Eight care workers graduate from North East London’s first Enablement Champion Programme
Unlocking the potential of care to support healthcare delivery.
Celebrations took place today for eight care workers from care homes across Barking & Dagenham who have achieved Enablement Champion status, having completed a level 4 apprenticeship to become experts and influencers in the delivery of rehabilitation and reablement, working closely with Allied Health Professional (AHP) colleagues.
The recruitment and retention crisis within care, driven by low pay, perceived low status and lack of opportunity for development and advancement can also be found within district nursing and AHPs, accelerated by high capacity demands. By unlocking the enormous potential of the care sector to support healthcare delivery, we can improve both development opportunities within the care sector and the support it provides to older people.
Since 2019, with our partners Barking, Havering and Redbridge Community Education Provider Network we’ve been working in partnership with UCLPartners, Skills for Care, NELFT, London Borough of Barking & Dagenham, London Borough of Havering and Redbridge and Unique Training Solutions to develop and deliver the Enablement Champion programme. This programme enables experienced care workers to work alongside key health professionals to support the implementation of specific care plans and interventions put in place for service users. Benefits that this role bring include:
- Improved outcomes for service users – potentially reducing individual level of care need and preventing unplanned hospital admission
- Improved collaboration and working with health colleagues, resulting in streamlined and more consistent support for service users
- Increased staff morale, productivity and retention
- Increased flexibility and resilience of care workforce
I’ve worked as a care worker for 20 years. I’ve not had the opportunity to study until now. This has given me the opportunity to develop new skills, do better in my job and for the first time think about the future of my career
Enablement Champion
The care workforce in North East London reflects the highly diverse population of the area. By adopting a ‘grow your own’ approach to developing existing care staff towards qualified professionals, equity and inclusion are assured. At the same time, through collaboration with social care providers, community NHS trusts, local authorities and NEL’s Integrated Care Board, we hope we have developed a sustainable system of training, governance and funding to deliver career and development opportunities within the care sector that can be replicated across the UK.
“The enablement champion programme is exactly the kind of approach we want to see for our workforce – working in partnership to support staff to develop in their roles as well as improving outcomes for residents. We will be keen to look at the learning from this programme and how we can apply it to other roles too. Congratulations to everyone involved and particularly the first cohort of staff completing the programme!”
Zina Etheridge, Chief Executive Officer, North East London
