The skills and knowledge I’ve learnt are invaluable to helping me become a better carer which I can now pass on to new carers, supporting and mentoring them.
In the two years since she joined Willowthorpe Care Home, Kristine has blossomed, growing in confidence and skill. She had worked in care before, 20 years ago, but had moved away from the care sector and most recently was an administrator for an engineering company.
She embarked on the Level 2 Adult Care Worker in November 2018 and completed it just over a year later.
Kristine had become a senior carer so the qualification was required, but she also wanted to do the course to improve on her knowledge of what is involved in being an adult care worker so that she could develop her skills further.
Initially, she just planned to get the course finished, but it soon grew to become something she really wanted to immerse herself in.
The aims of the course were to enable learners to assist adults with their care, health and support needs through person-centred care, and enabling independence, control and choice in their day-to-day lives.
Kristine gained this knowledge through the initial and ongoing training given at Willowthorpe and through the knowledge workbooks and other sources provided such as padlets and links to professional websites.
Kristine feels she has gained life-long skills. She said: “The Adult Care Worker apprenticeship is a national qualification and so can be used in a variety of settings and to work towards higher levels. The skills and knowledge I’ve learnt are invaluable to helping me become a better carer with new knowledge and understanding which I can then pass on to new carers, supporting and mentoring them. And this will help improve the level of care and service we are providing to our residents.”
I would also love to work in palliative care as I think it would be very challenging but rewarding supporting patients at the end of their life.
Just as the course finished, Kristine gained a welcome promotion to night team leader and will now work towards her Level 3 Lead Adult Care Worker.
She said: “I would also like to move on to days as I feel you get to have a better knowledge of and relationship with the residents on days simply as you have more waking time with them. I would also love to work in palliative care as I think it would be very challenging but rewarding supporting patients at the end of their life.”
Kristine is inspired by her employer and says that it’s mainly about the focus on person-centred care and that all the residents are recognised as their own person.
She said that B&M Care developed their ‘Rose Model of Dementia Care’ which encompasses this and is about empowering, compassion, wellbeing, flourishing, engagement, individuality and wellbeing. Willowthorpe offers continuing training and support for all its employees.
Due to her work commitments, Kristine struggled at times to complete the workbooks on time. “But my C2C trainer was wonderful and so supportive, working with me and realising that whilst I sometimes found it difficult to put examples of work-related incidents down on paper, if she verbally put the topic question to me, once I started talking I would be a lot more informative. She was also always at the end of the phone or via email if I needed any help.”
Her night shifts added a layer of complication, but she overcame this.
She explains: “When working on night shifts, the days you aren’t working are very often used for catching up on missed sleep or getting some sleep ready for a shift. Depending on the shifts that week I might only have one proper day off. But the trainer always made sure there was plenty of time between emailing the paperwork to me and when it was due. Having SMART action plans in place helped me to stay on track.”