Practice hours

Practice learning accounts for 50% of midwifery programme hours. The practice hours and outcomes required for registration are achieved through practice placements. Also, as an academic assessment, all practice experience module assessments must be passed in order for an award to be conferred.  To achieve a pass, you must complete the required outcomes for each placement experience.

It is a statutory requirement that you achieve a specified number of practice hours in order to register with the NMC. The number of hours you are required to undertake during each placement experience is identified in your electronic Midwifery Ongoing Record of Achievement (eMORA). Your practice assessor/supervisor will verify the number of placement hours you have undertaken on your timesheets and your achievement of the placement outcomes in your eMORA. Your academic assessor and the Department, through the Board of Examiners, will also monitor the exact number of hours you achieve during each practice experience. If you have accrued a deficit of hours and/or outcomes, you will be required to develop an action plan with your academic assessor to make-up the hours and/or outcomes normally on your next placement experience. If you have 100 or more hours in deficit, you will be strongly advised to take a period of leave of absence from the programme in order for you to return to make up the deficit in practice hours to enable you to complete the programme successfully. If leave of absence is not taken when advised, it may be difficult for you to complete your programme as a programme extension and/or funding may not be approved depending on the circumstances.

Although it is recognised that some flexibility in practice hours each week can aid learning opportunities, students should not be ‘front-loading’ or ‘back-loading’ practice hours in order to condense the number of weeks over which the placement has been organised. To comply with the Maximum Weekly Working Hours (Gov.uk), you should not exceed 48 hours work per week (averaged over 17 weeks) in relation to University practice and theory. This will ensure some dedicated study time (either timetabled or independent) is available during the course of the allocation.

After discussion with you practice assessor, you will negotiate your shifts in practice and work alongside a number of practice supervisors.  There will also be opportunities for your practice assessor to periodically observe and work alongside you as required and support you with your individual learning needs. 

There are two elements to the assessment of practice learning modules, as can be seen from the assessment guidelines.

1. Proficiencies

2. Safe Medicate

Self-declared practice hours

A practice learning week will total 40 hours, comprising 37.5 hours verified by an NMC registrant and a maximum of 2.5 hours student self-declared time for reflection/professional development, completion of evidence of proficiencies within the eMORA/attendance at relevant practice learning events. 

This equates to 30 minutes per 8.0 clinical day.  For example, if a practice week is 3 days, according to the course plan, then 1.5 hours can be self- declared.  These self-declared hours should be documented on the relevant page within the student’s eMORA.

Breaks

It is recognised that break times in clinical practice are often spent in personal or group reflections or discussion. Following consultation with the NMC, from September 2023 onwards only, you are permitted to include break times as practice hours. For example, a 9-5 shift with 30 minutes break can be submitted as 8 hours practice time. It is important to note that you should continue to ensure that scheduled breaks are taken to support your health and well-being in practice. Breaks can be taken in or away from the clinical environment, as facilities allow. 

Expectation of attendance in practice

We appreciate you may occasionally be unable to attend placement. If you are unable to attend you must:

1. Inform your practice area in a timely manner. This should be before the start of your allocated shift, where possible.

2. Inform Student Services prior to start of the shift

3. You must also ring to inform both when you are ready to return, even if this is on a day off for you. You will be recorded as absent until you do this.

Making up deficits in practice hours due to sickness/absence

It is important that you avoid accruing a deficit in practice hours because you must achieve 2300 hours of practice experience to meet the NMC (2019) registration requirements. Often it will be possible to make up hours on a current or future placement. If you have a deficit of 100 or more hours, under normal circumstances, you will be strongly advised to take a period of leave of absence from the programme to allow you to return to make up the deficit in practice hours, to enable you to complete the programme successfully. If leave of absence is not taken when advised it may be difficult for you to complete your programme as a programme extension and/or funding may not be approved.

Your academic assessor will help you formulate an action plan for achieving the hours in deficit and make arrangements with the practice area to extend your practice module. If you have a deficit with no valid evidence for exceptional circumstances this will be classed as a first attempt fail of the practice module.

Attendance at practice-related conferences & events

Students may have the opportunity to attend a practice-related conference or event. The Department recognises the value of these events and how they can contribute to your learning.

In discussion with your practice assessor and/or academic assessor, attending such events may be considered to be relevant to your practice learning experience and to contribute to your achievement of NMC proficiencies. It may therefore be possible for you to attend the event and to count the time within the 2.5 self-declared practice hours outlined above.

If you wish to attend a practice-related conference or other event, and count the time as self-declared practice hours, you should negotiate this with your practice assessor or academic assessor. You will need to identify the practice learning outcome or proficiency to which the event is linked, and include evidence of this in your eMORA.