Placements

The Faculty Placements Team is responsible for:

• Coordinating and allocating student placements across all schools within the Faculty with mandatory placements for professionally regulated courses
• Working in partnership with NHS organisations, community services and other placement providers
• Ensuring placements meet professional and regulatory requirements
• Supporting students before, during and after placement
• Providing support and advice to academic staff and placement partners
• Processing student placement related expense claims if applicable

Placements within this Faculty are managed locally because they are mandatory and embedded within the curriculum and subject to professional standards. For courses with optional placement activity within this Faculty or the other Faculties, please refer to the University Placements and Project Team (Placements - Keele University).

Placements in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences

Placements are mandatory components of your programme and take place in a range of professional practice settings, spanning across over 400 different placement providers we have agreements with to help us deliver the placement hours. The types of settings students currently can go to for their placement hours includes:

• NHS Trusts – Primary and Secondary Care
• GP surgeries
• Local Authorities/ Councils
• Care Homes
• Private pharmacies
• Ambulance services
• Private, Independent and Voluntary sector organisations
• Schools
• Education providers
• Community-based partners
• Charities/ Hospices
• Football and Rugby Clubs
• Sports Rehabilitation

Whilst the majority of placement provision remains concentrated across Staffordshire, Cheshire, Shropshire, Greater Manchester and the wider West Midlands region, the Faculty's placement provider network extends significantly beyond its traditional local catchment area.

Current partnerships span England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, encompassing providers across major urban centres including London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield, as well as organisations in the Southeast, Southwest and Northeast of England, this is based on our placement providers capacity, which can be subject to change and your specific programme requirements. This broad geographical spread demonstrates both the national reach of the placement portfolio and the Faculty's ability to support students across diverse healthcare and professional practice settings.

The placement network:

• Supports student access to specialised services and healthcare settings not available locally.
• Provides exposure to different healthcare systems, populations and models of practice.
• Enhances student choice and flexibility.
• Strengthens relationships with providers across multiple regions and NHS systems.
• Demonstrates the Faculty's reputation and ability to secure placement opportunities on a regional and national scale rather than being dependent solely on local providers, which has been necessary due to placement capacity challenges in the NHS.

Your placement experience is designed to help you develop the skills, knowledge and behaviours required for professional practice.

How the Faculty Placements Team support you

We will:

• Allocate you to approved placement providers
• Share placement details and guidance in advance
• Liaise with placement providers on your behalf
• Ensure required checks (e.g. DBS, Occupational Health) are in place prior to commencing placement
• Act as a point of contact for any enquiries relating to your placements and if any issues arise prior, during or post placement
• Support processing expense claims relating to placements if applicable and students are eligible

Your responsibilities as a student

While on placement, students are responsible for:

• Attending placement as scheduled
• Acting professionally at all times
• Following local policies and procedures
• Informing the appropriate team if you are unwell or unable to attend
• Raising concerns promptly and through the correct channels
• Submitting placement expense claims if eligible to do so accurately

Placements are an essential part of your professional training, and engagement is monitored.

If you need help or advice

You should contact the Faculty Placements Team if:

• You have a question about your placement allocation
• You are experiencing difficulties while on placement
• You need advice about attendance
• You are unsure who to contact

Student Placement FAQs document (PDF)

NHS Learning Support Fund/ NHS Bursary Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses (TDAE) – applicable to eligible healthcare students and Year 5 of the Medicine course, excluding Social Work and Counselling

Where applicable and if students are eligible, clinical costs for expenses incurred for placements will be covered either by the NHS Learning Support Fund or Bursary TDAE, dependent on the course you study. This can be for excess costs incurred for travel or accommodation, provided a claim is made within the timeframe set out in the process. If eligible, you can claim if the daily cost of getting to a practice placement is more than you would normally pay to travel to university. Costs which could be reimbursed include:

• Public transport
• Mileage – motor vehicle, pedal cycle
• Parking, tolls and ferries
• Commercial accommodation*
• Non-commercial accommodation*

* You must have incurred costs for both your normal term time accommodation and the temporary placement accommodation during placement.

Please see below links for more information on the current guidance and rates:

Healthcare Students (Pharmacy, Allied Health Professions, Nursing and Midwifery) NHS Learning Support Fund TDAE - Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses (TDAE) | NHSBSA

Learning Support Fund: Travel & Dual Accommodation Expenses (TDAE) – Student Q&A Guide

Medicine Students (NHS Bursary TDAE) - Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses (TDAE) | NHSBSA

NHS Bursary (England) TDAE (Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses) - Student Questions & Answers Guide

NHS Bursary (Wales) TDAE (Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses) - Student Questions & Answers Guide

This is not available for Social Work or Counselling courses.

Tip: Please always include your student number, programme and year of study when contacting us to help us respond quickly.

Working with Keele University, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences

We work with a wide range of placement providers who support the education of future healthcare and professional practitioners. We value placements that offer students appropriate supervision, learning opportunities and professional role modelling.

What we provide to placement partners

The Faculty Placements Team:

• Acts as your main liaison point with the University
• Coordinates student allocations and schedules
• Ensures students meet preplacement requirements
• Supports placement quality assurance processes
• Provides advice on student support and escalation routes

What we ask of placement providers

Placement providers are expected to:

• Provide a safe and supportive learning environment
• Offer appropriate supervision and learning opportunities
• Support student assessment where applicable
• Raise concerns early via the agreed routes

We aim to work collaboratively to ensure placements are beneficial for students and providers alike.

Interested in becoming a placement provider

If you would like to discuss placement opportunities within the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, please contact us using FMHSPlacementManagers@keele.ac.uk. A member of the Faculty Placements Team will be happy to advise.

Placement Provider FAQs (PDF)

• 24/7 Student Well-Being Support on Placement Guidance

General Guidance

To help us respond efficiently, please:

• Use the correct inbox for your programme or enquiry
• Include relevant details (student number, programme, year)
• Avoid sending the same query to multiple inboxes

Programme and Team Contact Details

The contact phone number for the placements team is +44 (0) 1782 731811.  There are generic emails as listed below for each school/year of programme:

(Full staff contact details remain available below for reference.)