Placement information for students

Before starting any placement, students must complete several pre-placement requirements. Failure to do so may prevent you from undertaking your placement modules, which could affect your progression and ability to complete your programme.

These requirements include:

• DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service): All health and social care students must undergo an enhanced DBS check. International students must initially provide a certificate of good conduct (or equivalent) from their home country.
• Occupational Health Assessment: This ensures you are fit to study and work in health and social care settings. The occupational health team also offers relevant vaccinations.
• Mandatory Training: Students must complete training relevant to their programme, such as moving and handling, basic life support, infection control, and safeguarding. Training may be delivered in person or via the NHS e-learning platform.

Students are expected to maintain a professional appearance during placements and simulated practice to support safety, infection control, and public confidence.

Where uniforms are required, the University provides them, and students should follow their School’s dress code guidance.

In non‑uniform placements, students must adhere to the University’s dress code and any local policies.

Students should wear their University of Derby ID card on campus and in practice settings unless a placement‑issued ID is provided; University name badges should be worn when possible and returned to the placement team after the final placement.

Radiography students must also wear their University‑issued radiation monitoring device during placement, and they must not be issued badges with magnetic fixtures. 

The University of Derby is committed to offering fair and consistent placement opportunities that support your learning and help you meet the required professional standards. All placements are planned in collaboration with approved providers to ensure you gain the experiences you need throughout your programme.

When placements are allocated, our aim is to provide you with a broad and varied range of experiences across different settings. These allocations are designed to align with your module learning outcomes and, where relevant, the expectations of your professional body.

For nursing programmes, placements are normally arranged within a 90-minute travel time from campus, whether by car or public transport. For some other programmes, travel time may be considered from your home address if this represents the shortest distance.

Students must not arrange their own placements unless their programme specifically requires this. It is also important that you inform your programme placement lead if there is any potential conflict of interest in a placement you have been allocated. This might include having previously worked in the setting, knowing someone who works there, or having used the service yourself.

Please do not contact any placement provider until your programme team instructs you to do so. Once allocations are ready, they will be released to you online via ARC.

If you feel you need to request a change of placement, you can submit a request to the Placement Change Panel. Requests may be considered for reasons such as repeating the same type of placement within a programme or academic year, a personal conflict of interest, a significant change in personal circumstances, or travel time that exceeds 90 minutes where the programme does not allow an exemption.

Some reasons cannot be considered, including childcare arrangements, personal events or celebrations, preferences around shift patterns, general transport difficulties, issues with arriving at required start times, or wanting to be placed with friends or course colleagues.

If you wish to request a change, you must submit your Placement Change Request Form within seven days of your allocation being released. Requests submitted after the deadline, or those that do not meet the approved criteria, cannot be accepted.

You can submit a request using the Placement Change Request Form.

Students are expected to report all absences using the correct procedures. If you are unable to attend a placement, you must contact the placement area before your shift or working day begins, following the placement provider’s own policy on absence. It is your responsibility to record any placement absence in line with your programme requirements, whether this is through timesheets, TMS, PebblePad, or another approved system.

Apprenticeship students should continue to follow their employer’s absence reporting procedures for all absences, including those that occur during both theory and practice elements of the programme.

If you experience ongoing or frequent absences, it is important to contact your Personal Academic Tutor (PAT) so that any support needs can be discussed. Regular absence may result in a referral to Occupational Health, Student Services, or another relevant support service to ensure you receive appropriate assistance.

It is the responsibility of all students to maintain accurate and approved hours that they complete on placement. Students should record their completed hours via the appropriate system for their programme (usually eTMS).

Lone working refers to anyone who works by themselves without close or direct supervision. For students on placement, this may occur in a clinical area, out in the community, or even while working from your place of residence.

Working alone can increase risks to health, safety, and wellbeing because there may be no one nearby to offer assistance in an emergency. For this reason, any situations involving lone working must be carefully considered within risk assessments, and additional safeguards should be put in place to help minimise these risks.

Where possible, lone working should be avoided. If a student is required to work alone, the placement area must ensure that safe working arrangements are clearly established and that appropriate authorisation is in place before any lone working takes place.

Students should familiarise themselves with any local guidance on lone working and ensure they understand the placement provider’s training on health and safety and fire awareness. Being aware of the environment, policies, and procedures within the placement setting is an important part of keeping yourself and others safe.

Students are welcome to use their own vehicles to travel to and from placement, and in some cases during placement for travel between bases or when attending community visits or meetings. Travel by personal vehicle is undertaken at the student’s own risk, and it is essential that any vehicle used is roadworthy, insured, and fully compliant with all legal requirements.

Some placement settings may require students to have business insurance if they are using their own vehicle for placement-related activities. For this reason, students who choose to drive for placement purposes are strongly encouraged to contact their insurance provider to check whether their policy needs to be updated. It is each student’s responsibility to ensure they have the correct level of cover for any travel linked to their placement.

Where eligible, students can claim appropriate placement-related expenses through their NHS Learning Support Fund account.

Sometimes a service user or patient may need to be moved to another clinical area. In these situations, their safety and wellbeing must always come first, and they may need to be escorted during the journey.

Students and supervisors must understand the difference between accompanying and escorting. Accompanying means travelling with a service user alongside another practitioner to observe the journey, without providing care. Escorting means assisting the service user during the journey, travelling alone with them, and potentially delivering care. Students are not permitted to act as the sole escort.

During placements, you may wish to share a compliment, raise a concern, or make a complaint about your practice learning experience.

Compliments can be shared with your programme placement lead or with the college placement leads, who will ensure this is fed back to the practice setting and practice educator where appropriate. Students are also encouraged to share any compliments through their placement evaluation.

Concerns about the standard of care or learning environment are taken seriously. If you feel unsafe or experience discrimination during placement, please report it using the Cause for Concern Reporting Form.

We have robust processes in place to support students in these situations.

Placements are evaluated both in the practice setting and within the university. Your feedback is essential to help us maintain high standards and ensure quality learning experiences.

We encourage all students to participate in evaluations. Feedback is shared with placement providers and used collaboratively to improve the placement experience for future students.