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The Social Welfare Department (SWD) is inviting applications for admission to a two-year full-time welfare-oriented Enrolled Nurse (General)/Enrolled Nurse (Psychiatric) Training Programme which will commence on November 6, 2006.
The SWD commissions the Hospital Authority (HA) to provide a welfare-oriented Enrolled Nurse (General)/Enrolled Nurse (Psychiatric) Training Programme to meet the demand for these nurses in the welfare sector with a view to enhancing the quality of care services, an SWD spokesman said today (April 11).
The programme will provide 110 training places, including 80 places for Enrolled Nurse (General) and 30 places for Enrolled Nurse (Psychiatric).
"In October last year, the SWD invited applications for admission to the same training programme with the same number of training places. Around 2,400 applications were received. The training programme commenced on March 6 this year. In view of the encouraging response from the applicants and the need for more trained nurses to serve in the welfare sector, the SWD organised this second enrolled nurse training programme," the spokesman explained.
The programme aims to prepare graduates to become competent, caring professional nurses through strong clinical and practical emphasis on providing health care for clients in the welfare sector. It covers a wide range of subjects including personal and communal health, psychology, first aid and emergency care, food and nutrition, medical and surgical nursing, pharmacology, geriatric nursing, psychiatry and related nursing. The training programme will be conducted in HA nursing schools, with clinical placement arranged in HA hospitals and welfare settings.
The applicant must have attained the age of 18 by the time the training programme commences in November 2006, and must have completed secondary school form five education in Hong Kong or the equivalent. To encourage existing frontline staff in the welfare sector to upgrade their skills, priority will be accorded to applicants who are currently working full time in non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or private organisations providing elderly, rehabilitation, family and child care, youth or correctional services, and who aspire to continue serving in the welfare sector as enrolled nurses after graduation from the course. Individuals not working in the welfare sector but aspiring to start a career as enrolled nurses in the welfare sector will also be considered.
The SWD will fully subsidise each trainee with tuition fees of $50,000 for the whole course. Each selected candidate is required to sign an undertaking to indicate his/her readiness to be employed as an Enrolled Nurse (General) or an Enrolled Nurse (Psychiatric) in the welfare sector providing elderly, rehabilitation, family and child care, or correctional services operated by NGOs or private organisations for a continuous period of no less than two years after satisfactory completion of the training. In breach of this term, the trainee must repay the SWD the tuition fees in full or in part.
Guide to Applications and Application Form for the training course may be obtained from the Headquarters or the District Social Welfare Offices of SWD or downloaded from "What's New" on the SWD website (http://www.swd.gov.hk). Applications close on May 23. For enquiries, please contact the course hotline on 2110 1495.
Ends/Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Issued at HKT 11:01
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