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Health industry placements - Enrolment


Contents

Introduction

This section of the toolkit can help you write placement role descriptions and manage the process of matching students to placements. It contains templates, examples and a checklist to help:

  • the provider, student and employer make successful placement matches
  • consider which aspects of the enrolment process you want to review
  • make sure that T Level students understand the placement options available and are successfully matched with an appropriate employer.

How to use these resources

Select the relevant resources for your needs: 

  1. What to expect from an industry placement in health – placement role description template and examples.
  2. Requirements for a health placement – template and examples
  3. Innovative practice during enrolment – examples of different approaches

Decide whether the templates can be used as they are or should be altered to suit your organisation. 

Who are they for?

Share the templates, examples and checklist with staff who are involved in helping students to select appropriate placements:

  • staff in employer engagement
  • T Level course leaders and tutors.

What to expect from an industry placement in health

This section of the toolkit is designed to help you write placement role descriptions and manage the process of matching students to placements. It contains templates and examples to help:

  • the provider, student, and employer make successful placement matches
  • give students a clear picture of the role and what to expect
  • help them decide whether it matches their interests and meets their expectations
  • match students to the roles most suitable for them.

Template

Placement role description

The employer

Name of employer

The employer’s business

  • What the employer does
  • Who its clients are
  • Where it’s based
  • Which department the placement is in
  • If the student is required to work across different departments/sites

The placement role

  • Equivalent job title

The kind of work you will do

  • List of work tasks

The skills you will use

  • List of skills used

The attitudes you should have

  • List of essential attitudes

Who you will work with

  • Line manager/team leader
  • Colleagues
  • Mentor

Hours and pattern of work

  • Daily hours
  • A pattern of work during the placement

 

Placement role description – Example 1: Nursing cadet

The employer

NHS Hospital Foundation Trust

The employer’s business

  • Healthcare provision
  • Hospital services
  • Community services
  • Psychiatric care

The placement role

Nursing cadet

The kind of work you’ll do

  • Collecting samples
  • Storing samples
  • Taking temperatures
  • Weighing patients
  • Recording information

The skills you’ll use

  • Pipette skills
  • Using containers and reagent boxes
  • Checking storage conditions
  • Using a thermometer
  • Temperature mapping
  • Using a balance
  • Completing logs, sample forms and other records

The attitudes you should have

  • Patient focus
  • Respectful
  • Helpfulness
  • Good hygiene standards

Who you will work with

Healthcare support worker

 

Hours and pattern of work

(this depends on the setting and agreement of placement delivery model)

 

 

Placement role description – Example 2: Adult nursing support

The employer

GP Surgery

The employer’s business

  • Treatment of common medical conditions
  • Referrals to hospitals and other medical services for urgent and specialist treatment
  • Focus on the health of the whole person
  • Combine physical, psychological, and social aspects of care

The placement role

Supporting Adult Nursing

The kind of work you will do

  • Take basic observations, Blood Pressures (BP), Pulse (P) and so on,
  • Observe the nursing team taking blood samples
  • Observe the nursing team giving injections including B12, flu and pneumonia vaccines
  • Gather information for long-term conditions; Diabetes, Heart Disease, mental health reviews and learning disabilities
  • Observe and assist the nursing team with ECGs
  • Observe and assist with Dressings
  • Long-term condition reviews and observe the nursing team giving advice to help patients manage their condition

The skills you will use

  • Basic care skills
  • Assisting with tasks to support nursing and therapy staff
  • Supporting patients with respect, empathy and compassion
  • Working collaboratively within a team
  • Maintaining patient dignity
  • Working within a community setting
  • Hygiene standards in practice
  • The attitudes you should have
  • Being patient centred
  • Care values
  • Treating people fairly
  • Honesty
  • Respect
  • Empathy
  • Compassion
  • Trustworthy
  • Confidentiality

Who you will work with

The surgery’s nursing team

 

The hours and pattern of work

(this depends on the setting and agreement of placement delivery model)

 

 

Placement role description – Example 3: care worker

The employer

Care Home

The employer’s business

  • Delivery of care in care homes
  • Supporting adults in their own homes
  • Accommodation and personal care for adults needing extra support in their day-to-day lives

The placement role

Care worker

The kind of work you will do

  • Taking basic observations such as Pulse, Blood pressure and temperature under supervision
  • Attending handover and multi-disciplinary team meetings
  • Communicating with other team members and other services connected to our patient care
  • Shadowing staff on visits to patients’ homes, care, and residential homes (includes all members of the multidisciplinary team)
  • Assisting patients with personal hygiene activities
  • Assisting patients with nutritional and hydration needs
  • Assisting patients with elimination needs

The skills you will use

  • Collaborative working across the different teams
  • Basic care skills
  • Assisting with tasks to support nursing and therapy staff
  • Supporting patients with respect, empathy, and compassion
  • Maintaining patient dignity
  • Working within a community setting
  • Manual handling and lifting
  • Hygiene standards in practice

The attitudes you should have

  • Being patient-centred
  • Care values
  • Treating people fairly
  • Honesty
  • Respect
  • Empathy
  • Compassion
  • Trustworthy
  • Confidentiality

Who you will work with

Nursing and therapy team leader

The hours and pattern of work

(this depends on the setting and agreement for placement delivery model)

 

Requirements for a health placement

Introduction

This resource consists of a checklist of essential information about the placement. This information should demonstrate to students, staff, parents, and carers how the placement will work in practice. It should be agreed with the employer and can be used to:

  1. Inform students about the practicalities of the placement on offer
  2. Help staff plan the placement
  3. Record what has been agreed with the employer.

Template: placement essentials

Placement essentials

Location(s)

  • Address(es)
  • Map(s)

Travel

  • Public transport
  • Car parking
  • Shared transport

Dress Code

  • Uniforms

Training required

  • Statutory/regulatory
  • Employer-specific requirements

Qualifications required

  • Statutory/regulatory
  • Employer-specific requirements

Risk assessment

  • What risks should be covered

IT and cybersecurity

  • Mobile Device Governance Standards Policy (covers mobiles, smartphones and tablet devices)
  • Social Media (Maintaining Confidentiality) Policy
  • Information Governance Policy

Checks required

  • Statutory, such as DBS
  • Employer-specific requirements

Example: placement essentials for health

Placement essentials – Health

Location(s)

General Wards

Travel

  • Main hospital on bus routes from city centre
  • Staff parking permit available

Dress Code

See Uniform Requirements

Training required

  • Manual handling
  • Food hygiene
  • Infection control
  • Dementia friends

Qualifications required

Care Certificate

Risk assessment

See Placement Risk Assessment

IT and cybersecurity

  • Mobile Device Governance Standards Policy (covers mobiles, smartphones, and tablet devices)
  • Social Media (Maintaining Confidentiality) Policy
  • Information Governance Policy

Checks required

  • DBS checks
  • Wellbeing pre-employment checks (including the offer of Covid vaccinations)

Examples of innovative practice

Introduction

This resource describes how providers have carried out innovative activities during the enrolment stage. It also links to the tools they have developed for these activities and can be used to:

  1. Give staff ideas about how to enrol students
  2. Adapt the innovative practice to suit each provider.

Innovative practice example

Description

Links

1. Take a joined-up approach to identify health placements

In the early stages of planning health T Levels, providers in Leeds realised that instead of competing they would be better off joining forces. Leeds City College and Notre Dame Sixth Form College worked with Leeds City Council and Leeds Health and Care Academy to “get in at the top level” with local employers.

By sharing their contacts, with members of staff in local NHS Trusts responsible for education links and workforce planning, these four organisations together formed the core of what became a T Level steering group.  The group was soon joined by representatives from the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnerships (LEP), other employers, and private sector companies.

Health T Level Memorandum of understanding to steer through some of the issues of industry placements in health such as, age restrictions and vaccination status.

Leeds Health and Care Academy Website video fronted by executive leaders from within the NHS showing students, parents, and carers the ambition and opportunity of T Levels and the progression opportunities available.

 

2. Use employer boards to fully understand what employers want from health placements and what they can offer T Level students

Through their employer board, Havant and South Downs College (HSDC) were able to engage Solent NHS Trust to send a delegation of staff to the college. The staff who took part saw T Level students in action in the new college facilities, using state-of-the-art wards and resources such as, simulation mannequins. The delegation came away from the visit singing their praise of the T Level students and their abilities compared to other students seen in other educational settings. The college is now in the planning stage with the Trust, agreeing on the details of future industry placements.

Checklist to focus discussion with employers about what they offer on health placements and what they expect of students being enrolled on the placements.

3. Involve employers in the enrolment process

Employers are closely involved in student enrolment in Leeds, where providers collaborate to offer T Level placements to students. The enrolment process starts with a two-day summer school in the holidays. Students carry out practical tasks and hear directly from employers about the types of roles that exist in the health sector, health-related values, and employment opportunities locally.

Students then complete an expression of interest form and personal statement to identify the top three preferences for the type of placement that would suit them best. Employers pre-define the criteria that students consider in their statements.

Expression of interest form in which students identify the placements which match their interests and aspirations.

Personal statement template in which students explain why they are interested in the requested placements and what skills and or experience they would bring.

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