Student Quality Ambassadors in the North West

The Student Quality Ambassador (SQA) Project was rolled out in December 2011 by the North West Strategic Health Authority. Any healthcare student from across the North West can become an ambassador, with students so far including; nurses from four different fields, midwives, a dual qualification nurse/social worker, a speech and language therapist and a biomedical scientist. Having started out with just 5 SQAs in 2011 the number has grown rapidly, with 106 currently in post, and students coming from 9 of the North West universities.SQAs act as ambassadors and champions of care both within NHS and non-NHS placements. They are empowered to promote good practice by challenging standards of care within the workplace and by suggesting areas for improvement. SQAs work alongside and liaise between practice education facilitators (PEFs), higher education institutes (HEIs), students, and service users/patients and carers, as well as showcasing student innovation projects within trusts. They are also test subjects for innovations such as trialling the use of the electronic practice assessment record (PAR), the numeracy assessment project (SNAP) and the North West Values and Behaviours tool.