Northern Regional College has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Northern Health and Social Care Trust to help promote greater co-operation and collaboration between the two organisations.
The MoU will facilitate partnership in areas of mutual interest that are strategically important to both the College and the Trust, such as education and health promotion. It will enable the exchange of information related to research, technology entrepreneurship and innovation, legal and regulatory requirements, as well as sharing infrastructure, expertise and resources.
Jenny Small, Northern Regional College’s Vice Principal for Performance and Development, welcomed the MoU and explained how it would benefit both signatories.
“Northern Regional College is committed to developing health initiatives and the MoU will ensure capacity building and sharing best practice. This in turn will allow the progression of opportunities for shared skills and the development of health initiatives in the catchments served by the College and the Trust.”
She continued, saying that the MoU would allow the College to build on the good working relationship it already had with the Trust: “Both the College and the Trust have a rich pool of knowledge, talent and skills and the MoU will help us identify development programmes for staff and students across the two organisations, as well as opportunities for placements and guest speaker exchanges.”
The College has already delivered several successful pilot training programmes for Trust staff and several more are in the pipeline.
In response to the demands on the health and social care sector during the pandemic and in collaboration with the Trust, the College delivered a new accredited qualification for people providing end of life care. The 12-week OCN Level 2 Award in End of Life Care course will be offered again in early 2022.
The College also hosted a ‘Loneliness Seminar’ for health and social care staff in November which was well received and will be followed up with second one in the New Year.
Dr Petra Corr, Director for Mental Health, Learning Disability & Community Wellbeing with the Northern Trust, said she is delighted that the collaborative working between the Trust and the College is being marked by a MoU.
“We have worked closely as Community Planning Partners in many ways, notably the joint development of courses covering important areas such as palliative care and loneliness. The extension of the Read Yourself Well Scheme into College premises reflects our commitment to the mental and physical wellbeing of its students.
“With the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding, we will have further opportunities to work together and build education pathways to health care employment through Northern Regional College, thereby providing for the future care of clients receiving health and social care services in the Northern area.”
