Greg Stewart, an independent funeral director and piper, based in Glasgow, who became the first student to graduate from the NAFD’s new Funeral Service Operative (FSO) course, in September, has reflected on the positive changes that it has inspired in his business.

The course, which has been designed and delivered in conjunction with the North Tees & Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, is the first training programme of its kind by the NAFD to be specifically aimed at funeral service operatives, assistants and directors who are working directly with the deceased, following the initial notification that a death has occurred.

The objective of the training programme is to equip students with the knowledge and skills to safely carry out the functions of funeral service operations, including all physical, caring and administrative responsibilities. The training is completed via a series of online workshops, assessments and portfolio of evidence, with the support of a trainer, and assessed via online tests.

Greg started the course when it launched in June 2021 and completed it in September. “I think that the course taught me a lot more than it was designed to do,” he said. “I probably wasn’t very IT savvy before I started the course, so it helped me to make more use of the laptop – and the assignments encouraged me to do wider research on other areas of the funeral directing role which were new to me such as the funeral rites of different faiths and cultures.”

There were practical benefits too with certain units, such as mortuary operations, helping Greg to update his own business paperwork, making his life easier. He said that it had made him look at the processes within his business, and think differently about them in order to make improvements.

Greg also said that he engaged really well with the trainer, Darren Makin, who is a pathology training lead at North Tees & Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust. They built a good rapport, with Greg finding his support in helping him to understand the learning material and work his way through the assignments really helpful.

“I liked the concept of the course being linked between the NAFD and a Royal Society for Public Health UK accredited training centre,” Greg added. “My trainer, Darren could support me with specific information on mortuary operations and an overview of the human anatomy.

“The whole experience was fantastic. Brilliant. Really, really good.”

Trainer Darren Makin explained how the course works:  ”What is different and important about this course is that it is evidence based. It’s not a just a standard ‘learn and repeat’ training course; students have to go away, collect evidence of how they run their businesses and decide how they want to present this back to be reviewed. The requirement for evidence is exactly what a regulator would expect. So this course also offers a valuable insight into the discipline of how quality standards organisations would expect evidence to be presented, which is a valuable discipline to develop.”

Having passed his online tests, Greg has now registered for the Direct Entry Route with a view to registering for the DipFD next year. The third cohort of FSO students are now underway with their studies and further dates for 2022 are being scheduled.