Providing placement opportunities

Your organisation could provide a range of opportunities for health and social care students.

Multi-disciplinary staff who work in social care organisations provide diverse settings for students to observe, learn and develop those valuable and essential skills required for professional practice in diverse settings. You will appreciate and understand how social care can benefit and support people to live in their own communities and support compassionate, person-centred care.

Students can learn essential communication skills, recognise culture, equality and diversity to support people and staff in a non-discriminatory, inclusive way. Being able to focus on team work, relationships, professional interactions, and leadership skills will assist students working towards professional requirements.

By considering and providing community or home-based care, students will learn the impact of wider determinants of health. They will recognise the need for integrated care and a combination of services which enables care to be delivered as close to home as possible.

Types of opportunities

Examples of the opportunities your organisation could provide include:

• Audits: students could complete audits associated with care and services, for example, care plans and reviews, medication.
• Projects: evidenced-based projects related to an aspect of health or social care within your service or the creation of training packages to support care needs.
• Shadowing care professionals: to develop care-based and communication skills and see how these differ or can be facilitated dependent on a person's needs.