A GRADUATE has joined the team at Middleton Hall retirement village near Darlington.

Greg Whalen, 22, is on a fast-track scheme to train future leaders in the social care sector.

He graduated with an MSc management masters from Durham University in the summer and is now on placement at the Middleton St George retirement home as part of the Skills for Care graduate programme. Skills for Care is an independent charity which delivers schemes for the Department for Health and Social Care. Its graduate programme aims to widen the pool of recruits and develop new sources of talent for the social care sector.

Greg, from Durham, who also has a degree in Sociology from Newcastle University, had to undergo a rigorous selection process to be accepted onto the graduate programme and is one of only 20 graduates recruited nationally.

He then opted to join Middleton Hall, which has a rare ‘Outstanding’ rating by the Care and Quality Commission (CQC) and has been selected by Skills for Care as a host employer.