Explore our support and guidance for welcoming nursing students.
As part of their academic programme, student nurses and nursing associates undertake a variety of placements. Social care settings provide valuable learning experiences that help nurture person-centred practice and support the development of professional autonomy in nursing.
Our resources are designed to enhance understanding of nursing placements in social care.
New: Strategy to enable social care placements for student nurses and nursing associates
Skills for Care has launched the first-ever placement strategy for social care nursing, marking a major step in recognising social care as a valued part of nursing education.
The strategy, developed in collaboration with the Council of Deans of Health, aims to create stronger connections between students, higher education institutions and care providers to offer high-quality placement opportunities in social care settings by providing building blocks and top tips. This will provide a broader perspective on care and attract them to work in the sector when qualified.
Universities, colleges and social care providers can use these checklists to demonstrate how they’re achieving the ambitions of the strategy.
Following the launch event we'll be hosting:
Social care as a nursing placement of choice: Connecting locally to meet the recommendations of the strategy
Wednesday 10 September | 13:00 – 15:00 | Online
Connect with stakeholders in your region, including care providers, universities and colleges, and explore how together you can implement the recommendations of the nursing placement strategy and support social care become a placement of choice.
Find out more and book today
Social care as a nursing placement of choice: Embedding the strategy
Tuesday 11 November | 9:30 – 15:30 | University in the Midlands (exact venue TBC)
We'll explore the recommendations of the placement strategy in more depth and hear from education providers who are working to include social care within their curriculum and practice learning approaches.
Find out more and book today
PDF - 1.41 MB
This guidance aims to support employers to create a safe and supportive learning environment for students, while also outlining the different pathways into the nursing profession.
PDF - 3.2 MB
This guide provides an overview of the opportunities available within social care placement settings. It includes 10 examples that have been aligned with the
Future Nurse Standards of Proficiency. It’s aimed at social care employers, student nurses and higher education providers.
PDF - 132 KB
Read the letter highlighting the value of social care nursing placements and the social care learning environment from the Council of Deans of Health and Skills for Care.
Watch our webinar on developing nursing placements in social care
We explore how key stakeholders have come together to develop nursing placements and share the value of hosting nursing placements in social care for the sector and the nursing profession.
PDF - 119KB
Skills for Care, in collaboration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the Royal College of Nursing, the Queen’s Nursing Institute, and the Registered Nursing Home Association, has developed this guidance to support and enable practice experience opportunities in social care.
Routes to nursing associate qualification
Apprenticeship
Employers can consider apprenticeship programmes to help develop nursing associate roles. These programmes offer career growth for current staff and can attract new, motivated people to join social care teams.
An apprenticeship is a work-based training route where the student, whether new or existing staff, is an employee while training as a student nursing associate. The programme includes required study days and placements in different settings to meet learning goals.
To learn more, see the information on the apprenticeship levy.
PDF - 535KB
This case study demonstrates how a nursing home has created clinical progression through offering apprenticeship opportunities resulting in excellent nursing retention and continuity of care.
Direct entry route
Universities offer the pre-registration nursing associate programme as a direct entry route. In this case, the student is enrolled at the university and not employed. They are responsible for paying their own course fees.
Social care employers can support this new role by offering placement opportunities to these students. Talk to your local university and integrated care board (ICB) to find out what support is available.
See our guidance on developing placement opportunities at the top of this webpage.
I did the nursing associate course because I have a passion for caring for people along with gaining transferable skills to help myself grow within social care.
Amy
Nursing associate