Learning to care

When Fife based Kingdom Homes Ltd needed staff for its new £5 million luxury care home, Jobcentre Plus recommended Carnegie College as the preferred trainer. The college was asked to create and deliver a programme to support the recruitment of domestic, catering and laundry assistants. As the new care home, due to open in the autumn, is based in Glenrothes, it was an ideal opportunity to recruit local people from surrounding communities. This led to Carnegie College having to search for premises outwith its normal area of operation and it was able to source ideal accommodation in the centre of Glenrothes at Auchmuty Learning Centre. The 4 week pre-recruitment course was funded by Carnegie College through their Skills Development Scotland Training for Work contracts. Tutor Diane Macleod who developed and delivered the training with colleague, Denise Yates, said, “Ten people interested in working within the care sector were given places on the course, and they spent two weeks in the centre, learning a variety of subjects including employability skills, customer service, team building and health and hygiene. With the support of the Keavil House Hotel in Crossford, students gained a valuable insight into room presentation. A week’s induction and training programme followed at Kingdom Homes’ base in Cluny, Kirkcaldy, with a final week’s work placement opportunity in one of their care homes. One of the group, Pamela Allan from Glenrothes, had lost her job when Woolworths closed. She said, “I was made redundant from Woolworths after working there for 15 years, but never thought for a minute I would end up doing anything like this. I absolutely love it”. Preston House, on target to open in September, is a 60-bed facility that will be at the forefront of care in Fife and will create more than 70 new jobs. As part of the programme, the students are all guaranteed an interview with Kingdom Homes for one of the available posts, but first they will be taking part in a Celebratory Event on Friday 21 August in Auchmuty Learning Centre, where they will be presented with certificates in recognition of their achievements, by Lindsay Roy, MP for Glenrothes.