***********************************************************
The Social Welfare Department is inviting applications for admission to a two-year full-time welfare-oriented Enrolled Nurse (General)/Enrolled Nurse (Psychiatric) Training Programme which will begin on December 3, 2007.
The department had commissioned the Hospital Authority to provide a third batch of 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, a spokesman said today (April 3).
The programme will provide 110 training places, including 80 places for Enrolled Nurse (General) and 30 places for Enrolled Nurse (Psychiatric).
In October, 2005, and April, 2006, the department invited applications for admission to the same training programme with the same number of training places. Around 4,300 applications were received in the two rounds of invitation. The two batches of training programmes began on March 6, 2006 and November 6, 2006 respectively.
¡§In view of the encouraging responses from the applicants and the need for more trained nurses to serve in the welfare sector, we decided to organise the third batch of enrolled nurse training programme,¡¨ the spokesman said.
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 Hospital Authority nursing schools, with clinical placement arranged in authority hospitals and welfare settings.
The applicant must have attained the age of 18 by the time the training programme begins in December, and must have completed secondary school form five education in Hong Kong or 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 department 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 Enrolled Nurse (General) or 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 has to repay the department the tuition fees in full or in part.
Guide to Applications and Application Form for the training course are obtainable from the Headquarters or District Social Welfare Offices of the department or downloaded from ¡§Thematic Events¡¨ or ¡§What¡¦s New¡¨ of the homepage of the department (http://www.swd.gov.hk). Application will be closed on May 22, 2007. For enquiries, please contact the course hotline on 2110 1495 during office hours.
Ends/Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Issued at HKT 15:19
NNNN
