Family carers encouraged to consider it as a career

Sajee Gunarathna at the College of West Anglia's nursing school, where training aid 'Dorris' is specially designed to mimic an elderly patient

People with experience of caring for a loved one are being encouraged to consider a career in adult social care.

It is part of an NHS pilot project called Apollo which aims to tackle the shortage of trained workers as demand for adult social care increases.

Short courses in care of the elderly are being offered at six colleges across Norfolk and Suffolk.

Most people can have their training paid for by the government.

Courtney Masterson from the College of West Anglia school of nursing studies said the training opened a lot of doors to students to work in the sector

Sajee Gunarathna, from King's Lynn, Norfolk, enrolled on a course after caring for her father in Sri Lanka.

She said: "My father was my role model in my life. He encouraged us to go towards our dreams.

"He would be very proud of me."

Ms Gunarathna cared for her father until his death in 2020.

The experience led her to pursue work as a carer when she returned to the UK.

After completing a six-week programme at the College of West Anglia, Ms Gunarathna was promoted to the role of senior carer.

"Working in care has many rewarding moments," she said. "One of the best parts is building strong relationships with the people you support.

"By making their day a little easier you can make them smile."

Ms Gunarathna said the college staff offered clinical training but also communication and careers guidance.

Encouraging family carers to think about making a career in the profession is one of the aims of the Apollo programme.

Figures suggest 8.3% of care worker vacancies are unfilled with the majority of carers being recruited from overseas.

Earlier this year, the government announced a commission to investigate and reform the adult social care sector.

Their timeline has been criticised as too slow, with the first phase not due to report until 2026.

Programmes like Apollo aim to encourage and support new entrants into care work.

Courtney Masterson is a careers mentor in the school of nursing studies at the College of West Anglia.

The school has had 65 students take their Care of the Elderly course so far.

Ms Masterson said the students were often surprised at all the options open to them.

"It's a sector that comes with challenges," she said.

"But it is so incredibly rewarding. My role as a careers mentor is to say to people 'there is a job for you'.

"These courses - Care of the Elderly and the Communications Skills courses - are really quite broad and all the knowledge you learn in them can be taken into any career you choose."