01-05-2025
- Health
- North Wales Chronicle
Bangor care home worker achieves new qualification
Carolyn Williams, the deputy manager at Ceris Newydd and Glyn Menai care homes, completed the Level 5 Leadership and Management in Health & Social Care qualification.
This new qualification allows learners to draw on their experience in the health and social care sector while further developing their skills and gaining qualifications.
As her final project for the higher apprenticeship, Ms Williams researched and launched a dementia-friendly café for residents at Glyn Menai, which she hopes to open up to the wider community.
She signed up for the Level 5 course after completing Level 4 Preparing for Leadership and Management through Grŵp Llandrillo Menai's further education pathway.
Ms Williams said: "I enjoyed the Level 5 course, it was interesting.
"It helped that I had a lot of insight from doing the Level 4.
"It was a lot of work, especially on top of working 40 hours a week, but it was worth it for the final project.
"I created a dementia-friendly café which our residents go to on a Monday, so they get to attend a café with family members and staff but remain on the site.
"It's been popular, and my plan for the project is to introduce it to the community, so that people who have a dementia diagnosis can have the opportunity to be part of our community.
"I hope it will be a way of being introduced to the setting, so that it's not so overwhelming when they do come here.
"Also, it can be a way of sharing information between new residents and old residents and ones who've been here longer."
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Ms Williams has supported her staff at Fairways in completing their own qualifications through work-based learning and has built a close working relationship with Grŵp Llandrillo Menai.
Her assessor Liz Wainwright said: "A huge congratulations to our first successful achiever on the new Higher Apprentice qualification.
"I'm so proud that Carolyn has achieved this.
"She has worked extremely hard to complete the qualification, and her confidence has grown throughout.
"I'm looking forward to continuing working with Carolyn and the team at Fairways supporting their staff through their Health and Social Care qualifications."
The Level 5 leadership and management in health and social care higher apprenticeship has been developed to equip the social care sector with more highly skilled workers.
