A PUSH to get almost 5,000 more people to join Bradford’s health and social work sector could include a training academy.

It is expected that an extra 4,700 jobs will have to be created in Bradford’s health and social care sector before 2030 due to the area’s ageing population.

The “One Workforce” plan will attempt to get more people in Bradford interested in pursuing a career in health, and see existing health staff boosting their skills. The scheme will include targeting people from communities with high unemployment levels, like South Asian women, to consider joining the workforce.

It will attempt to keep more people in the field of health and care, which can often pay very low wages, and will see the development of a “Skills House” to train up people wanting to start in the profession.

The proposals, which were recently given a £1 million boost from central government funding, were discussed at a meeting of the Bradford and Airedale Health and Wellbeing Board yesterday. The meeting was told that the current health and social care workforce in the city faced a number of issues. These included an ageing workforce, with just 11 per cent of staff aged under 24, a high vacancy rate and low skill levels, with just half the workforce holding a Level 2 qualification or above. There is also limited diversity - with 86 per cent of the current workforce being white.

The health industry is the biggest employer in the district, making up 19 per cent of the workforce.

Michael Jameson, head of children’s services, said: “We need to look at how we get people to come to Bradford to work and stay here, that has to be a major priority. We also need to upskill our existing workforce. It will help create jobs, and we need to look at some communities that need to be more economically active. Some communities in particular have large numbers of women who are unemployed. It is an ageing workforce, so we need to get more young people thinking about going into health. We also have low skill levels in Bradford.”

In the run up to the Broadway Shopping Centre opening in 2015, the Council set up a “skills house” that has since led to over 1,000 people being trained and employed in retail and hospitality in the city. The meeting was told that a similar scheme could run in Bradford, with courses to prepare unemployed people for work in health and care.

Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, leader of Bradford Council, said: "There is a real shortage of care staff in Bradford, so we need to do all we can to provide a package to allow people to get into the profession."