Posted 15 July 2025

Health & Social Care is the biggest employment sector in West Yorkshire. It accounts for 13% of all jobs in the region, with experts predicting this will increase over the next decade. 

Despite this, there are currently 1,000 skills shortages in health professional occupations in the region. This shows a clear need for young people to understand the breadth of available careers and to train as one of our future health professionals. 

To help address this shortage, Go Higher West Yorkshire (GHWY) teamed up with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) to organise ‘Go Higher In Health & Social Care’. The event was attended by a group of students from six West Yorkshire schools and colleges, who were introduced to a range of health roles and given insight into educational pathways into the sector. 

A carousel of practical workshops 

‘Go Higher In Health & Social Care’ was hosted at the University of Huddersfield. It was supported and delivered by inspirational industry specialists with support from Higher Education (HE) ambassadors. 

Over 70 students took part in practical workshops that explored progression pathways, careers in Health & Social Care, skills, and experience of the workplace. Activities included: 

• Interactive activities that focused on core skills, such as performing keyhole surgery, conducting an ultrasound, and performing CPR. 

• A series of fun challenges, during which students developed different skills by completing several fun tasks independently and as teams. 

• Escape room style challenges including a visit to the University’s mock-up ambulance – known as a ‘simbulance’ – and to an immersive room that created different environments and medical scenarios in which students could interact. 

There was also an industry marketplace, which gave young people the opportunity to talk to staff from a wide range of sector specialists. These included the Yorkshire Ambulance Service; Medical Mavericks, who deliver workshops to inspire the next generation of medics and scientists; LabCorp, who run clinical trials; practitioners in podiatry; and representatives from the Community Learning Disability Team. 

Due to popular demand, the event will be offered to additional young people on 7 July at the University of Bradford. 

Increased knowledge and awareness 

Preliminary analysis of learner survey results shows that they are more likely to say they have the hands-on experience of skills they might need in their future career after attending the event (just over 30% pre-event, increasing to just over 70% post-event). 

Learners also reported a greater understanding of what it is like to work in Health & Social Care industries after the event (47.8% pre-event, increasing to 89.4% post-event). 

 The event was well also received by employers. Lucy Cowell, from Medical Mavericks, said: “There are so many health care careers out there for people with different grades. Events like this open people’s eyes to what’s available and to show that a health care career is really accessible.” 

Upcoming events 

GHWY and WYCA will deliver two more Go Higher In… events in 2024-25 focusing on policing and the growing digital media sector. Guided by Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs), they will provide students with high quality and meaningful experiences of the workplace. They will also offer insights into progression pathways, employer interactions, and real-life skills development.