Local Group Victorious in a Skills-Based special 'Meet the Dragons'
The North East Regional Advisory Group (NERAG) of Skills for Care North East have met the 'Dragons' and emerged with the £2,500 they needed to run a feasibility study that will look into assisting social work students secure placements.
NERAG is a group of 22 volunteers who utilise their wide-ranging expertise and experiences to support learning and development opportunities in the care sector.Their pitch took place at the "New Types of Working in Health and Social Care" conference held at Heathrow Airport.
After submitting a 300-word abstract prior to the Conference, NERAG were delighted, but a little anxious to hear that they had been invited to stand in front of 3 'dragons' and make the case for the funding.
Karen Winspear is Regional Development Officer for Skills for Care North East. She said:
"We were directed downstairs to the basement of the hotel, where we would pitch our idea. The person that came out before us joked that it had been horrendous, but we were nervous enough anyway! We put forward our idea, had to answer a number of questions and were then told we'd find out later in the day."
Karen supported NERAG members Ruby Marshall and Len Wires on coming up with an innovative and engaging idea, and turning it into a feasible project.
Ruby explains the idea they had to pitch: "We know that the workforce is growing and changing and we support innovation and new ways of working. So, we thought it would be really useful to investigate how many Direct Payment Employers or Personal Assistants would be interested in offering placements to Social Work Students. This would give them practical experience of how to assess needs of those requiring care.
"We want to roll-out a questionnaire that will be developed by the NERAG members using our expertise and personal experiences. We hope the project will promote participation, and engage and empower people to influence change by giving feedback to Social Work Students, Co-ordinators and Tutors."
The good news about the successful pitch to the Dragons was delivered later that day.
By getting students involved with employers, we thought that NERAG's proposal would have a positive impact on future workforce development.Universities would benefit from expanding the number and type of opportunities on offer to Social Work Students, and allow those students to develop the right skills, knowledge and values to help them support and work alongside people who use services, and carers. Overall, it was an excellent idea, and we were delighted to hand over the £2,500 funding."
Ruby is now looking forward togetting the project under way: "We'll have a good think about how to develop the questionnaire and how to roll it out to all the people that might be interested or find it useful. We'll also be looking at ways to engage the Local Authorities to help co-ordinate the project. There's quite a bit to do, but we survived the process, so we're confident it will be a success."
