Bolton Cares has celebrated the achievements of two of its workers.

Gemma Clark and Sally Fletcher, both of whom work as support staff at the Thicketford Centre, have both obtained a distinction in their level five diploma in health and social care.

As well as this they have have been nominated for a positive contribution award by their apprenticeship lead at Bolton University.

The qualification combines learning on and off the job and they completed it one day a week after starting in February 2020.

Sally Fletcher said: “I was keen to do the qualification to help me bridge the gap between the care and clinical treatments we can offer to help us improve services to the people we support.”

Gemma Clark said: “I love learning and did the qualification to help me build my skills and expertise. I am looking forward to being able to travel around the services in Bolton, Salford and Wigan offering the enhanced skills and services to the people we support.”

Sanjeet Bains, managing director of Bolton Cares, said they have overcome the odds.

He said: “Investing and upskilling our support workers in this way is essential to help us to continue to improve the quality of care we offer to the people we support.

"We are very proud of Gemma and Sally’s hard work and celebrate their fantastic achievements.

"They have accomplished incredible things despite the odds posed by the pandemic Their skills are invaluable to the company.”