Allied Health Professions
Introducing Practice Placement Agreements
In 2011 Practice Placement Agreements will be established in NHS X. The
purpose of Practice Placement Agreements is to ensure clarity about the roles
and responsibilities of everybody involved in the provision of placements. In
Scotland there are four Higher Education Institutions that deliver AHP training.
NHS X provides placements to students from all of these Higher Education
Institutions so it will have a Practice Placement Agreement with each one.
What do Practice Placement Agreements mean for me?
If you are an AHP Manager / Team Lead:
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It is important that you are aware of the existence of Practice Placement
Agreements.
It is important that you ensure that members of staff involved in the
coordination of practice placements are aware of Practice Placement
Agreements. Where appropriate, you need to ensure that these members
of staff can get involved in deciding if any changes are needed in Tier 3
(See below).
As part of the Practice Placement Agreement it is a requirement that you
able to identify members of staff who are practice educators
If you are an AHP who provides AHP students with placements:
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Very little will change
You should have greater access to practice educator training
What does a “Practice Placement Agreement” look like?
Each Practice Placement Agreement has 3 “Tiers”.
Tier 1: “Stakeholder Statement”
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Signed by the Chief Executive of NHS X and the University Principal.
Represents commitment to the provision of quality practice education
opportunities
Tier 2: “Practice Placement Agreement”
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As nominated by the Chief Executive, Tier 2 is signed on behalf of NHS X
by X (AHP Director)
States function and role of NHS X and the Higher Education Institution in
relation to practice placements
Clarifies responsibilities in relation to generic issues across the AHP
groups about the arrangements for practice placements e.g. the provision
Practice Educators training, arrangements for student immunisations.
Tier 3: “Local Schedule”
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Developed locally in consultation with AHP services
Contains specific information local to NHS X e.g. the commitment of each
profession to a number of placement weeks.
Commitment to Placement Provision
As part of the Practice Placement Agreement process, NHS X will be asked to
commit to their historical average of “placement weeks”. This means that NHS X
services will be asked to provide what they have given in the past to each Higher
Education Institution. Placement weeks are calculated by multiplying placement
length in weeks by the placement length in days expressed as a fraction e.g.
A 6 week, 5 days a week (1.0) placement is 6 placement weeks
(6 x 1 = 6)
A 12 week, 2 days a week (0.4) placement is 4.8 placement weeks
(12 x 0.4 = 4.8)
What are the benefits of Practice Placement Agreements?
Practice Placement Agreements:
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Provide clarification of roles & responsibilities
Support improvement in relation to risk management, governance & quality
Promote information sharing
Provide a way of raising the profile of AHPs who are involved in providing
practice placements
Support consistency across professions
Have been cited as good international practice e.g. Rodger et al 2007
Developed by AHPs for AHPs
For more information please contact:
The Practice Placement Agreement process has been developed by NHS
Education for Scotland. Peter Glover (peter.glover@nes.scot.nhs.uk) can provide
further information.
In NHS Health Board X , the AHP Practice Education Leads are supporting the
implementation of Practice Placement Agreements. The AHP PELs will be
working with AHPs to determine the content of Tier 3. You can contact the AHP
PEL via (insert email address)
Produced by NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde AHP Practice Education Lead (AHP EPL)