Wendy Preston
Royal Berkshire Foundation Trust

Wendy is a community midwife and has always found learning enjoyable, so much so that she decided to train as a ULR, so that she could extend her love for learning by encouraging other colleagues in the unit to persue learning.

Wendy’s head of midwifery was supportive of her election as a ULR and negotiated facility time so Wendy could carry out her role effectively alongside her normal duties.

After completing her training in June of this year, Wendy became involved in explaining the ULR role to members and offering them help and support.

According to Wendy, the main challenge has been getting other midwives to see her as someone who can provide practical help towards achieving their goals, rather than just another person advocating more learning.

Attending the ULR training was fundamental in enabling Wendy to disseminate her role to others. “It gave me the confidence to believe that the role is important and a worthwhile addition to my role as a midwife,” she explained.

Wendy’s advice to RCM members is “You are never too old to learn, pick something you want to learn and by learning something new you can develop and grow in confidence”.

Karen Shorthose
George Elliot Hospital, Nuneaton

Even before attending the ULR training course, Karen had already organised a successful Learning at Work Day (LaWD), where she discovered a learning need among some of the student midwives whose course did not cover audit procedures.

She was able to start helping midwives access learning immediately by asking the audit manager to come along to the event, explain the importance of audits and promote the Trust’s training sessions on the subject.

“Sometimes, learning opportunities can be right on your doorstep” said Karen “It was just a case of calling on the experts”.
 
Karen also arranged for the Trust’s library services manager to run workshops in research skills to prepare the student midwives for their dissertations.

The local college also attended and took details from a number of attendees who were interested in courses.  According to Karen “one midwife wants to become an NVQ assessor and is now in discussions with her manager and the tutor”.

As part of the LaWD, midwives completed learning questionnaires which were analysed and used as evidence of the demand for learning at the hospital. The questionnaires identified learning needs such as report and statement writing, and leadership and management skills. Karen is now discussing the results from the questionnaires with the learning and development manager.

There was also a significant demand for learning languages, such as French and Spanish, so Karen is currently in discussions with North Warwickshire and Hinckley College about organising courses on site.

Learning stress management methods was also a popular request so Karen is organising a relaxation and pampering evening with her colleague, Sue Mousley, as part of the Celebration of Learning event, which is a unionlearn funded event providing informal taster courses over 2 Weeks.  The relaxation evening will give staff the opportunity to try a variety of holistic therapies and take part in sessions on relaxation and massage.

Since becoming a ULR, Karen has attended the second RCM ULR course and has reported that an informal ULR network is developing among the students. “We swap emails and calls when we can, exchanging ideas and information and basically supporting each other when we can” says Karen.

Aine Alam
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust

Aine has a passion for learning and development and was keen to get more involved in the RCM, so becoming a ULR was perfect for her.

“I have a background in teaching and was prominent in getting St Thomas’ Hospital’s apprenticeship in health programme up and running,” said Aine. “I’ve also managed the BTEC and NVQ components for the last 6 months”.

“The ULR role is exciting for me” continued Aine, “as it gives me the opportunity to promote learning opportunities in the hospital and stimulate lifelong learning among the staff”.

She is currently using her role to work more closely with the Trust’s training department on introducing apprenticeships for Maternity Support Workers and has also liaised with the local college to provide the apprenticeship.