Nine nursing aides furthered their education by graduating from a programme designed to help them work with patients with disabilities.

The graduation took place on Wednesday at the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute (MWI). The course was called City & Guilds Certificate in "Working with People Who Have Learning Disability".

The graduates are Alexandra Bean, Maria Burgess, Sandra Butterfield, Tyeasha Cameron, Shirley Jacobs, Devena James, Regina Smith, Durroni Philpott, Tammy Thompson.

Chief Operating Officer of MWI, Patrice Dill said: "We are extremely pleased to be celebrating the success of nine of our nursing aides in the Learning Disability area. At MWI we are committed to providing the highest quality service to our Learning Disability clients and we are very proud to be able to offer this certification to our staff as a City and Guilds Assessment Centre.

"Over half of our nursing aides have now gone through the programme. It is a great development opportunity that further improves this important service."

Learning Disability Clinical Director, Michael Murray, added: "Learning Disability at MWI is an exciting and evolving programme, providing both day care and residential services for people in Bermuda with Learning Disabilities.

"Educational development supports our staff and ensures a constant raising of the bar as we work towards de-institutionalising our service, which means providing more group home residences to ensure a more homelike environment for the people we care for."

City and Guilds is the UK's leading vocational qualification awarding body, offering more than 500 qualifications in over 28 industry sectors, through 8,500 approved centres in around 100 countries.