Award for Cloughmills social care workers who went extra mile

The ‘Social Care – Making a Difference’ campaign, which is delivered by the Northern Ireland Social Care Council (the Social Care Council), was officially launched by Department of Health Permanent Secretary Peter May and Chief Social Worker Aine Morrison at a special event at L’Arche Belfast.

The Social Care Council will be telling real-life stories through video snapshots, case studies and podcast episodes to showcase the day to day role of social care and inspire those considering it as a career.

Social care workers register with the Social Care Council to provide communities with support every day. Today over 38,000 are registered to deliver social care, making it the largest health and social care workforce in Northern Ireland.

The special team from Cloughmills is made up of homecare workers who provide domiciliary care to an elderly service user who often mentioned that her favourite day out was to go for a picnic at Downhill beach.

However due to her health and mobility problems, she is no longer able to visit the beach. The homecare workers, therefore, went the extra mile decided to bring the beach to her.

They attended The NHSCT Domiciliary Care Awards Event in March this year when they were recognised for their contribution to the lady and their innovative practice.

Aine Morrison, Chief Social Worker, Department of health said: “The Department of Health recognises the value of our social care workforce and is very committed to developing and supporting these roles.”