Placements: Information for practices
Student placements are key to primary care recruiting their next generation of workforce. This is an opportunity to showcase general practice as a destination career.
Workforce data surveys show that over a third of practice nurses are close to retirement age. The Network Contract Directed Enhanced Service (DES) allows and enables the recruitment of roles not traditionally seen in general practice. Practices and Primary Care Networks (PCN) are recruiting at a rate not previously experienced.
Currently, pre-registration students have little occasion to experience primary care as part of their training. If clinicians are unaware of the scope and possibilities that general practice offer, they will be less likely to apply for a job in this area. This makes the future workforce of general practice uncertain, and unsustainable.
By hosting students into practices, we can expand students’ knowledge and show the depth and breadth of primary care working, as well as exhibit the multidisciplinary team working, career development, and portfolio working.
We welcome student placements in the following roles:
Over 38% of our Nurses are due to retire in 2021! This equates to 136 positions.
A further 35% of our Nurses are approaching retirement age.
Coventry and Warwickshire have the slowest nursing recruitment growth rate and an older nursing population than anywhere else in the West Midlands.
Our patch has seen an increase in nurses of just 3-4% over 5 years, whereas the region has had an increase of 10% over five years.
With patients’ needs growing and a desire to provide more services close to people’s homes, nurses are a vital part of a thriving medical practice.
Placement models
The placement programme can be run in either a single ‘Hub model’ or a ‘Hub & Spoke model’.
Hub model:
- A student is allocated to a single practice and will spend all of their placement time within that practice
- Students will shadow a number of clinicians in the practice, as well as spending time with the Practice Manager, administration and reception teams
- Students will need to be allocated a named supervisor within the practice
Hub & Spoke Model:
- A student is allocated to a PCN, and a timetable will be devised for them by the Training Hub to spend time in all or some of the practices in the network
- Students will shadow a number of clinicians in the practice, as well as spending time with the Practice Manager, administration and reception teams
- Students will need a named supervisor within the network and named support for each location they will be placed in
Benefits to your practice and network
Once accredited as a learning environment, your practice/network can take a number of different student disciplines, thereby increasing income (via the tariff paid to the hub host)
✓ An opportunity to ‘grow your own’ workforce and secure our future workforce – students can contribute to service delivery and placements are attractive to new recruits who are looking for leadership and education roles and portfolio working
✓ Demonstrating a commitment to education and training and offering a valuable way of meeting individual CPD and revalidation requirements, while supporting the GMC and NMC Codes of Conduct
✓ Personal and professional satisfaction in facilitating and teaching students and promoting general practice as a career option
What does hosting a student specifically involve?
- Students should undergo a short induction to the practice
- Students should spend time with different teams in the practice to see how a practice functions, the different roles within the team and observe the patient journey
- Students will be able to undertake basic tasks, depending on previous experience and competence to date
- Students do not require their own room – but final year students may be able to see patients with supervisio
What is the role of the supervisor?
- Pre-registration students are required to be supported by a qualified supervisor
- Supervisor acts as a teacher, guide, mentor and assessor of competence
- A role model for the student
- Provide learning opportunities, relating theory to practice
- Set and monitor learning objectives
- To complete the record of achievement section of Practice Assessment Document at least once per week
- To raise concerns around the student’s progress and abilities as soon as possible, so they can promptly be addressed
- Supervisors must have protected 1:1 time with their student throughout the placement
What support is offered to practices/networks?
- An induction booklet to help you welcome students
- Guidance on the learning opportunities to be provided to students
- Support on completing the quality assurance of learning environment documentation (if practice is not already an accredited training practice)
- Development of a timetable for the students in the Hub & Spoke model
- Tripartite learning agreement between the practice/network, Training Hub and university
- First point of contact to supervisors/practices with students and any concerns or difficulties
- Allocating students to practices/networks
- Liaison with the university
- Reflections and feedback from students
- Maintain a list of supervisors in practice
- Provide and arrange supervisor training for those wishing to develop (including GP Trainer)
- Peer support sessions available to supervisors
- Regular student support sessions during placements – This is an opportunity for students to reflect on their placement to date, what is working well, and what would be even better if. Students can share their experiences with peers; and we bring in other speakers to talk about other areas of primary care they may not be aware of.
- We hold supervisor support sessions during placement. These are open to all supervisors to attend, and share their experiences of placements, and share ideas of what to do with students on placement.
Who can a student spend time with?
- A GP
- A Care Navigator
- Reception staff
- The local Pharmacist/Practice Pharmacist
- Voluntary sectors you may have good relationships with
- Leg ulcer clinic
- Any specialist clinicians (e.g. Physiotherapist)
- Walk in clinics
- Minor surgery clinic
In addition:
- Do any of your GPs have special interests (GPWSIs)? Could your student sit in on a clinic?
- Do you have any study days planned? If appropriate could the student join you?
How is funding and insurance obtained?
- The tariff for non-medical students is small – approximately £95 per week (this may vary according to discipline)
- Tariff is paid to the hub host only
- The payment will be made on completion of the placement
- Indemnity cover is in place for all students via the university
- Students are DBS checked by the university
- Students undergo occupational health screening via the university
- University provides statutory and mandatory training for all students
Nurse placements
Length of Placement 8 weeks
Mentor/Supervisor Can be any registered clinician. Assessors must be NMC registrants
Student requires own room No
Employed by practice No
Tariff/reimbursement £135 per week
Feeder HEI Coventry University
Competency Framework/PAD Yes, provided by the university
Quality Assurance Undertaken by Training Hub
Student Handbook Download Here
Practice Nurse Assessor
To see available dates and how to book, please click here. Once you have booked a place on this training please click here for your workbook, which will need to be completed prior to the training sessions starting.
Community Paramedic placements
Length of Placement 3rd year students. 1 day per week for 13 weeks (day of the week may be flexible)
Mentor/Supervisor Can be any registered clinician
Student requires own room No, but if available, students may be able to see patients with indirect supervision
Employed by practice No
Tariff/reimbursement £95 per week (pro rata)
Feeder HEI Coventry University
Competency Framework/PAD Yes, provided by the university
Quality Assurance Undertaken by Training Hub
Occupational Therapist placements
Length of Placement
Year 1: 8 weeks duration (37.5 hours)
Year 2: 10 weeks duration (37.5 hours)
Year 3: 10 weeks duration (37.5 hours)
Mentor/Supervisor
Named supervisor on site. Long arm supervision by an Occupational Therapist
Student requires own room No, but own case load for students to follow patient helpful
Employed by practice No
Tariff/reimbursement £95 per week
Feeder HEI Coventry University
Competency Framework/PAD Yes, provided by the university
Quality Assurance Undertaken by Training Hub
Physician Associate Placements
Length of Placement: Year 1 placements – usually 1 day per week (day varies depending on University and cohort). Year 2 placement is often a block of 3 weeks.
Mentor/Supervisor: Must be a GP. However, experienced PA input is strongly encouraged.
Student requires own room: No (year 1), yes for Year 2 for ‘student clinics’ – the room can be shared by the students.
For more information, please contact the Physician Associate Ambassador.
Employed by practice: No
Tariff/reimbursement: £100-150/student/day depending on placement.
Feeder HEI: Birmingham Medical School PA Programme.
Competency Framework/PAD: Yes, provided by the university.
Quality Assurance: Undertaken by Training Hub.
Cohort Dates Required
Year 1 – They will attend on those days only – single day:
- Group A – 7/10, 14/10, 21/10, 4/11, 11/11
- Group B – 8/10, 15/10, 22/10, 4/11, 12/11
Year 2 – Daily attendance over a 3 week period:
- Block 1: 6th January – 24th January 2025
- Block 2: 27th January – 14th February 2025
- Block 3: 17th February – 7th March 2025
- Block 4: 17th March – 4th April 2025
- Block 5: 7th April – 2nd May 2025
- (1 week student holiday w/c 21st April 2025)
- Block 6: 5th May – 23rd May 2025
- Block 7: 26th May – 13th June 2025
Student Placement Expression of interest
If you are a practice or network interested in hosting a student, please fill in this form.