Roles and Responsibilities 

The lead(s) co-ordinates allocation to placement areas, support the Learning Environment Managers (e.g. guidance updates, staff training) and will offer advice and support to students whilst on placement.  The Practice Placement leads work closely with Lead Link Tutors to ensure practice placement is operating within guidance and standards as set by the NMC, CQC and HEE and that placement is of the highest possible quality. 

The NMC state that each education institution, together with practice learning partners, must ensure that there is a nominated person for each practice setting to actively support students and address student concerns. his person does not necessarily need to be a registrant, nor do they need to be based within the specific learning environment, however they must be in a position to be able to work within local processes for raising and managing concerns whenever relevant, to ensure students are supported, the NMC standards are protected and public protection is upheld. 

The Child field Placement Leads (Practice Liaison Facilitator and Practice Liaison Practitioner) are the nominated people for the Trust, however there are also a number of other nominated people that support the students within the areas. If you are unsure who you should direct student to please contact the Student Liaison Team at the Trust.

Each placement area should have at least one LEM who is responsible for maintaining the quality of the learning environment, This may be the Clinical educator, unit manager or another member of the nursing team.

Precise duties will very by area, however in most cases LEMs allocate staff to support and assess students during placement, plan student off duty and liaise with the placement team regarding student allocation. Support students who are experiencing difficulties on placement, as well as supporting those supervising them, liaising with the link lecturer and academic assessors where appropriate. They also work with the link lecturer in auditing quality, and maintaining placement profiles, and regularly meet with other LEMs and placement leads from around the trust to enhance overall quality of placement education and experience. 

Each placement area will be supported by a lecturer from the university. The selected lecturer sits at the centre of the relationship between student, placement and university, facilitating communication and providing continuity of support before, during and after the placement experience. They link directly with the LEM, supporting them in assessing and auditing the learning environment.  The link lecturer can also support staff and students with any issues, incidents or worries that are encountered within that specific placement area.  

You can find out which lecturer links to each area in the useful resources section. 

The lead link lecturers work with the practice placement leads, helping them to maintain safety, quality, standards and capacity across the whole Trust, liaising on CQC, NMC and HEE information, along with any local service delivery issues which may affect the availability and/or suitability of student placements. They connect directly with the university's director of practice learning, and lead link lecturers throughout the regional placement circuit, to ensure a consistent, equitable approach to placements wherever possible.

They also support the link lecturing team with their specific area, whilst identifying common themes and issues across the site, in order to support both clinical staff and students to take proactive steps to enhance experience and learning opportunities. 

Each student will be allocated a different academic assessor for EACH part (year) of their practice assessment. 

The role of the academic assessor is to collate and confirm the student's documentation at the end of each placement. You may be required to involve the academic assessor if a student is experiencing difficulties on placement which may impact on their likelihood of achieving their proficiencies. You can find the name of the academic assessor for the appropriate part of the student's course in their myepad. This is usually NOT the academic adviser (unless the student is on their final placement). 

More details on this role can be found in the NMC's standards for supervision and assessment.

Each student is allocated a lecturer from within their own profession to act as an academic adviser at the beginning of the course. They will remain with that academic adviser (and the rest of the students in their academic advising group) throughout their course. The academic adviser will monitor and encourage academic development, supporting students with issues which may affect their studies, wellbeing and professional development. They academic adviser will meet with the whole group at set times throughout the year, but can also offer bespoke group meetings and 1:1 support if required. 

Each student will also have access to a student support adviser. They will not meet with the students regularly as their academic adviser does, but can become involved to offer additional support when required. They have specialist support skills, and are able to refer students to a wide range of additional services in order to meet their individual needs. Students can (and are encouraged) to self-refer to the student support advisers if they are facing any difficulties using the Hallam Help service. In cases of more urgent wellbeing concern, academic advisers can refer the student directly.