Recognising the achievements of Te Whatu Ora Cleaning and Orderly workforce

Recognising the achievements of Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand Taranaki’s Cleaning and Orderly workforce

2024 is a cause for celebration for Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand Taranaki – Cleaning and Orderly Services as they recently passed the milestone of having over 100 Careerforce qualifications awarded to their staff.

Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand Taranaki partners with work-based learning provider Careerforce, to ensure the necessary resources are in place to manage the training of its staff. As a work-based programme, all training and assessing takes place within the workplace. This model works very effectively for Cleaning and Orderly staff where in some instances, they may just be getting formal recognition for existing competencies. It also helps to bring all staff to the same level of quality in their work.

Since 2015, Careerforce has been the preferred work-based learning provider for the Cleaning and Orderly Services teams. In 2017 management committed to a greater vision to encourage and enable all staff to upskill and gain nationally recognised qualifications relevant to their roles at Taranaki Base and Hawera hospitals. Staff would be supported to complete either the NZ Certificate in Health and Wellbeing Level 3 (Orderly Strand) or the NZ Certificate in Cleaning Level 3, inclusive of the (High Risk Environment Cleaning Strand).

Investment in training has produced outstanding results for our healthcare environment

Pat Edwards, Patient Support Services Manager says “The time we’ve invested to develop our Orderly and Cleaning teams has produced some outstanding results for our healthcare environment over the past few years. With close to 100% of our cleaning operators having completed their quals and round 90% of our Orderly team doing the same, add to that stat, the 5 staff members within these teams, who stepped up to become Workplace Assessors, I’d say you’d be pretty hard pushed to find that on any other site.

“I’m confident that the specialised training that our teams received support and maintain a safe and healthy environment for our patients, whānau, visitors, and kaimahi/staff, both here at Base and Hawera hospitals.

“If we were to talk milestones, I’d simply be here all day. Embedding these qualification opportunities into our recruitment and induction processes have come into fruition. I’m happy to say the future is looking good and Careerforce continue to provide us with the vehicle to enable us to do this, it’s not hard encouraging people when they’re self-motivated to better themselves and make positive change”. 

Sandra Looney, Cleaning Services Supervisor and Workplace Training Assessor says, “Pat pretty much summed it all up. Having a vision, creating a pathway, and turning that into reality enabled us to reap the rewards. We’ve certainly seen that happen over the past few years, especially when Covid 19 pushed us (Cleaning Service), onto centre stage. Having so many of our team fully trained and qualified in Specialised High-Risk cleaning enabled us to provide a much safer environment for our patients and staff. Our competency levels went through the roof and our cleaning operators here and at Hawera hospital proved that with the right training, equipment, and chemicals they could produce the goods, and they continue to do that. We’re driven by infection prevention, and control. What else can I say? I’m stoked and proud of my team and their achievements”.

 

“..[the training] helps us provide a better service for our patients and our hospital..” 

Dana Adams, Orderly Services 2IC and Workplace Training Assessor says “I’m a strong believer in training and upskilling. It helps us provide a better service for our patients and our hospital and the fact I really enjoy being the Workplace Assessor for our Orderly team helps. Just watching and assisting individuals to grow and achieve their qualification is very satisfying and just great for both the betterment of our team and their own personal development journey”.

Ocean Falaniko, Orderly Supervisor says “As a people leader, I’ve always supported and encouraged professional development with any of the teams I’ve led. The most effective way to do this is through training and Careerforce are great, they provide us with the resources to do this without even leaving site. Once our staff start their supported journey they don’t look back.

“..It’s all about how we improve our patient experience..”

“Having the right training opportunities available for their roles here at Base hospital is especially important in today’s fast-paced healthcare system.  Those that achieve the qualification inspire others to do the same and as a result our team becomes more versatile and efficient, which leads into greater productivity and successful outcomes.   At the end of the day, it’s all about how we improve our patient experience”.

Elaine Dittert, Careerforce Workplace Advisor for Taranaki says “It is fantastic to see such commitment from an employer to upskill their staff so thoroughly. It has been amazing working with management who want to acknowledge and train their staff to a high level. I believe these staff were often taken for granted in the past, but certainly since COVID, it is amazing that we have can such wonderful visible recognition of these very important staff members in our hospitals”. I look forward to working with the Taranaki team towards the next 100 qualification completions!”

For more information about Careerforce Cleaning and Orderly qualifications, contact work-based learning provider Careerforce, a business division of Te Pūkenga.

Some of Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand Taranaki’s workforce who qualified with a Careerforce supported Level 3 Orderly qualification

Some of Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand Taranaki’s workforce who qualified with a Careerforce supported Level 3 Cleaning qualification