Mid-June saw the final workshop of this year’s programme, which began last October. At the end of the session, the group celebrated in style with a presentation award and cake!
The training, delivered by Jacqui Hodgson (Open Doors Tutor), Ceri Burton (Associate Trainer for Open Doors) and supported by Daniel Curtis (Education Coordinator), enables current and aspiring HCAs, who had previously completed the care certificate training, to advance their career and develop key clinical and non-clinical skills and knowledge they need to fulfil the role of HCAs.
Health Care Assistants are an essential part of GP practices. As in previous years, the workshop sessions were very interactive, involving discussions of case studies, role play, practice visits for foot check, NHS health check assessments and guest speakers.
Open Doors Tutor, Jacqui Hodgson, said: “Working as an HCA in primary care can be challenging and so the programme empowers learners with essential skills and knowledge to deliver multi-disciplinary patient care to the practice population.
“We are so pleased to share the groups progress. There has been a lot of hard work along the way. We have given the group a taster of evidence-based practice, covering a wide range of topics that HCAs can now use to support practice teams to provide safe patient centred care.”
Evidence that upskilling the workforce is creates desire to continue to progress
“I started off wanting to do the nursing associate. I feel as though the teaching here has helped me build the confidence to do the nursing associate role.”
Education builds confidence
“I didn’t have a healthcare background. I’m really pleased with myself from where I’ve come from. I’d like to continue with this path. I want to do a degree in nursing. This course helped me realise my fear was holding me back. The course has been amazing – thank you so much.”
“This course has given me so much confidence. Looking back, I was so quiet and lacked confidence. I feel this course has made me a better person. I want to be the best Healthcare Assistant ever.”
The supportive role of the tutors
“My journey has been a bit of a rollercoaster, at the beginning I felt stuck. I thought I wasn’t going to go ahead with the workshop. I now feel a lot more confident. I really struggled with foot checks but now I can do this on my own. I’ve really valued the in-person support. I’m really proud of myself. I’ve always been pushing for this in my practice. I’ve finally been given this opportunity and I’m so glad I’ve completed the workshop.”
To learn more about the Open Doors service, click the link below.
