Being able to receive care and support from someone who can speak your language is an important part of receiving dignified, high-quality care.
Which is why earlier this month, WeCare Wales sponsored Care Day at the Llŷn and Eifionydd National Eisteddfod.
The aim of the day was to promote the importance of being able to receive care and support in your chosen language and to attract more Welsh speakers to the care sector.
The WeCare Wales team was at the Eisteddfod to encourage Welsh speakers of all levels to consider a career in care and to promote its free training courses that give people a taste of what it’s like to work in care.
We also organised a series of events and activities as Social Care Wales as part of the day, the first of which saw us crown the winner of our annual Caring in Welsh award.
The award recognises, celebrates and shares the work of those providing excellent care through the medium of Welsh.
Five individuals from across Wales were chosen as finalists for this year’s award and we held a public vote to decide the winner, in which almost 2,300 people voted.
The award was won by Ross Dingle, manager and play leader at Clwb Carco Ltd in Cardiff.
Ross was nominated by Jane O’Toole, the Chief Executive of Clybiau Plant Cymru Kids’ Club, for his work developing the play quality and ethos of Clwb Carco, which runs seven Welsh-medium out-of-school childcare clubs in south Wales.
Many congratulations to Ross and to our four highly commended finalists – Ffion Hughes, Jenny Thomas, Menna Evans and Nikki Taylor.
We also hosted a lively expert panel discussion about the importance of using Welsh in the social care and early years and childcare sectors, which attracted a large audience and prompted a number of questions.
As part of the ‘More than just words’ plan, we’re working on a new joint campaign with Health Education and Improvement Wales.
Called ‘A little bit of Welsh goes a long way’, the campaign aims to encourage social care and health workers to use Welsh with the people they care for – no matter what level of language skill they have.
This is because using just a few words – such as ‘bore da’, ‘diolch’ or ‘paned’ – can go a long way to help Welsh speakers feel more comfortable when they’re receiving care and support.
We haven’t only been busy with the Eisteddfod in recent weeks, we’ve also launched a recruitment campaign to help us find six new Board members.
Our aim is to make sure that our Board represents the diversity and culture of the people of Wales and as such we want to hear from people from all walks of life.
So, if you’re someone who treats people with dignity and respect, wants to learn new skills and get valuable experience, likes working with and involving people, and wishes to make Wales the best it can be, why not consider joining our Board?
The closing date for applications is 8 September at 4pm. If you’re interested, visit www.gov.wales/public-appointments
Our Chair Mick Giannasi will be hosting two online briefing sessions to give anyone interested an overview of who we are and what we do, and to answer any questions.
The sessions will take place between 7pm and 8pm on 31 August and 4 September.
If you’d like to join a session, email Llinos Bradbury at llinos.bradbury@socialcare.wales