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Your Placement (nursing and midwifery)

The practice learning team at the University of York work hard to provide students with a range of practice learning experiences to prepare students for their future careers. This webpage provides students with information on the following:

Placement Allocations

You will be notified of your placement allocation through Placements on the Web (POW). POW provides you with information about the placement you have been allocated to. Here you will be able to see details of your placement, including the placement address, placement contact information including who to contact, and PARE number. You will be able to see which pathway experience you are completing, as well as the dates and hours you are expected to complete. Further details and a guide to using POW can be found here. You may find the placement planning booklet helpful to research and plan your journey.

We recommend you get in touch with your named practice contact around four weeks prior to the start date of your allocation. This will allow you to introduce yourself and discuss shift/meeting time etc. If you contact them too soon, they may not have received your information or had the opportunity to allocate your Practice Assessor.

Your placement

Once you have received your placement allocation you will be able to view your placement profile via the PARE website: https://onlinepare.net/

The placement profile will provide you with lots of useful information about your placement, including the placement contact details.

All placements that students visit are audited by the Practice Learning Links (PLL) team to ensure that placements provide a safe and effective learning environment for our students.

Students will also have the opportunity to evaluate the placements they attend. Further information on placement evaluations is available below.

York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals Student Toolkit

The York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals Student Toolkit (PDF , 911kb) has been developed by the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals Practice Education Team to benefit all Students and Apprentices who have been allocated a placement within the Trust. This useful toolkit provides you with the essential contacts and information to support and guide you through your placement learning journey.

My Placement, MYEPAD Guides

The My Placement, MYEPAD BSc (PDF , 481kb) and My Placement, MYEPAD MSc (PDF , 467kb) have been put together to support you with understanding the requirements of your MYEPAD and how to complete your summative assessments for practice. The My Placement, MYEPAD document is intended to be used electronically, it has useful links and resources and is split into different sections that you can click on that relate to the different sections within your MYEPAD. It contains a wealth of information that can help you, your practice assessor and supervisors to complete your MYEPAD. 

We hope that you find this resource helpful and that it complements the technical guides already available to you around using PebblePad (the MYEPAD platform). 

Should you have any questions or comments about this resource, please contact the PLL team on dohs-pll@york.ac.uk.  

Clinical Skills Guidance

Changes to your placement

The safety of patients, students and staff is our highest priority and a number of complex factors, including the availability of placement capacity, are considered when planning allocations. Therefore, no changes will be possible unless there are exceptional circumstances.

If you feel you have exceptional reasons to seek a change to a confirmed allocation, please access the Practice Experience Allocation Changes - Policy Guidance for Nursing Students. To ensure equity of response please do not request changes through your personal supervisor, the Allocations Team, Practice Learning Links or Student Services.

Sickness and absence reporting

All sickness and absence from theory or practice must be reported to Student Services on 01904 321321 preferably before 09.30am on the morning of your first day of sickness. If you are sick or absent from practice you must also ring your placement to inform them as soon as possible. This should be carried out in plenty of time prior to the start of your placement shift.

For all students, sickness lasting four to seven days a self-certification form should be completed. The original certificate must also be sent to Student Services. If you are a sponsored student by your employer, the original of this certificate goes to Student Services and you need to send a photocopy to your employer. From the eighth day of sickness a doctor's certificate is required and again should be sent to the appropriate office as above. If your sickness occurs whilst you are on placement you must also record this on your Placement Attendance Record located in the hours section of your electronic documentation (PebblePad).

You should inform your practice area and Student Services as soon as you are fit to return to placement (even if this falls on your day off). 

Carer, compassionate or special leave

If you know in advance that you require Carer, Compassionate or Special Leave then you should contact your Personal Supervisor who will approve via the appropriate documentation. If your absence is sudden and unexpected due to Carer, Compassionate or Special Leave then you must contact Student Services and your Personal Supervisor to inform us of your absence. Your Personal Supervisor will complete the appropriate documentation to authorise this leave. During placement time, you should communicate in a timely manner with your placement area, giving them as much notice as possible. 

Practice hours

In order to register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council students must complete 2300 hours of practice related learning.

If you need to take time off from practice due to sickness or absence due to special leave, students will need to continue to work towards their required hours on returning to placement.

Deficit hours can be made up through working additional practice hours, however this must not exceed 48 hours per week (averaged over 17 weeks) in line with The Maximum Weekly Working Hours (Gov.uk) (2003/88/EC). This time also incorporates time spent in part-time jobs.

You are responsible for ensuring that you have completed the required number of hours for NMC Registration by the end of Stage 3.

From cohort 2023 onwards,  students with a deficit in hours of over 150 per stage, will be unable to progress with the programme. Please see your student handbook for further details.  

Further details relating to practice hours and outcomes can be found in your student handbook.

Travel to placement and accommodation

Travel

Student Services have produced a very supportive and informative Travel to Practice Placement Guide (PDF , 783kb)

For students travelling to distant placements, please read our Position statement regarding travel to distant placements (PDF , 61kb)

The following websites may help you with planning your journey:-

  • Traveline – searches Yorkshire bus services / rail services / combinations of both, plus walking
  • First Bus York – bus services in and around York
  • Yorkshire Coastliner – helpful with bus services around the East Coast, Scarborough / Whitby / Malton

Car Share Schemes– please register if you can offer lifts too!

Remember the people best equipped to discuss local services can often be the staff working in the practice settings. 

Accommodation

If you are allocated to a placement which is not local to your semester-time residence, you may prefer to book accommodation for the full/part duration of the placement. Students claiming under the Learning Support Fund may be eligible to claim some of this cost back (in arrears and subject to limitations) from NHS Student Bursaries. If you are unable to source suitable accommodation yourself, you can contact Student Services for assistance. You will, however, need to organise this accommodation yourself.

Policy Guidance is available on the NHS bursaries website. 

Hospital Library access

Our main Hospital providers have library access for students. Details on how the library can be accessed and opening times is available here: https://subjectguides.york.ac.uk/health-sciences/nhs-info

Suspension and removal from practice

Students can be suspended from practice due to information provided to the Fitness to Practice Committee or due to concerns raised by the Practice Placement Provider. Please see the suspension and exclusion process below: 

Please remember that suspension from practice is rare and that the Practice Learning Links are available to support students with any practice related concerns or queries. Please see the practice support webpages. 

Placement model - learning pathways (BSc Nursing)

Please see the Placement model - learning pathways (BSc Nursing) (PDF , 169kb) document for further information on the placement model for BSc nursing students and the placement learning pathways.