News

The Trust is delighted to announce that 2 of its members from the Practice Education Team have been shortlisted for national awards.

Becky McSorley, Lead Practice Educator, and Kerry Siau, Practice Educator, will attend the Nursing Times Workforce Summit and Awards in London on 21 November.

Becky has been shortlisted for Manager of the Year (non-clinical). Kerry has been shortlisted in the Practice Educator of the Year category.

Kerry’s role as practice educator means she supports mental health and learning disability students. This includes arranging the placements for students to attend. She also offers pastoral support while they are on placements.

It is a highly demanding role, which covers a wide area of students. The Practice Education Team has 4 groups of students that they work with. They include nursing students and apprentices from Exeter University, Plymouth University, the Open University, University of West of England, and Truro and Penwith College.

Becky manages the team, which currently has 79 students on placements across Devon and Cornwall. She also manages the staff supporting work experience, early careers, and induction training programmes.

“It is fantastic for us both to be nominated for the awards. It is also good for Cornwall and the Trust. We have difficulty recruiting people down here. Some people want to stay in Cornwall and some people want to come to Cornwall. This is why our apprenticeship opportunities are so important. It also allows them to earn a wage while learning and gaining a qualification. They allow our current staff to undertake development pathways without having to leave Cornwall. They also offer real career opportunities to attract new staff into the organisation.

“If you live in somewhere like Bristol you have 4 or 5 Trusts around. It is much more difficult down here. It is good that we are getting the message across about Cornwall. How good we are, how advanced we are and how professional we are. That will hopefully make people think that Cornwall is a good place to come and work.” Becky McSorley

The awards recognise the excellent work of the Practice Education Team and the progress which has been made.

“The way that we have built up our apprenticeships is great to see. We have just started some new external apprentices. They are starting their registered nurse degree apprenticeships and nursing associate apprenticeships.

“In total we have 63 across adult mental health. That is another new load of people coming in, who will hopefully qualify and be our nurses and nursing associates of the future. A lot of hard work goes into that recruitment.

“It is very rewarding, especially when you see some of our apprentices graduating. We have supported them throughout their journey. Some of them we have already recruited, so it is fantastic.” Becky McSorley

The Practice Education Team continue to support students even after they have graduated.

Becky explains: “We support them when they are newly qualified. We see them once a month, into the autumn period and again later in the year.”

There has been more good news for Kerry. She has earned a place on the chief nursing officers research fellowship. This begins at the end of September.

“I will be released alternate Thursday for the academic year to look at a project that I want to develop. The thing that I am looking at is CLIP (collaborative learning impact in practice). This involves putting more students into a clinical environment and them learning their skills using a coaching model.

“They have that peer support, so they are on shift together. Lots of the adult wards do it already. We are looking at bringing it in to mental health.

“We want to look at how the students find it, the staff, and possibly the patients as well. Does having more students on a shift impact patient care? Does it reduce the use of medication? These are the things we want to look at.” Kerry Siau, Practice Educator

Becky and Kerry have played a big part in the Practice Education Team’s success. But Becky insists the whole team deserve credit.

“Without the team of staff that I have I would not be able to do my job. I really appreciate the work of all my team. They are absolute stars, every single one of them. I try and make sure they know how appreciated they are.

“It is important to recognise that it is a very stressful environment working in healthcare. Although we are based in head office we are still dealing with patients. We are working with the individuals who support patients with their difficulties. They have their own difficulties and frustrations through their development journey.

“The benefit of having such a supportive team is that we support each other. If I have a challenging day then I know they will support me. And in return that is what I do with them to make sure they have that time and support. Without doing that they cannot be the best that they can be at work.”