Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust is committed to the ongoing development of its staff.  Each hospital site has an Education Centre giving dedicated teaching space to staff.  You can also support your learning by accessing the libraries situated in both centres, which have a suite of computers which can be accessed around the clock.

You can expect to have an annual appraisal with a plan of personal development and access to education teams to support you with advice and guidance about your development needs.  As a manager you can work with these teams to provide the right support and development for your staff.

Over the last year we recorded over 246 different in-house learning activities such as, courses on Time Management or Leadership Skills; Microsoft Word and Excel skills; e-learning passes for subjects e.g. Safe Use of Insulin or Supporting Breastfeeding and competency assessments on various Medical Devices.  If you are unable to find the development you need in-house, we have potential funding for external training.

We have a range of activities specifically for the development of our Bands 1 – 4 staff, providing courses such as ESOL (English Language lessons), Apprenticeships and NVQ’s in Business Administration, Management, Customer Service and Team Leading.  It is always great to see the number of returners at our annual achievement ceremony who have progressed from Level 2 to Level 3 in their NVQ studies.

As a CSW in our Trust you can expect to receive a tailored programme of development including the Clinical Support Worker Induction Programme, Care Certificate and Level 2 and 3 Diplomas in Clinical Healthcare Support provided by our Professional Standards Team who were awarded the Skills for Health “Quality Mark” for their training delivery.

As a Nurse, Midwife, ODP, Therapist, Radiographer or Biomedical scientists we can use our contacts with local universities – Canterbury Christchurch, Greenwich and the University of Brighton to support your continuing professional development.  This could be anything from a study day, module, degree or a Masters course.  We also have ongoing programmes in Foundations of Acute Medical Nursing, Foundations of Emergency Care and Foundations of Nursing the Critically Ill delivered in-house by our own clinical staff and accredited by the University of Greenwich.

Each education centre contains clinical skills labs and sophisticated equipment such as Sim Men enabling you to practice your skills in a safe and supervised environment.

With all of these combined activities, the Trust has received a positive response in the annual Staff Survey which put us in the top 20% of acute trusts nationally for providing learning and development opportunities.