Caring Oldhamers 'Step into the NHS' with help from free eight week course
Twenty-three Oldham residents have completed the Step into the NHS course, a free eight-week program aimed at preparing participants for careers in the NHS. The course, now in its fifth year, is delivered by the NHS in partnership with Get Oldham Working and covers health and safety, wellbeing, equality, diversity, and NHS values. Participants have gone on to roles in nursing, midwifery, and other healthcare positions.
Twenty-Three Oldham Residents Complete NHS Career Training Program
Twenty-three Oldham residents celebrated completing the Step into the NHS course at the Millennium Cultural Centre on Featherstall Road, marking their entry into healthcare careers ranging from customer service to laboratory technician positions.
The program, now in its fifth year, is delivered through a partnership between the NHS and Get Oldham Working, the council’s free employment and training service. Participants learned essential skills including health and safety, wellbeing practices, equality and diversity principles, NHS values, communication techniques and teamwork strategies.
Cheryl Bates, Special Project Lead for Get Oldham Working, highlighted the program’s success stories: “This course has seen people go onto midwifery college and pursue careers in nursing. It gives people an insight into what it’s like to work for the NHS. One has gone on to work in the pathology lab at Salford Royal, another became a theatre nurse and another is working in a children’s home.”
The graduates received their certificates from Oldham Deputy Mayor Eddie Moores, with many already planning their next steps in healthcare. Father-of-four Niaz Ahmed, who volunteers at his local mosque helping elderly residents with shopping, expressed his long-held ambition: “For a long time I have wanted to work for the NHS. It pleases me to help someone in need of care. I want to be a support worker for the NHS, a driver or a porter.”
Course participant Chinwe Umenyi praised the program’s impact: “I would really recommend it. I did the course because I wanted to work for the NHS and this has given me the confidence.” Tania Tamba will advance to a nursing associate program after gaining interview skills through the course, noting it “has given me confidence for interviews to get a job in the NHS.”
NHS Curriculum Delivery Facilitator Sharon Nuttall emphasized how the program transforms lives: “It has been really successful, giving people including stay-at-home mums and single parents the confidence to go on to college and make new friends.”
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