Health care assistants and support workers are valued members of our nursing workforce, supporting nursing and midwifery care
To help you be the best support worker you can be, we support you with in-house training that complements and strengthens the nationally-recognised Care Certificate. Our aim is to prepare you fully for your working life within an acute hospital and equip you with the skills you need to provide excellent care.
When you begin your career as a support worker with us, you’ll undertake our induction training programme. We’ll support your mandatory training as well as working with you to identify your career aspirations and how we can help you achieve them.
Our skills escalator team
Within our Practice Development Hub is our skills escalator team who lead and deliver the support worker training programmes. Our skills escalator team not only ensure the suitability of your training but that you receive a mix of theoretical and practical sessions.
Within the induction training programme are proactive days where you are supported to engage in your area under a supernumerary status, allowing you to link training theory to your practice on the ward.
During the programme and beyond, you will be supported by the skills escalator team who will visit you in your practice area providing ongoing support and advice
And It doesn’t stop there. Following on from the completion of your induction training, you will automatically be placed onto the nationally-recognised Care Certificate study programme. Consisting of 6 dedicated study days over a 3-month period, the training is held in a supportive classroom environment
Valuing you
Classroom education is consolidated with competency sign-off in practice, with qualified mentors, to accelerate your learning and evidence your skills.
The programme culminates in the award of a qualification certificate and pin badge to provide you with the confidence and competence to deliver the best possible care to our patients.
Routes into nursing
We support our healthcare assistants and support workers to achieve their potential, so whether you’re passionate about developing to be the best support worker you can be or you want to take a route into nursing, we’ll help you to achieve your aspirations.
The Open University
We also work closely with The Open University to offer our support workers the opportunity to consider the next step in their careers and undertake the pre-registration nursing degree with full support from our on-site professional development team. Find out more about our support for our Open University nurses here.
Nursing Associates
Nursing associates are a new support role introduced to the health care workforce. They will work alongside health care assistants, assistant practitioners and graduate registered nurses in training for two years, and attend universities and further education colleges part-time.
We are one of only 11 test bed sites in the U.K. for the new nursing associate role, in collaboration with our East Midland partners. This exciting role will change the face of nursing across Northamptonshire and England and we are delighted to be at the forefront of welcoming this role into our nursing family.