Wirral Life August 2019 | Page 8

IN BRIEF AS FRESH AS A DAISY - WIRRAL HOSPICE ST JOHNS SUMMER CAMPAIGN Now in its fourth year, Wirral Hospice St John’s Summer Memories campaign flower is a beautiful daisy. Visit the hospice to see bright yellow wheelbarrows filled with vibrant displays of these wonderful flowers. There are now four different flowers to collect. Julia Evans, Fundraising Development Manager at the hospice and Rachel, a nurse on the Inpatients Ward are pictured with the growing selection. Each flower is made from high quality materials created to withstand the Great British weather and come with a small tag on which a message can be written. Julia said “We would like to thank our local community for their loyalty and continuing support. We’ve already had a great response to the campaign and have received lovely comments on how beautiful this year’s daisies look when placed next to the previous years’ flowers in our supporters’ gardens and homes”. All funds raised from this summer campaign will help Wirral Hospice St John’s to continue to provide its compassionate care and specialist support to patients and their loved ones. This year’s campaign has been kindly sponsored by Waterworld Ltd. To buy a daisy, rose, sunflower or forget-me-not from the display please call Wirral Hospice St John’s Fundraising Office on 0151 343 0778 or visit www.wirralhospice.org to make a donation online. Flowers are priced at a minimum donation of £5.00 per flower and can be collected from the Fundraising Office at the hospice or they can be posted out directly if requested. 8 wirrallife.com SPIRE MURRAYFIELD HOSPITAL HELPS SIX OF ITS TEAM LAUNCH REGISTERED NURSING CAREERS Spire Murrayfield Hospital, Wirral is supporting six of its Healthcare Assistants (HCAs) with their ambitions to become Registered Nurses by enrolling them on the RN degree apprenticeship programme and paying for all their training. Chloe Hodson, Laura Eastwood, Alan Armstrong, Helen Jones, Hannah Speed and Sally-Ann New are all taking up the opportunity to progress their careers after working as HCAs at Spire Murrayfield Hospital. Chloe was one of the first candidates to be selected for the apprenticeship programme and all the candidates will undertake this programme at Buckinghamshire New University. Chloe started her career with Spire Murrayfield as a student nurse two years ago. She commenced the RN degree apprenticeship programme in March and because of her previous experience only has to complete two years of further training. Laura, Alan, Hannah, Helen and Sally-Ann, who have all undertaken ward-based HCA apprenticeships at Spire Murrayfield, are now due to start their three-year RN apprenticeship programmes in October, with Hannah, Helen and Sally-Ann currently in the final selection stages. Spire Murrayfield is fully funding the RN apprenticeship programme for all six candidates. Carolyn Warren, Clinical Education Lead at Spire Murrayfield Hospital said: “Spire Murrayfield Hospital Wirral is committed to providing the best care to its patients. We recognise that the best way for us to do this is by investing in the development of our people. All six candidates have shown great promise and we are delighted to be able to fund the next stage of their careers. There is a well-publicised nursing shortage in Britain at present, so it’s important to us that we do all we can to support the next generation of nursing talent.” All of the candidates were required to go through a stringent interview process before winning their places on the RN apprenticeship programme. They will spend time at university but also complete work placements – mainly at Spire hospitals and across other health care settings.