Date published: 22 October 2024
A Mersey Care nurse has won a prestigious Royal College of Nursing (RCN) award at their annual regional Black History Month conference.
Okey Ibuzo, a Practice Education Facilitator based at the Trust's V7 headquarters, was presented with the award to mark his outstanding contribution to the equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) agenda at the Quaker House in Liverpool.
Estephanie Dunn, Regional Director of RCN North West, said: “Our Black, Asian, and minority ethnic nursing community play a vital role in caring for people and their families across the region and these awards celebrate the unique contribution that they make. We are proud to honour their achievements alongside those who work to address inequalities that this demographic contends with on a daily basis.
“No one, no matter their ethnicity or place of birth, should be denied the same rights and opportunities afforded to others and there are few places where that disparity is more apparent than in the health and care sector. Despite progress made by employers to address race inequality, discrimination in the health and care sector is systemic - and it’s clear it still has a long way to go in overcoming the prejudices that both patients and staff face and to achieve greater equality
“However, hearing how valued our award winners are in their organisations gives me hope that one day trying to fight inequality within the health and care sector will be a thing of the past.”
Okey was nominated for his award in recognition of the pivotal role he played in developing and delivering a comprehensive transition programme for internationally educated nurses and for supporting wards and teams to be equipped for the needs of their new staff. This programme included establishing communication networks before the nurses’ arrival, setting up a buddy system within each divisional or clinical area and ensuring Practice Education Facilitators maintain regular contact and support with objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) preparations.
Among his many achievements, Okey has arranged that all IENs get the opportunity to undertake the Florence Nightingale Foundation leadership programme, liaising with Trust Preceptorship Leads to ensure that all IENs begin a 12-month Preceptorship Programme within three months of obtaining their PIN. This programme has been expanded to include bespoke modules for IENs including Career Conversations once they are established in role.
Mersey Care has also been awarded NHS England's International Nursing and Midwifery Pastoral Care Quality Award in recognition of the outstanding work that has been undertaken in this field, work, which would not have been completed without Okey’s leadership and dedication to this group of staff.
Are you interested in joining our Trust? We have a number of nursing and midwifery vacancies available for candidates with different experience and expertise.