General Practice placements: Growing the Future Workforce
What are placements?
Placements are a vital part of training for student health care professionals. Placements help a student to improve their knowledge, apply their learning to practice and to develop the skills needed to qualify and to go on to have a successful career. A placement in primary care enables a student to spend a period of time with a designated practice or PCN, gaining crucial insight and experience into a career in primary care. Providing these experiences also helps to raise awareness of the work that is carried out in primary care and consequently helps to promote it as a first-choice career destination.
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Case Studies
Placements vary in length, typically ranging from a few days to 12 weeks. Insight visits are also encouraged where a student can visit a setting for a short time, whether to observe a single clinic or to attend the same setting for several days.
In order to host students, relevant staff may require Supervisor and Assessor training, which can be provided by the University of Lincoln at a convenient time for the practice.
Placements are not only important for students but are also beneficial and rewarding for the staff and for their patients. The case studies on the right highlight just some of the benefits to practices and PCNs.
A placement tariff is available to practices and PCNs who host student placements, the amount of which is calculated based on the number of weeks which a student has been placed for.
Where are students placed in Lincolnshire?
Please see the interactive map below for details of which practices currently host student placements in Lincolnshire. Click on a practice to view what type of placements are hosted.
For further information regarding student placements, including tariff and competencies required, please click the relevant dropdown.
We are in need of more General Practice placements for nursing students. Could you host a nursing student at your practice and showcase General Practice as a first-choice career destination to a future generation of nurses? See the PPT presentation for more details. Tariff is paid at £3.49 an hr per student or £130.88 a week based on a 37.5 hour week.
Practice Supervisor and Practice Assessor Training (Previously Mentorship)
We are currently seeking placements for medical students within General Practice for both early years and clinical phase placements.
- 1st/2nd year students visit in pairs, for one day placements. Five visit days over a 12 month period (Jan, March, Oct, Nov & December) – visits are mainly observational, but students value the opportunity to practice history taking and basic examination skills.
- 3rd year students spend 5 days over two weeks in a practice (Jan/Feb) – mainly observational, meeting a patient with a long-term condition and meeting the MDT.
- 3rd/4th year students spend 3 days per week in practice for 6 weeks – starting to work independently
- 5th year students spend 3-4 days per week in practice for 5 weeks – working more independently but still with supervision. Students are encouraged to engage in a patient-centred holistic approach to assessment using clinical reasoning to reach a differential diagnosis and formulating a management plan
- Tariff is paid at approximately £450 per week per student
- These placements encourage, and attract, students to seek future employment as GPs in Lincolnshire following their placement.
- Contact for further information: Runa Saha (Runa.saha@nottingham.ac.uk)
Link to the University of Nottingham GP Portal Page:
We are currently seeking pharmacy placements within General Practice for undergraduate pharmacy students from the University of Lincoln.
- 1st to 3rd year students undertake a module called Longitudinal Community Placement in General Practice. They visit 2 practices over 3 years; 3 visits per practice, each visit lasts one day. The visits are all 6 months apart. It is hoped that they have one practice in a city/urban area, and another in a rural area. The visits are primarily observational, but it is hoped that they will have the opportunity to observe a GP, Clinical Pharmacist and other members of the team. They reflect on their observations in university based teaching.
- 4th year students spend 1-2 days in a practice with a GP Clinical Pharmacist.
- Tariff is paid at £3.49 an hr per student or £130.88 a week based on a 37.5 hour week.
- These placements encourage, and attract, students to seek future employment within General Practice following their placement.
- Contact for further information: Runa Saha (runa.saha@nhs.net) or licb.lth-primarycareplacements@nhs.net
We are currently seeking physiotherapy placements within General Practice.
- Placement blocks 6/7 weeks long
• Tariff is paid at £3.49 an hr per student or £130.88 a week based on a 37.5 hour week.
• Practice Educator training is available through the university
• Opportunity to showcase General Practice as a valuable career option and aid ARRS recruitment in future – most students are offered jobs after their 2nd year placement
• Contact for further information:
We are currently seeking OT placements within General Practice.
- Placement blocks 6/8 weeks long
- Tariff is paid at £3.49 an hr per student or £130.88 a week based on a 37.5 hour week.
- Practice Educator training is available through the university
- Opportunity to showcase General Practice as a valuable career option and aid ARRS recruitment in future – most students are offered jobs after their 2nd year placement
- Role emerging placements: These new placements enable you to host an OT student at your practice even if you don’t currently employ an OT yourself. Discover the benefits an OT could bring to your practice in a “try before you buy” exercise. Tariff is paid at £3.49 an hr per student or £130.88 a week based on a 37.5 hour week.
- Contact for further information:
licb.lth-primarycareplacements@nhs.net
We are currently seeking paramedic placements within General Practice for final year paramedic science placements.
- Placement blocks 2 weeks long between February and June
- Tariff is paid at £3.49 an hr per student or £130.88 a week based on a 37.5 hour week.
- Placements focus on observing and practicing enhanced history taking and assessment, alongside opportunities to engage in a more patient-centred holistic approach to assessment and formulating clinical judgement and reasoning to reach a differential diagnosis.
- These placements encourage, and attract, students to seek future employment within General Practice following their placement.
- Contact for further information: licb.lth-primarycareplacements@nhs.net
Please click here to read more about one PCN’s experience of hosting paramedic science students:
Lincolnshire Refugee Doctors Project (LRDP): LRDP are currently looking for practices to host fully qualified refugee doctors on a short placement (of a duration to suit your practice) to allow them to experience first hand how primary care works in the UK. This is a great opportunity to support these doctors on their journey to achieving GMC registration and encourage them to seek work as a GP within Lincolnshire once they have completed the programme. If you are able to offer a placement, please contact emma.riley@lrdp.org.uk
We are currently seeking placements for Physicain Associate within General Practice for undergraduate students.
- 1st & 2nd year students
- Students spend 1 day in a practice
- 1st year student can work across the practice or PCN gaining experience of MDT working
- Tariff is paid at approximately £100 per student per day.
- These placements encourage, and attract, students to seek future employment within General Practice following their placement.
- Contact for further information: Helen Hughes helen.hughes52@nhs.net
