Published on: 13 June 2024
A Derbyshire NHS workforce training team has been shortlisted at a national awards ceremony for its efforts to deliver an innovative approach to educating and supporting the career development of a group of healthcare workers who are often overlooked.
The Icare programme team at Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has been named as a finalist at the HPMA Excellence in People Awards for its innovative efforts to support healthcare support workers: nursing assistants, occupational therapy assistants and others who work with doctors and nurses to help patients on their journey back to full health.
The HPMA Excellence in People Awards celebrate the very best teams, professionals and projects working in workforce, organisational development and human resources in healthcare.
The Icare (Increase confidence, attract, retain, educate) programme has been shortlisted for the ‘Hill Dickinson Award for Excellence in Organisational Development’. The programme was launched within the Trust in February this 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 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 speak to NHS conferences.
Rebecca Oakley, Director of People, Organisational Development and Inclusion at Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, congratulated the team on their shortlisting. He said: “This is a brilliant achievement. The awards recognise talented healthcare professionals across the board, and to be named as a finalist is proof of how hard the Icare team has worked in such a short space of time. Patients will reap the benefits of a better trained workforce and should have a more positive experience in our care as a result.”
Nick Holburn, Healthcare Support Worker Development Lead at Derbyshire Healthcare said: “We are delighted to be shortlisted for this award. The Icare programme has gone from strength to strength since its launch and staff consistently praise how thorough and well thought out this programme is. It is important for all healthcare support workers to be recognised for the work they do.
“The Icare team are highly committed to the learning and development of this staff group, and this award shortlisting is a testament to that.”
Winners are expected to be announced during a ceremony at the Hastings Europa Hotel in Belfast on Thursday 3 October.
