Commitment to a bilingual workforce is ‘more than just words’ for health board
Hywel Dda Health Board is helping put the importance of a bilingual workforce on the UK map as it is shortlisted for a prestigious national human resources award.
The Board has been shortlisted in the equality and diversity category at the Healthcare People Management Association (HPMA) Excellence in HR Management Awards 2013. The winner will be announced following an awards ceremony on Thursday 27 June.
The short-listing recognises that Hywel Dda is the first Health Board in Wales to develop a bilingual skills strategy as part of its Welsh Language Scheme.
Director of Human Resources Janet Wilkinson explained: “Both the human resources directorate and the health board’s welsh language have worked extremely hard to develop the bilingual skills strategy, to raise awareness of it, and to support its implementation. We are therefore delighted to be shortlisted in these prestigious UK awards.
“This strategy will identify the language skills of the current workforce to ensure we have enough staff with appropriate language skills to deliver a healthcare service through the medium of Welsh or English according to personal need. This will be hugely beneficial to the population we serve – a significant proportion of which uses the Welsh language as their primary language.”
There is growing evidence of the detrimental impact on patient health and well being, when they do not have access to their language of need when accessing healthcare - as well as the beneficial impact of when they do.
This is recognised in the Welsh Government’s Strategic Framework ‘More than Just Words’ (2012) that highlights four priority groups where being able to receive services through the medium of Welsh can be a clinical necessity and beneficial. They are; children, young people, older Welsh speakers, and people with learning disabilities and with mental health disorders.
Hywel Dda Health Board’s Bilingual Skills Strategy will support service teams to develop an action plan that through creative workforce planning, learning and development and recruitment; they will be able to close any identified Welsh Language skill gap.
The HPMA Excellence Awards have been recognising and rewarding outstanding work in healthcare human resource management for 23 years. The programme highlights projects, large and small, that have made a real difference to patient care and influenced HR practice in healthcare and beyond.
The Board has been shortlisted in the equality and diversity category at the Healthcare People Management Association (HPMA) Excellence in HR Management Awards 2013. The winner will be announced following an awards ceremony on Thursday 27 June.
The short-listing recognises that Hywel Dda is the first Health Board in Wales to develop a bilingual skills strategy as part of its Welsh Language Scheme.
Director of Human Resources Janet Wilkinson explained: “Both the human resources directorate and the health board’s welsh language have worked extremely hard to develop the bilingual skills strategy, to raise awareness of it, and to support its implementation. We are therefore delighted to be shortlisted in these prestigious UK awards.
“This strategy will identify the language skills of the current workforce to ensure we have enough staff with appropriate language skills to deliver a healthcare service through the medium of Welsh or English according to personal need. This will be hugely beneficial to the population we serve – a significant proportion of which uses the Welsh language as their primary language.”
There is growing evidence of the detrimental impact on patient health and well being, when they do not have access to their language of need when accessing healthcare - as well as the beneficial impact of when they do.
This is recognised in the Welsh Government’s Strategic Framework ‘More than Just Words’ (2012) that highlights four priority groups where being able to receive services through the medium of Welsh can be a clinical necessity and beneficial. They are; children, young people, older Welsh speakers, and people with learning disabilities and with mental health disorders.
Hywel Dda Health Board’s Bilingual Skills Strategy will support service teams to develop an action plan that through creative workforce planning, learning and development and recruitment; they will be able to close any identified Welsh Language skill gap.
The HPMA Excellence Awards have been recognising and rewarding outstanding work in healthcare human resource management for 23 years. The programme highlights projects, large and small, that have made a real difference to patient care and influenced HR practice in healthcare and beyond.
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