25/06/2024
Our Vocational Training Teams Annual Awards Ceremony took place on Friday 21st June 2024 at the Mellon Country Inn which aims to support lifelong learning for staff.
During 2023/2024, over one hundred and twenty staff across the Trust achieved vocational qualifications in a range of occupational areas. Staff also successfully completed Essential Skills in Numeracy and Literacy qualifications and the Open University’s Level 4 Introduction to Health & Social Care (K102) which is run in conjunction with Unison.
At the Awards Ceremony the certificates were presented by the Trust’s Director of Human Resources, Mrs Karen Hargan. Karen congratulated all the recipients and thanked everyone who supported them towards their achievements. Karen commented:
“I am really delighted to be here on behalf of the Chief Executive and the Corporate Management Team to present the certificates to all of our learners. I would like to congratulate you all on your achievements. You should all be very proud of having completed this training and investing time in developing yourselves. And although it can sometimes be intimidating to think about undertaking a new qualification, I hope that you will all feel that it has been worth it.
“I’m conscious that for some of you this may be the first qualification that you have undertaken in a long time. If this is the case I would encourage you to keep going. There are many benefits to lifelong learning and they are not simply about what you learn by undertaking the qualification.
“The purpose of vocational qualifications is about helping you to develop and succeed in your role, and I hope that you will find that is an outcome from this training. I hope that this will help you to develop your career within the Trust and that many of you will continue with training and think about undertaking the next qualification.
“We also know that continuing to learn new things is good for our brains and there is some research which suggests that learning keeps our brain cells healthy and may slow or prevent cognitive decline. So there’s a real positive there for us particularly as we are concerned about the rise of Alzheimer’s and dementia in older age.
“However, one of the really positive benefits of undertaking training is the other people that you get to meet along the way. Undertaking courses allows us to meet other people undertaking the same or similar roles, gives us the opportunity to talk to and learn from each other and sometimes enables us to make new friends as well. In a work context there is great benefit in developing that network with other people who are working in different parts of the organisation, giving you contacts that you can call on for information and advice in the future. There is also the sense of achievement that we get from undertaking a course and achieving the qualification and recognition that it brings.
“As a Trust we are really keen to think about how we develop career pathways that enable our staff to develop their careers and, if they wish, to work their way into more senior roles. I know this may not be for everyone, sometimes you’ll undertake training just to enable you to be better at the job that you are doing and that is ok. But I would encourage you all to think about whether there is an opportunity for you to progress your career within the Trust. We have really great people working in this organisation and lots of people have the ability to do much more than they are currently doing. So do think about what you might do next, either in applying for that promotion or undertaking additional training.
“Vocational training is such a massive part of developing our people to undertake a wide range of roles within the Trust and I would like to say a huge thank you to our vocational training team for the work that you do in this area. It is so important.
“I would like to thank the Vocational Training Team staff and the work-based assessors and verifiers across the Trust for supporting and enabling these learners to demonstrate their knowledge and competence in a broad range of workplace skills.
“Thanks to all those Trust staff and staff from local Further Education colleges who have facilitated and supported our learners to achieve their qualifications. These staff include the Managers, Supervisors, work colleagues, Further Education lecturers for supporting them to develop in their job role and supporting them with supervised practice and development.
Thanks also to the tutors from the Open University in facilitating the Level 4 Introduction to Health and Social Care. This programme is run through Western Health & Social Care Trust in partnership with UNISON.
And not forgetting all of your family and friends, thanks also to them for being the source of support when studying, often they are the people who help to keep us sane and keep us on track when it all begins to feel a bit overwhelming.
Many thanks to RCN, OCN NI and Altnagelvin Area Hospital General Fund for providing sponsorship for today’s event, refreshments and a special thanks to OCNNI for sponsoring the Ace Award. Also thank you to Support Services for providing the delicious cupcakes which were enjoyed by everyone!
“Congratulations once again to everyone involved you should be very proud of your achievements.”
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