Ballymoney Trust staff rewarded

The presentation recognised Trust staff from various disciplines who have completed a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) or new qualifications on the Qualification and Credit Framework.

Staff who received certificates were assessed in their workplace on a regular basis over a period of months and successfully completed qualifications in adult social care, adult learning disability, clinical healthcare skills, healthcare support, care of children and young people and assessment and verification.

Jim Stewart, Northern Trust Chairman, hosted the event and congratulated all of the candidates for their hard work and commitment.

“I am very impressed that so many staff in the Northern Trust have accepted the additional challenge of completing a work-based qualification,” he said.

“Each and every one of you are to be congratulated on your achievement. Your hard work, supported by the quality work of assessors and verifiers, is to be commended.”

Guest speaker, Glenn Houston, Chief Executive of the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority, congratulated all the successful candidates on achieving their qualifications.

Candidates were from the Northern Health and Social Care Trust and associate member organisations. He commented that vocational qualifications, which are based on national occupational standards, are of critical importance to RQIA when they are monitoring the services provided by health and social care facilities. He further stressed the importance of these standards being maintained in everyday practice.

The annual certificate presentation has been the most successful to date.

Speaking about its success, Christine Cuthbertson, Assessment Centre Manager, said, “It is with great delight that I am able to say that this has been an even more successful year for the Northern Assessment Centre than in previous years, with a further increase in numbers of candidates obtaining their qualifications.

“This is most impressive given the operational pressures under which many candidates have been working. Candidates have all managed to juggle, successfully, the demands of work, study and family life to gain nationally recognised qualifications.”