Wednesday 10 March 2010
Grant awarded by the Department of Health to tackle unemployment
10 July 2009
Sue Ryder Care - Manorlands Hospice has been awarded £276,549 from the Department of Health ‘Third Sector Investment Programme’ to run an apprentice scheme that will run over the next three years.
The aim of the project is to develop ways to overcome the barriers that prevent people from Black and Minorities Ethnic communities making use of end of life and palliative care services when needed as well as tackling some of the high level of unemployment within minority communities.
Steve Davison, Palliative Care Services Manager at Sue Ryder Care, said: ‘Historically healthcare providers of end of life and palliative care services such as Sue Ryder Care have always seen a very poor uptake from Black and Minorities Ethnic communities due to reasons that may include cultural or religious obstacles’.
The scheme will offer the opportunity to employ people from the South Asian communities in the Keighley area as Community Hospice Apprentice. New employees will have the chance to acquire and develop new skills in healthcare while helping identify people in their local community in need of end of life and palliative care services.
Hospice Apprentices will be offered the opportunity to train at NVQ level and increase their prospects for long term employment. They will be working with their own community and existing community groups to identify people and their carers with cancer and non-cancer conditions. They will help pilot ways of addressing the many and varied cultural barriers which exist within their communities and prevent them to access palliative and end of life care services when required.
‘Hospice Apprentices will help develop culturally appropriate palliative and end of life care services helping shape the future provision of those services for their communities.
Bradford and Airdale PCT have endorsed the proposal as it addresses a number of identified needs in line with their community development strategy. It addresses three of their key priorities: improving access to Black and Minorities Ethnic communities, improving equity across the communities and increasing recruitment into healthcare from Black and Minorities Ethnic communities’, Steve added.
This pilot project will contribute to identifying potential replicable models of support within minority communities to deliver end of life and palliative care services which could be promoted on a national level.
Sue Ryder Care provides quality care for people living with end of life and long-term conditions including Cancer, Stroke, Brain Injury, Multiple Sclerosis, Dementia, Huntington’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease and Motor Neurone Disease. Its specialist palliative services ensure that people receive compassionate, timely and expert support at all stages of their illness, and act as an expert resource to other local services.
