REAL Supply Hosts Policy Seminar with Skills for Care’s CEO, Oonagh Smyth

On Thursday 16 October 2025, the REAL Supply Unit hosted the latest event in its Health Economics and Policy Seminar Series, welcoming Oonagh Smyth, Chief Executive of Skills for Care, who gave a talk on ‘Meeting the Future Challenges Facing the Adult Social Care Sector.’

The hybrid event, held both in-person at the University of York campus and online, brought together social care researchers, policymakers and members of the public who heard Oonagh’s insights on the current state of the workforce and the emerging opportunities for the sector.

Drawing on findings from Skills for Care’s newly published ‘State of the Adult Social Care Sector and Workforce report’, released just the day before, Oonagh presented the latest data on workforce trends and discussed the importance of key themes and priorities including pay and conditions, training and career pathways, integration with the NHS, and the central role of research in shaping workforce policy.

You can watch a recording of the talk below: