By Petrina Wright | Posted: Tuesday July 4, 2023
Enliven director Carol Riddle has been recognised for her efforts to address the nursing shortage in aged care.
Carol received the Quality Improvement and Innovative Practice Award at the Southern Nursing Excellence Awards last month (May 11) for the innovative solutions she introduced to address the nursing shortage in the Southland aged care sector.
This award recognises nurses who have led a quality improvement initiative or innovation which has had a positive impact on outcomes.
“I feel humbled to receive the recognition, but feel I am accepting it on behalf of the wider team who have contributed to our success in being able to recruit and support nurses in the Southland community,” she said.
Her work was acknowledged on the awards night - “When aged residential care staffing went into crisis, her determination, inspired thinking, and proposed solution to increase registered nurses in the sector was notable and effective.”
In a bid to address the nursing shortage, Carol worked with Te Pūkenga, SIT and Otago Polytechnic to bring the Competence Assessment Programme (CAP) to Invercargill to make it easier for overseas-trained nurses working in Southland as care workers to gain their New Zealand nursing registration.
She also created flexible “earn as you learn flexibility”, increased financial support and introduced support and learning packages for undergraduate nursing students.
The awards night recognises nursing innovation, quality improvement, patient safety, clinical excellence, leadership, research, new graduates, education, rising stars, and outstanding nursing practice in Te Whatu Ora Southern and its partners from education and general practices in the Southern region.
Nurses are nominated by their peers or managers, and nearly 100 nominations were received this year.