Collaborations between Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust, the Army Reserve Centre and the Hive Youth Zone have supported the training of over 100 NHS staff and students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In response to the pandemic and to ensure the people of Wirral can continue to access care and treatment, many of the Trust’s staff have been reassigned to a number of different roles, as well as new colleagues and students joining the frontline of health and care services in the community. Training for these staff and students is essential, but social distancing measures have made it a challenge to find suitable locations.
Two local bases, the Army Reserve Centre (107 Lancashire & Cheshire Fd Sqn 75 Engineer Regiment V) and The Hive, both in Birkenhead, came to the rescue and have shared their facilities with the Trust to support this essential training, enabling staff and students to be reassigned to various teams, including community nursing, care homes and COVID-19 testing.
Hayley Curran, Head of Learning and Organisational Development at the Trust, said: “Training has never been so important. We are thankful for the facilities that have been loaned to us, to empower our students and staff to care for our communities with confidence.”
The training, including basic life support, wound care and medicines management, began in April and is set to continue for the coming weeks. Trust staff and students have access to free parking on site and IT facilities, refreshments, and most importantly enough space to safely socially distance.
Twenty experts from across the Trust have delivered the training to the staff, students and new starters, with the main aim of ensuring that they feel competent and confident in their practice.
Stuart Barnes, Chief Executive of The Hive said:
‘Our Youth Zone supports young people to reach their goals through learning new skills and self-development, so we were thrilled to share our fantastic facilities to support NHS training. We are also very grateful to the Trust for donations of essential items which have been distributed in care packages to those in need across our local community.”
Captain Rich Barclay Royal Engineers, on behalf of the Army Reserve, said:
“We were delighted to open our doors to the NHS students and staff and share our facilities for such an important cause. Our communities count on these amazing frontline workers now more than ever.”
To find out more about the Trust is responding to COVID-19 visit www.wchc.nhs.uk
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