Innovative Placement Allocation Model for Pre-Registration Student Nurses

Due to the reconfiguration of healthcare organisations and the services that they provide, practice placement opportunities for pre-registration student nurses are changing and it is becoming increasingly difficult to provide the variety of placement opportunities required to prepare students for registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Yet there is a requirement by academic education institutions and NHS placement providers to ensure that students are fit for practice at the end of their three year education programme.Since December 2012 a partnership approach has been adopted across Salford and Greater Manchester to proactively respond to these issues. The partnership consists of the following key stakeholders working together as a project team: practice learning leads, pre-registration programme leader and Clinical Placement Unit from the University of Salford; practice development managers from the North West Practice Development Network (NMPDN); and practice education facilitators from Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust and Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.This cross-organisational project team has created a curriculum-based placement allocation model for pre-registration nursing students from the University of Salford’s School of Nursing, Midwifery, Social Work and Social Sciences (in the adult field of practice). Application of the model when placing students puts both the healthcare organisation and the University in a strong position to address the NMC’s proficiencies for effective placements. Furthermore the model is transferable to other fields of nursing and other healthcare professions. Another output of this project was the Bulpitt Framework. This is a spreadsheet that is now shared across organisations via an electronic drop box, and allows all stakeholders to share and collate student placement information. This is a robust, student-focused system which replaces a more traditional process-led approach.