Students will attend College/University 1 day a week for 12 weeks in term time

• Autumn: Sept/October – December
• Spring: January – March/April 
• Summer: March/April- July

Students are always off over the peak holiday times i.e.  Christmas, Easter and Summer, as we are aware these are difficult times when planning rotas.

You may be eligible for financial help from the Strategic Health Authority (SHA) to replace the hours lost by study leave (backfill). Each organisation is considered individually. You should contact the Education Commissioner to discuss this further.

Students will need a mentor appropriate to their role. This may not necessarily be a nurse. The student should ‘have access to that mentor for approximately 9 hours a week’’. The support worker does not have to be supervised directly for the whole time, but must be able to contact their mentor if they have queries about learning opportunities or need other support. They will also have a personal supervisor who is a lecturer involved in their programme so they can also contact them for advice about the programme.

The mentor will be required to meet with the student more formally at the start, middle and end of each ‘practice assessed period’. These are 17 weeks periods of practice (three in each year). This follows a similar format as pre-registration nursing programmes and the student nurses’ continuous assessment of practice (CAP) documentation.

Mentors are invited to the orientation programme at the start of the programme so we can take them through the work the support worker will be doing and explain the documents used in practice.

At the start of each year there will be a tripartite meeting between the mentor, support worker and their personal supervisor in the work place. This provides opportunity for the student to discuss the outcomes, but it is also intended to provide support to the mentor.

In addition to this, the Department of Health Sciences has a mentor webpage  www.york.ac.uk/healthsciences/mentors which provides details of mentor workshops across North Yorkshire and relevant NMC and DoHS documentation about mentorship. For more specific queries mentors can contact the personal supervisor.

The whole of the programme relies on student bringing real examples from their own practice for discussion in the classroom, rather than student’s struggling to apply abstract theory. By using real examples we aim to develop students’ ability to solve real problems and make safe and effective decisions within the scope of their role. It is important to us that learning has real value to day to day practice from the outset and this continues throughout the programme so the benefits of their study are felt directly.

No. This is an issue of workforce planning rather than a requirement of the programme. Having said this, the programme has been devised in discussion with service providers and education commissioners and reflects likely demands in practice. The SHA takes the view that organisations supporting support workers to undertake the Associate Practitioner programme should demonstrate the following:

‘links to their Local Development Plan/Organisational Workforce Strategy before individuals are selected for secondment. This should be supported by a workforce plan with commitment to development of new roles where appropriate and linked to future employment’.  Yorkshire and Humber SHA (2009) Guide to Funding for Education and Training.

Students are made aware of changes within the health and social care services and they are also aware, when we look at career planning, that career development is their own responsibility so they will need to be proactive. That said many of our previous students have gained Band 4 roles with their existing employer. In some cases this was part of wider workforce planning and in others roles have evolved as a result of the new knowledge and skills these support workers have brought to the workplace.

If you have other questions that aren’t addressed here please contact Foundation Degree Administrator, Karen Harper 01904 321646 or karen.harper@york.ac.uk