Skip navigation

Support, Health and Wellbeing

Back to Information for Physiotherapy Placement Providers

Andrew LloydAllow me to introduce myself. I am Andrew Lloyd, Practice Education Facilitator, Physiotherapy Department at Northumbria University.

My role is to support you, the educators and supervisors that host our physiotherapy students.

If you require any help with training, resources, development, support with students, ARC or wish to create a new, diverse and bespoke placement experience, then please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Supporting students can be an emotive process. I am here to help you celebrate the success of our students but also available to help you when you are willing them to succeed.

I am also the clinical lead for the physiotherapy simulation placement here at Northumbria University.

Student Support, Health and Wellbeing

Students on placement have a designated Personal Tutor who they may contact at any time.

In addition Northumbria University has a duty to the student and our Support for Students web pages show the extensive services available including Student Life and Wellbeing, Student Engagement and Ask4Help, our frontline service for student-facing enquiries which is available 24/7 during term-time.

Current students can access information, help and support via their Student Portal. Here they can also submit enquiries to all Northumbria support services.

Student Absence

Any absence from placement must be recorded on the CSP Common Placement Assessment Form (CPAF). Page 30, Record of Placement Hours.

Practice placements are an integral part of the BSc and MSc (pre-registration) physiotherapy programmes.  All physiotherapy students must complete and pass 1000 hours of assessed practice learning to enable programme completion and registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), (HCPC, 2017).

 

Student requests for absence.

Students are informed that engaging with placements is a priority and that:

  • It can never be assumed that absence for personal/sporting reasons can be accommodated on placement. There is no automatic approval from the university for taking time off from placement, this is entirely dependent on how appropriate this is for the placement.

  • While many placements may be happy to negotiate some appropriate time off, this should be raised as a polite request ideally in advance of the placement and if not with as much notice as is possible.

  • Where the request can be accommodated it should be for the minimum possible amount of time, please be reasonable when you are making request. Engaging with the placement must be the priority to demonstrate your professional commitment, so there should be a very good reason to request time away.

  • If the time away from placement can be accommodated, you MAY be able to make up the time in other ways but again this cannot be assumed so you may finish the placement with a reduced number of hours. You will need to complete sufficient hours within each placement to allow a reasonable and fair assessment of your performance, and you need to keep a very close eye on your total hours to ensure you will meet the required number (1000 hours) by the end of the programme.

  • If students have more formal commitments around sport, for example scholarships, where sporting commitments may cause a clash of priorities when on placement the Physiotherapy faculty are happy to support a conversation with a sporting coach or appropriate person to explain the requirements of the programme and that placements are a priority.

 

Student sickness absence.

Please ensure that your contact details and sickness reporting procedures are correct on your Profile Of Learning Opportunities (POLO) on ARC-PEP

During your induction and initial interview when students arrive on placement, please be explicit as to your procedure for reporting sickness.

We inform students that if in doubt:

  • On the first instance of sickness please speak directly with your educator at the earliest opportunity or before your next shift.

  • Indicate why you will be absent and when you are likely to return.

  • Make an agreement of how and when you will remain in contact and update your educator on your recovery.

  • Students will record their sickness through Ask4Help or through the Student Portal and inform their personal tutor if it is something that is likely to need an Occupation Health referral.

  • Record any sickness absence from placement on the CSP Common Placement Assessment Form (CPAF). Page 30, Record of Placement Hours.

 

Missing Students

There may be an occasion when your student is absent and makes no communication with you. In these instances, we advise.

  1. Try to contact the student directly by telephone.

  2. If you have no response then contact your trust Practice Placement Facilitator and the University (BSc lead Michael Parr, MSc lead Michael Kelly, the Practice Placements Team, and their personal tutor.) within the first hour.

  3. Either the programme lead, or personal tutor will attempt to contact the student and if we have no response we will check if the student has logged an absence on student portal within the first hour of being informed.

  4. If unsuccessful the university will contact their Next Of Kin and inform the university student welfare team who link with security.#

  5. The educator will be informed that this has been done and again when the student is located.

  6. The Practice Placement Facilitator will link with the educator to arrange support for the educator if they have emotional distress.

Placement Handbook

Please view our Professional Practice Placements Handbook for further information.

Back to top