With face-to-face contact restricted due to lockdowns in England during the past 18 months, the Inspire Project targeted GP surgeries across the East of England, many of whom were not offering student placement opportunities at the time, and the project teams worked with GP practices to identify and remove barriers to student placements.
ARU, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Training Hub (CPTH) and other hubs in the East of England worked together to create methods of remote learning and assessment for student nurses on these digital clinical placements.
These placements have been enhanced by committed supervision from practice nurses, so that students have been fully supported throughout their time working with GP practices.
ARU received the award during a ceremony last week at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London. ARU was also shortlisted for the award of Student Placement of the Year (Community) for the same initiative, and for Nurse Education Provider of the Year (Pre-Registration).
Annie Cowcher, Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Health, Education, Medicine and Social Care at ARU, said: “It has been a pleasure to work as part of such a productive team where expertise from academic and practice backgrounds have come together to produce a well-evaluated practice learning experience. I am grateful to Amanda Bennett and Kathryn Caley of the CPTH to help steer and drive this project forward.
“This work has enabled students to gain an insight to the world of general practice nursing and has opened new career opportunities.”
Amanda Bennett, Student Placement Facilitator at HEE, said: “This was a truly collaborative project. The digital primary care health placement was an innovative way to increase placement capacity, enable students to get a great practical learning experience and ensure primary care staff were supported to be educators.
“We would like to dedicate this award to the memory of Sue Falder, a practice nurse who worked as a virtual supervisor with Project Inspire whilst undergoing treatment and sadly died in late Summer this year. She was a true inspiration to all students, patients and staff.”