An extremely important area of work of the Mary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice is being involved in developing strategies that ensure that those employed within the NHS are more representative, at all levels, of the diverse groups in their local communities.  Activities have included:

The CANDLES Project

Campaign to Attract Nurses/midwives from Diverse Local Ethnic groups in Slough

The CANDLES Project was funded in 2003 for 2 years (October 2003 to September 2005) by the Thames Valley Strategic Health Authority Workforce Development Confederation.    The Co-ordinator and Outreach Worker was Mrs Haseen Mughal based in the Thames Valley University campus in Slough.  The overall aim of the project was to increase the proportion of under-represented students in nursing and midwifery programmes, these are primarily from local South Asian and Caribbean communities.   The project closed at the end of September 2005 and with funding from TVU's Faculty of Health and Human Sciences, Haseen will continue her secondment from Slough Primary Care NHS Trust for a few more years.  She remains in Slough and is based in the External Events team of the recruitment department of the Faculty of Health and Human Sciences.  Click to read CANDLES Project Executive Summary (December 2006) and please click here to read the CANDLES Project final report.

Final meeting of the CANDLES Project Steering group - September 2005

The main outcomes of the project were:

• 119 local recruitment events organised in community and faith settings (e.g. Mosques, Temples, Gurdwaras, Women's Groups)

• 240 people contacted Haseen to make enquiries about a career in nursing, midwifery or other health professional activities of whom:-

• 21 have successfully applied for a place on a pre-registration nursing or midwifery course

• 79 have started NVQ, Access and/or other courses that will qualify them to apply for a place on a nursing or midwifery education programme. 

• 16 overseas qualified nurses were referred to do the Adaptation Course/Overseas Nursing programme

• 1 person was referred to a Return to Practice Course

• 17 were signposted and successfully applied for a Health Care Assistant post

The Mary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice held a conference on Wednesday 27th September 2006 at Thames Valley University in Slough entitled Promoting and Tracking Diversity of Students within Nursing and Midwifery Education - a national model?  The morning session was devoted to hearing about the outcomes of the CANDLES Project.      Click here for Elizabeth's presentation and here for the one by Haseen (both in PDF format).           

An article on the CANDLES Project, Lighting the future, written by Abigail Bernard, is featured in Multicultural Nursing,  November 2005, Vol. 1 (No. 2) Pages 12-14.
 

 Please click here to read the CANDLES Project final report (2006).
Click here to read CANDLES Project Executive Summary (December 2006)

To read Year 1 annual report [October 2003 - September 2004]  click here. 
To read the 18 month report [October 2003 - March 2005] click here  

The Faculty, in collaboration with the Mary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice, produced a recruitment video aimed at local people from diverse backgrounds.  It  was launched at the House of Commons in May 1999.  It has proved to be a very useful tool for those going into schools, colleges and community groups.  To view clips from the video click here.


Last updated: 08/11/2007