UNISON Ulearn Northern Ireland

I am currently a student nurse through the Open University programme and also am still working as a Health Care Assistant in the Casualty Department. I joined the union when I started working here 10½ years ago as a nursing auxiliary. I did okay in school and got GCSEs and then went on to do a BTEC in Business and Finance. But I hated working behind a desk, I really wanted to work with people, so became a nursing auxiliary.

I thought UNISON was just for when you got into trouble in work, it was only when I saw the K100 course advertised that I realised that you could do courses. Work had paid for me to do the Bridge into Nursing course, which I completed and got accepted into Queens for the full time course. But I couldn’t afford to leave work.

I started the Open University K100 course through UNISON and they had negotiated time off work to attend classes. I was in a group of people who all worked in different parts of the hospital and we were all able to relate to each other and help each other with the different topics.

After the K100, I decided to do the Essential Skills Numeracy course, because I still wanted to do nursing and as a nurse you need to be able to do drug and drip calculations and thought the course would help me. UNISON organised the course and it was delivered by Belfast Institute. The tutors were great, they made you feel that you weren’t stupid, if you didn’t understand something, they’d go over it as many times as it took. They treated us like mature students, like adults.

I was able to apply for the OU nursing programme and got a place, but it didn’t start until January 2007. I heard about the Open University Openings course - Understanding Management through the union and signed up for that. Unlike K100, It was a different kind of course, because there are no classes and all the support is by phone, it’s also a lot shorter. I found it strange, but the tutor was great, she made me feel at ease. The materials were excellent and it was an interesting topic. I gained another 10 university points and I learned that no matter what you do in life, it’s a management process.

Recently I came along to the Dementia Study day which UNISON organised. It was really informative and there was a good mix of participants from nurses, nursing auxiliaries, home care, residential care and ambulance staff. The course looked at a range of techniques for supporting people with dementia, it was very insightful and really made me think. It is so important to remember that there is still a person inside that confused exterior.

We have a lot of student nurses who do placements in casualty and now as a student nurse myself, I realised how lost you can feel. I decided to become a UNISON steward to support student nurses in particular and am currently finishing the first part of my training. I think the training will give me the skills to better help them in the workplace if they do have issues.

There’s no doubt that I wouldn’t be where am I now if it wasn’t for UNISON, I’ve only got this far because of their help and support.