Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust celebrated RCN Nursing Support Workers’ Day for the first time last month, recognising the fantastic work this set of colleagues do to support excellent patient care.
Nursing Support Workers are the bedrock of our wards, clinics and community teams, and encompass hundreds of different job titles and roles, including health care support workers, assistant practitioners, nursing associates and health care assistants.
They work independently, alongside registered nurses and as part of wider multidisciplinary teams in all health and social care settings to help deliver high quality care and excellent outcomes for patients, however their vital contribution can sometimes go unnoticed.
Nursing Support Workers' Day is about shining a light on their roles and their skills and to say thank you for the essential care they give every single day.
As part of the celebrations, managers nominated healthcare assistants and support workers who had gone above and beyond in their role, with a prize for each, while there was a tombola prize for everyone who attended.
Prizes for the tombola were donated by Multipave and Pavertec, Wesley Davis and John Ralph, while there were donations from Helen Vyas, Gillian Bevan, Silk Route Indian restaurant and the Clinical Education Team - a huge thank you goes out to everyone, without whom the day would not have been possible.
There was also tea, coffee and biscuits provided by Resourcing Manager Stefanie Johnson, and all were provided with a little RCN goody bag to say thank you.
Head of Professional Education Development Kate Harrison was also there to chat to the HCAs about their career progression.
Joanne Satchell (Moore), Training Officer (Fit Mask Testing) within Clinical Education at the Trust said: “The day was a great success – it was an opportunity to say thank you to all our wonderful nursing support workers, who do such an amazing job each and every day, often in challenging circumstances.”
