Published on: 27 August 2024
A local NHS workforce training team has been shortlisted at a national awards ceremony for delivering an original approach to educating and supporting the career development of healthcare support workers (HCSW).
The Icare Programme team at Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (DHCFT) has been named as a finalist at the Nursing Times’ Workforce Awards for its innovative efforts to support HCSW of all disciplines who work with people that access mental health services in DHCFT.
The Nursing Times Workforce Awards shine a light on those excelling in nurse recruitment and retention, wellbeing and inclusion, plus many other areas linked to helping overcome the ongoing workforce challenge in health and social care.
The Icare (Increase confidence, attract, retain, educate) programme has been shortlisted for the ‘Workforce Team of the Year’ category. The programme was launched within the Trust in February last year to meet the emotional, educational and wellbeing needs of newly employed healthcare support workers by combining both pastoral support and training on key topics relevant to their role in delivering safe and effective care in mental health services.
The team have successfully highlighted and improved the value of healthcare support workers at Derbyshire Healthcare with the aim to retain more healthcare support workers and by helping them learn more about career development opportunities at the Trust. The programme has generated positive feedback and national attention with the team being asked to present to NHS conferences.
Liam Carrier, Acting Deputy Director of People & Inclusion at Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, congratulated the team on their shortlisting. He said: “The Icare team have been recognised again for their amazing contributions to supporting healthcare support workers to flourish. The team have been running the programme for only a short period of time so this award shortlisting is a huge testament to their success. Patients now receive an improved skilled workforce and will benefit from better patient experience as a result.”
Nick Holburn, Healthcare Support Worker Development Lead at Derbyshire Healthcare said: “It is great to hear we have been shortlisted for another award. The Icare programme has really built momentum since it first launched and we are always receiving fantastic feedback from staff who feel they have been fully supported through the programme and are grateful to be recognised and appreciated by the Trust for the work they do.
“The team are passionate about developing the learning and development of this staff group and believe this award shortlisting has proven that.”
Winners are expected to be announced during a ceremony at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London on Thursday 28 November.
