Northland DHB is proud to be one of the first DHBs to support its porters through the newly developed National Certificate in Health, Disability, and Aged Support (Orderlies) (Level 3). This NZQA qualification has been a joint venture between the DHBs, Careerforce and the Service and Food Workers Union.
Careerforce is the industry training organisation for health, disability, aged support, mental health, social services, cleaning and urban pest management sectors. They work closely with employers to set skill standards, design qualifications and support workplace learning.
Hotel services manager, Deb Borovich says the team are very enthusiastic about the opportunity the qualification provides to recognise porters’ skills, whilst at the same time providing opportunity for further learning.
Learning and development officer, Mike Tansley, will facilitate workplace assessments based on the NZQA unit standards.
General Manager, finance and commercial services, Meng Cheong says: “It’s a great opportunity to have our highly-valued portering service recognised though a national qualification and we will be doing everything to support them.”
The Whangarei porter service is a 24/7 highly-interactive delivery and collection service to clinical and non-clinical areas.
The voluntary programme, which commenced in Whangarei last month and in Dargaville this month, provides the opportunity to recognise prior learning and ability through the assessment framework.