mindset of students is changing nowadays as they are more focused on attaining skills
and knowledge rather than focusing on the degree. In the present market scenarios, employers
across all industries are looking for those employees who are capable enough to meet their job
requirements and they are looking for employees having good skills to fulfil their job roles. The
main objective of this assignment is to develop the employability skills required in the health
and social care sector for employees.
In this assignment, the importance of employability skills in the health and social care sector will
be briefly analyzed and explained (Munn and Winter, 2013). In the later sections of the
assignment, the objectives will be set for analyzing the effectiveness of employees against the
defined objectives. Some recommendations and improvements will be analyzed against the set
objectives followed by assessing the role of motivational theories for improving the employee
performance in the health and social care sector.

TASK 1 SELF APPRAISAL FORM
1.1 DEVELOPING
A SET OF OWN
RESPONSIBILITIE
S AND
PERFORMANCE
OBJECTIVES
1.2 EVALUATING OWN
EFFECTIVENESS
AGAINST DEFINED
OBJECTIVES
1.3
RECOMMENDATIONS
AND IMPROVEMENTS
1.4 MOTIVATIONAL
THEORIES AND
TECHNIQUES FOR
IMPROVING QUALITY
OF PERFORMANCE
2.2
COMMUNICAT
ION SKILLS
NEEDED AT
WORK
1.Key
Responsibility
The key
responsibility is
to provide a
quality health
support to the
patients and
enable them to
get fully involved
with protecting
and caring their
health both safely
and confidentially
(Twigg, et al.
2011).
Performance
Objective
I have the required
skills and abilities to
provide quality health
support to the
patients. I have the
knowledge related to
the safety and
precautionary
measured that need to
be taken into
consideration while we
provide health care
services in the work
environment.
Patient Care Plan
The patient care plan
will include the
following activities
which would be
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Health and Social
care sector is moving
at a faster rate hence
requires some
recommendations as
mentioned below.
Use of Health Care
Technologies: It is
important for the
health and social care
professionals like me
to make use of medical
devices and
informational
technologies in home-
based health care
services.
Regulations: The
Maslow Motivational
Theory – Hierarchy of
Needs
This theory was given
by Abraham Maslow
in which he stated
that people or
patients have various
hierarchical needs
that satisfy them from
bottom to tops such
as psychological
needs, Safety needs,
love and care needs,
self-esteem and self-
actualization
(Taormina and Gao,
2013). It is important
for the healthcare
Communicatio
n skills are one
of the
fundamental
skills essential
for
establishing
therapeutic
relations with
service users
and colleagues
in the health
and social care
sector (Arnold
and Bogg,
2015). The
communicatio
n skills
essential for

The ability to
demonstrate as
to how I have
managed to
prepare care
plans for the
patients for
promoting their
independence,
choice, dignity
while maintaining
their safety and
privacy.
continuously
monitored while I
provide the health care
services such as
 Patients
History
 Medications
 Allergies
 Results of the
mental state of
the patients
after
examination
 Risks and co-
morbidities
 Outcome
 Diagnosis
The above plan is the
patient is prepared
while promoting
patients independence,
choice, dignity and
their safety and privacy
(Grol, et al 2013).
In order to evaluate my
own effectiveness
against the defined
objectives, I will use
government agencies
should ensure the
safety of the emerging
technologies in the
health and social care
sector.
Residential
Environment for
Health Care: It is
essential for me to
provide a safe, clean
and secure
environment for the
patients in the
healthcare sector.
IMPROVEMENTS
 Analyzing the
data and
outcomes: It is
important to
analyze the
data whether it
is measurable
or not. The
opportunities
available in the
health and
professionals to adopt
this theory for
improving the quality
while they give their
health care services.
For instance, patient’s
psychological needs
should be considered
so that they feel more
relaxed and
comfortable while
they are being
diagnosed.
Hertzberg Two Factor
Theory for motivation
This theory was given
by Fredrick Herzberg
in the year 1959 also
known as the
motivator-hygiene
theory (Herzberg, et
al. 2011). As per the
theory, there are 2
factors that ensure
satisfaction for
employees in the
workplace
environment such as
the health and
social care
sector are
1. Verbal and
Non-Verbal
Communicatio
n Skills: The
verbal
communicatio
n skills should
be clear,
accurate and
must have an
honest
approach. The
verbal
communicatio
n skills must be
courteous,
respectful and
should be
encouraging to
others. On the
other hand,
the non-verbal
communicatio
n skills refer to
the body
language of

the SMART tool as
discussed below
(Haughey, 2013).
Specific: The objectives
mentioned should be
precise and must
provide clear direction.
Measurable: The
objectives mentioned
should be measurable
and achievable.
Achievable: The
objectives should be
achievable as per the
skill set, time available
and resources under
command.
Realistic: The
objectives set should
be realistic and must
provide a direction for
achieving the aims and
objectives of the
project.
Time-bound: The
objectives set should
be completed in a
time-bound manner.
The exact time needed
social care
sectors like
healthcare
technologies,
using past
health statistics
records for
patients etc can
be helpful in
identifying the
key areas in
need for
improvement.
 Goal Setting:
The objective
set should be
measurable,
precise and
quantitative in
nature and
some
improvements
for healthcare
professionals
should include
Safety so as to
avoid any injury
to the patients
and avoiding
Hygiene factors
and Motivational
factors. Both the
factors are highly
important for
healthcare
professionals as it
helps them to work
harder with
determination in the
healthcare sector. The
employers should
ensure hygiene in the
workplace
environment which
helps in providing
better care to the
patients.The second
motivational factor
comes when
employees are
rewarded for their
good work and proper
recognition and
reward is given to
them for keeping their
interest level alive in
the job that they are
pursuing.
the person.
The body
language
speaks a lot
and mainly
consists of four
elements such
as body
posture, eye
contact, facial
expressions
and touch.
2. Formal and
Informal
feedback to
and from
colleagues:
The formal
feedback
basically
occurs at the
time of
appraisal,
meetings,
interviews etc,
whereas an
informal
feedback can
occur at any

for the completion of
the project should be
predetermined.
the overuse of
ineffective care.
Close the ethnic
and racial gap
while giving
services in the
healthcare
sector which
would bring in
qualitative
improvements
in the lives of
the healthcare
professionals.
There is some scope
for improvement in my
own performance
which is being
evaluated and
summarized with the
help of SWOT Analysis.
Strengths
 high skills used
in clinical
time and
anywhere and
is mostly
unrecorded.
3.Communica
tion Skills and
ICT: The use of
the internet as
a
communicatio
n tools helps
better serve
the clients in
the health and
social care
sector. The
clients can
share their
feedbacks; the
employee can
respond to the
client in timely
and accurate
manner, client
data can be
stored for
keeping the
health records
of patients and

practices
 Good
healthcare
practices used
 Effective
communication
skills and
sharing of
commitment
which helps
increase
patient’s
confidence.
Opportunities
 Feedback from
patients can be
taken in order
to determine
the feasibility of
therapies used
in patient care.
 Use patients for
contributing to
practice
delivery
Weaknesses
many other
advantages.
4.
Interpersonal
Skills
The
interpersonal
skills are those
skills which the
employers use
to interact
with its co-
workers and
clients in a
professional
manner. It
helps in
building a
rapport in
front of the
clients by
developing a
productive and
beneficial
relationship
with them.

 Not meeting
with patients
often enough
 Lack of time to
plan out more
events in
patients care
activities
 Lack of patient
relationship
with the
healthcare
professional
 No use of
modern
healthcare
technologies.
Threats
 Patient’s
confidentiality
is at risk most
of the times
while giving
social care
services.

2. Key
Responsibility
To work as a
member of the
clinical staff
among the allied
healthcare
professionals and
performing
health care
practices without
direct supervision
of a practitioner.
Performance
Objective
To analyze how I
managed to assist
a nursing
practitioner for
personalized care
given to patients
suffering from
Alzheimer’s
disease.
As a member of the
clinic staff, I have
performed the
following healthcare
practices in supervision
of the patients such as
patients suffering from
Alzheimer’s disease. I
was able to
successfully assist a
nursing practitioner in
the following ways as
mentioned below.
 Matching
health care
needs with
Service delivery
capability
 Ensuring
effective
information
transfer and
clear
communication
 Ensuring in
specific settings
and care
processes

 Focusing on
Safe
Medication use
3. Key
Responsibility
To communicate
effectively with
the team
members who
are affiliated with
healthcare
professionals and
ensuring high
standards of care
is maintained for
patients
Performance
Objective
To illustrate how
effectively I
communicate
with my team
members,
patients and
allied health care
While giving my
services as a healthcare
professional I ensure
that effective and clear
communication is done
among the members
associated with the
social care practices.
I recorded the verbal
orders to help the
nurse who was giving
healthcare service to
the patient suffering
from the Alzheimer’s
disease. I effectively
used verbal and non-
verbal communication
methods to
communicate with my
teammates which
ensured the quality of
service at work for the
patients.

professionals in
order to improve
the health results
of my patients in
the next month
work quota.
TASK 2 CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT EVIDENCE FORM
4.2 & 2.1 Solutions to problems and
strategies for solving a problem
4.1 Evaluate tools and
methods
2.3 Time Management Strategies
Problems
1. A problem of residential
environment for Health Care Safety
2. Improper Goal Settings
3. Lack of use of Healthcare
technologies
Strategies used to solve these
problems
1. Scanning: In this phase, the
problem is identified and it is
measured.
2. Analysis: The problem identified is
then analyzed as to how big the
problem is and who is involved in the
problem and what caused the
PDCA Cycle
1. Plan: The problems have
been listed down in the initial
stages of the report and the
root cause of the problem is
analyzed at this stage (Fukui,
2012).
2. do:
Problem 1 - Solution
The problem of residential
environment in the health
and social care sector can be
addressed with the help of
It is very important for the health and
social care professionals to manage
time as time is a valuable resource
and it is limited. The time should be
wisely used and it is often seen that
people who manage time are more
productive in their work (Chase, et al.
2013).
Some effective time management
strategies are discussed below.
1. Know how to spend your time:
Having a time log helps in setting the
priorities for each task which need to
be done and how much time is

problem and why?
3. Response: In this stage of problem-
solving the accountability of the
problem is determined and various
suggestions are made in response to
what should be done to the problem
and who should do it and how to do
it. The problem is solved in the phase
through problem reduction and
examination.
4. Assessment: In this phase, an
assessment is made whether the
problem is declining or it still persists
in the normal form. In case the
problem still exists then alternate
explanations for the problem are
ruled out in the next stages.
community involvement and
approaching the government
authorizes.
Problem 2 - Solution
It is often seen that there is
improper goal setting by the
healthcare professionals
which is non- measurable. The
best way is to use quantitative
goal and precise goal setting
measures which would help in
improving the quality
standards of the health and
social care practices. The
Institute of Medicine has
outlined six aims for achieving
improvement in the social
care sector as highlighted
below.
 Safe
 Effective
 Timely
 Efficient
 Patient centered
 Equitable
Problem 3 - Solution
required to accomplish these tasks.
2. Use a planning tool: It is best to
have a planning tool for managing the
time, for example, electronic planners,
pocket diaries, computer programs,
notebooks etc. because it helps in
recording the information and the
time required for accomplishing the
tasks done. These tools help in time
management by monitoring and
prioritizing the time required for
accomplishing each task.

The health and social care
professionals can make use of
healthcare technologies which
would help improve general
healthcare conditions of the
patients. Surgical techniques,
electronic health records, CT
Scan etc. are some of the
technological advancement
that can be used by
healthcare professionals in
this sector.
3. check:
The data collected helps in
analyzing the fact that there
are a lot of issues and
problems prevalent in the
health and social care sector
which needs to be properly
examined by the health care
experts for future concerns.
The solution derived in the
above discussion confirms
that healthcare professionals
can enhance their
productivity and efficiency in
this sector by self-assessment
of their strengths and

weaknesses while they offer
their services to the patients.
4. act: This stage identifies the
corrective and preventive
actions to be taken by the
healthcare professionals as
mentioned below.
Corrective Actions
 Timely response to
patients needs and
wants.
 Improving the work
quality and standards
 Using mandatory
federal regulations in
health care practices
Preventive Actions
 Reducing the risks
associated with the
healthcare services or
clinical practices
 Ensuring patient safety
 Protecting and
promoting Patients
confidentiality, dignity

and independence.
4.3 EVALUATING THE IMPACT ON
BUSINESS OF IMPLEMENTING THE
STRATEGY
The three problems identified
in the initial stages were the
problem of residential
environment for health
safety, lack of use of
healthcare technologies and
improper goals settings.
The strategies used to solve
these problems helped in
achieving the desired
outcomes of the objectives
for the organization.
The health and social care
organizations have become
more responsible in analyzing
these problems for the
betterment of patients and
ensuring their level of
satisfaction while they use
health care services. For
instance, hygiene and
motivational techniques used
by professionals helped in
achieving the change that was
required in the health and

social care practices.

TASK 3 TEAM DYNAMICS JOURNAL
10. Team Roles 3.1 Observations 3.2 Team Dynamics 3.3 Suggestions
A team refers to a group of
members that work together
for achieving company’s goals
(Reeves, et al. 2011). A
member of a team of
healthcare professionals has
the following roles and
responsibilities mentioned
below.
The role of a team member in
the health and social care
sector is to focus on the need
and demands of its client or
service users. The primary
objective is to address the
client's needs and provide
support to the service users
with their medical conditions.
As a team lead the roles and
responsibilities of the team
members in the health and
social care services are
highlighted below (Munn and
Winter, 2013).
As a team leader, I
have identified and
observed that the
respective team
members in my team
performed the task
assigned to them
effectively and
efficiently.
My team consisted of
3 members and
different task roles
were assigned to
them based on their
skills and capabilities.
All the team members
worked together in
achieving the shared
goal of the
organization.
Resource Investigator
The role and duties of
Team Dynamics
basically refers to the
relationship between
the team members in
the health and social
care service who
collectively work for
achieving the
organizational goals
and objectives
(Devitt, et al. 2010).
As a team lead of
three members in my
group, I identified
that the dynamics of
my team changed
with the passage of
time as the team
members gained
confidence and skills
required for
accomplishing the
objectives of the
As a team leader of my team,
I have realized that there are
certain areas where the team
members need to be more
effective towards achieving
the goals as summarized
below.
Improving the Quality of Care
It is suggested that healthcare
professionals walk through
patients experience so that
their concerns are properly
judges while they give health
care services. It would help in
making patients feel happier
and healthier (Black, et al.
2011).
Improving Patients
experience and wellness
It is important for the
healthcare professional to

 Resource Investigator
 Team worker
 Co-Ordinator
 Plant
 Monitor Evaluator
 Specialist
 Compete Finisher
 Implementer
 Shaper
a team member were
to conduct a research
based on the number
of people wanting to
use the health and
social care service in
the area (Reeves, et
al. 2010).
Monitor Evaluator
The role of a member
was to market the
health and social care
service and provide
information to users
about the type of
services provided,
cost required to avail
the health care
services, the time
required etc (Glasby
and Dickinson, 2014).
Implementation
The third member of
the group was
responsible to turn
ideas into action and
be able to organize
company.
It was observed that
team members are
using their skills and
knowledge by
building trust,
collaboration and
motivation among the
team members for
achieving company’s
shared vision and
objectives (Devitt, et
al. 2010).
maintain proper hygiene in
the workplace environment
where health care services
are being given to the
patients.

the work which needs
to be done.

CONCLUSION
The above study concludes that it is important for the health care professionals to be highly
skilled while they give their services to patients in the health and social care sector. The
healthcare professionals need to have effective communication skills and motivational skills for
provider better customer service to clients or service users in this industry. The report lays
emphasis on the interpersonal skills of the healthcare professionals which would help ensure
collaborative working of service providers, agencies and professionals in this sector. The health
and social care sector requires development and effective policies for enhancing the
effectiveness of the health and social care interventions due to lack of available resources and
pressure to achieve higher outcomes.

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