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Care Home Practice Education

Introduction

The Care Home Education Facilitators (CHEFs) provide support to current and potential Practice Learning Environments (PLEs, clinical placements) for undergraduate student nurses. Non-NHS placements work with different governance and legislative system from the NHS and the CHEFs, therefore provide a more bespoke way of supporting nursing and care teams. Here is a poster about the role of Care Home Education Facilitators, and more details about the role can be found here.

Care homes can provide excellent learning opportunities for nursing students and students from a variety of other healthcare professions. In providing these learning experiences, they also expose these students to the possibility of a valued career in the care home sector and non-NHS settings on completion of their studies. 

NHS Education England mapped all the NMC proficiencies and skills that students must achieve to various non-NHS placements. They created the guide below so students and practice supervisors can easily see all that they can achieve in a care home or similar placement. 

Skills for health – NMC proficiencies guide
Resources for care home Practice Supervisors and Practice Assessors

There are usually fewer Practice Supervisors (PS) and Practice Assessors (PA) in care homes than in NHS PLEs, and many PS are senior carers / nursing assistants rather than nurses. Our experience and feedback is that bespoke tools and resources are required to help and support these staff members in this role, as many don’t have other PS/PAs for immediate support. We offer additional support to non nurse PS on aspects of the NMC code, NMC role and the content of a nursing degree as many will be unfamiliar with this. 

Further support for staff

There are many other group and 1-to-1 sessions that CHEFs can support staff with in line with the national CHEF role descriptor and the Practice Education priorities: 

  • General updates and support visits  
  • PAD (completing the student paperwork)  
  • An introduction to Future Nurse (proficiencies for ALL nurses) and SSSA (student supervision and assessment guidelines)  
  • Registering and using the free Turas Learn online learning system & CHEF Turas learning catalogue.  
  • The NMC Practice supervisor and Practice assessor roles – flexibility in practice examples.  
  • Using the Turas professional portfolio for CPL, CPD and revalidation.  
  • NMC Revalidation workshops  
  • Working with students with competency or professionalism difficulties including creating development support plans DSP 
  • Updating and using QMPLE  (quality management system for practice learning environments) 
  • The open university degree – awareness session  
  • Signing off platform proficiencies and skills annexes in the PAD
  • Exploring complex proficiencies and skills for students 
  • Supporting PS / PA to make reasonable adjustments for students (religion, disabilities, mental ill health etc.)  
  • Completing the student final assessment and grading matrix.  
  • Using the student activity “grab bags” as a resource  
  • Creating a student welcome pack  
  • Using the national pharmacology workbook with students 
  • Using the Care Home placement workbook with students 
  • Clinical supervision – CHEFs delivering guided reflection for staff (short term)  
  • Teaching of the entire practice supervisor / assessor content rather than it being self-directed – small 1-hour sessions over 6 weeks. (a quality improvement trial 2024-2025)
Placement resources that students should access

All information about individual care homes and similar placements is stored and accessible in the online platform QMPLE – the quality management of the practice learning environment website. The “suggested reading” section on QMPLE contains links to videos and resources that students should access prior to, and during their non-NHS placement. Please discuss with your CHEF if you would like QMPLE access as a care home staff member.

Student care home placement case studies

In order that students make the most of their Care home, or Non-NHS placements the CHEFs have devised these case studies – Case Study 1 and Case Study 2 to help give an overview of how your placement might work.

Example placement timetable

This example timetable will help you and your Practice Supervisors plan for learning and development opportunities. You can download a copy and modify for your own placement. We also have a blank copy of 8-week timetable for students available.

Care home workbook 

Nationally, the CHEFs created a Care Homes Workbook which we advise all students to print off and complete during their placements, as this may provide evidence to practice supervisors and practice assessors of achieve proficiencies and skills.   

Expectations of student and supervisors on care home placements 

The below 3 links will indicate to you examples of care, nursing activities and behaviours expected of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year students on placement, as well as a reminder of what to expect from supervisors and assessors 

Expectations for 1st year (part 1) students 
Expectations for 2nd year (part 2) students 
Expectations for 3rd year (part 3) students 
Activities 3rd year students should be undertaking

Pharmacology workbook 

This NES Pharmacology Learning Resources Toolkit is also very helpful especially as many care activities around medicines management are very different in care homes.

“Grab bag” activities 

Lastly, these “Grab bag” activities were created so that if clinical activity is really busy or your supervisor (usually the only nurse or senior carer on duty) is called away to an urgent task which wouldn’t be appropriate for student learning; students can complete one of these activities, using evidence, research and local policy, and I relate it directly to the care of the residents in the clinical area. 

Grab Bag instructions
Continence
Prescribing
Pressure ulcer prevention and management
Respiratory Care
Stress and Distress
Urinary Tract Infection

Raising concerns about care or practice on clinical placements
– Turas protocol and templates

Other CHEF educational support

Aside from facilitating student nurse education in care homes, we also provide bespoke education sessions for care home staff in a number of NHS Education for Scotland (NES) initiatives and useful development sessions.  

At present we offer: 

The above links will provide general information on these programmes, but please contact your CHEF if you would like more information on bespoke provision within your care home or clinical environment. 

Lastly, we wish to provide links to many other resources for care home staff to help in your own CPD, but also for the education of students and learners in practice:

CHEF contact details

East and West Glasgow City and East Dunbartonshire  
Allan Dickins RNA 
allan.dickins@nhs.scot 
07789 271 460 

Glasgow City South, Inverclyde, Renfrew and West Dunbartonshire 
Jamie Gillies RNA 
jamie.gillies2@nhs.scot 
07901 587 862

Fiona McCartney RNA
fiona.mccartney@nhs.scot
07971 966 784