Practice Facilitator

Job summary
The post holder is responsible for working with service and education colleagues, to facilitate a high-quality learning and education experience for nursing and supporting students on pre-registration programmes of study. Practice Facilitators support the Trust in planning and evaluating the education and development of Practice Supervisors and Practice Assessors. They provide specialist education knowledge to ensure that learning and teaching in clinical practice promotes and supports the Clinical Governance agenda, Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) standards and the Trusts Nursing Strategy. They provide guidance to organise and support the development of clinical learning, in partnership with clinical managers and Higher Education Institutions (HEI). They ensure that placement staff are supported in their management of learners' wellbeing, working in partnership with HEIs.

Main duties of the job

• Ability to present to diverse groups of people of varying numbers and manage/facilitate workshops to deliver supervision and assessment skills, working collaboratively with HEI colleagues.
• Provide support to Supervisors and Assessors in developing the skills required to support others.
• Contribute to Supervisor and Assessor preparation and update programmes by involvement in evaluating and amending contents in line with service needs.
• Participate in the delivery of updates and workshops for Supervisors and Assessors.
• Support and empower Supervisors and Assessors to sing to maintain their practice in line with the NMC SSSA standards (2018).
• Provide guidance on action plans for students who do not achieve assessed elements of practice.
• Work collaboratively within the Practice Placement Team within the organisation to identify student placement capacity and evaluate the potential impact this may have on clinical learning opportunities to support and enhance student learning.

About us
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is a large acute and specialised hospital trust that provides a range of local acute services to the residents of Worcestershire and more specialised services to a larger population in Herefordshire and beyond.

The Trust operates hospital-based services from three sites in Kidderminster, Redditch and Worcester

Our workforce is more than 7,000 strong, and our caring staff are recognised as providing good and outstanding patient-centred care. You could be one of them.

We are committed to recruiting the best people to work with us. Our values, which we ask all staff to demonstrate, underpin our everyday work and remain firmly at the heart of all we do.

Being open and honest
Ensuring people feel cared for
Showing respect to everyone

We are proud to have achieved Timewise accreditation - this means we are committed to embedding flexible working within our organisation as a flex positive employer.

DBS Checks and Costs

Any applicants who are offered posts requiring a DBS check as part of their employment check will have the cost of this check (at the current rate) deducted from their salary. Please see link in Supporting Information section for more details on DBS checks and costs.

Job responsibilities
Key Duties:
Contribute to Learning and Teaching in Clinical Practice:

• Act as a role model for staff and students, promoting excellence in practice through education, leadership, advice and support and teaching in clinical areas.
• Work in conjunction with managers, Supervisors and Assessors to identify and develop existing and potential learning opportunities.
• Work with individual staff and student to establish when additional learning, coaching and teaching is required to enable achievement of students' assessed programme elements.

Developing a Learning Environment

• Offer an educational and research-based resource for Supervisors and Assessors to develop and support evidence-based practice, which promotes a quality learning environment.
• Monitor and evaluate standards of placement provision, through student evaluations. Identifying and developing areas of poor practice in conjunction with the Practice Placement Team, ward managers and Supervisors and Assessors, to improve the delivery of patient care and the students learning experience.
• In conjunction with the Practice Facilitators inform, guide and assist staff to develop the clinical area in preparation for receiving students for this programme of study.
• Work in collaboration with clinical areas and academic staff to address specific additional learning needs arising from student and staff feedback.
• Work collaboratively with managers, Supervisors and Assessors to develop induction packs for student nurses/midwives, which will act as a learning tool and contribute to patient and student safety within the clinical environment.

Communication

• To comply with and support all policies and procedures issued by WAHT.
• To have an understanding of NMC/University policies and procedures that guide pre-registration students through their curriculum.
• To offer practice-based support to staff and students in clinical placement areas, as required.
• To act as a role model and teacher by undertaking coaching support in clinical areas.

Person Specification
Experience
Essential

• Relevant post registration experience in clinical practice.
• Experience of assessing and supervising student nurses in clinical practice.
• Proven experience of working in different practice settings with learners.
• Proven leadership experience.

Personal Qualities
Essential

• Able to work as a member of a team and independently.
• Ability to deal with challenging situations effectively and efficiently.
• Effective time management skills.
• Be flexible and adaptable to change.
• Display professional values required to act as a role model.

Other Job Requirements
Essential

• Ability and willingness to travel within the organisation and to partner HEI's for meetings.
• Willingness to work flexibly.
• Ability to undertake clinical nursing duties where required.
• Willingness to take on new responsibilities as required as part of the role, following discussion with the team lead.

Skills/Knowledge
Essential

• Ability to present to diverse groups of people of varying numbers.
• Effective teaching and facilitation skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Developed IT skills.
• Clinically proficient in area of expertise.
• Ability to work autonomously in a challenging and dynamic way.
• Excellent problem solving skills.
• Ability to use own initiative and think critically.
• Ability to support staff and challenge where decisions are made which sit outside of agreed processes.
• Ability to prioritise workload, work to deadlines and manage competing demands.
• Ability to demonstrate self organisational awareness.
• Able to assess, benchmark clinical education, support staff in complex decisions relating to student placement, competence and fitness for practice.
• An understanding of current strategic issues in nursing, health care contexts and higher education, nationally and locally.
• Understanding of how nursing students are assessed as part of their university programme.
• An understanding of health and social care policies.
• Professional knowledge, supplemented by specialist professional knowledge of student supervision and assessment, education and development.

Desirable

• Ability to develop and deliver presentations locally and nationally.
• An understanding of the challenges facing clinical areas in relation to placing students.
• An ability to articulate a broad knowledge and understanding of the NHS agenda.

Qualifications
Essential

• Current live registration on the NMC Register.
• Educated to First Degree level, or equivalent.
• Evidence of CPD.
• Current Practice Assessor for nursing students.

Desirable

• PgCert in higher education or working towards, or equivalent.
• Recognised/recordable Teaching Qualification.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is an inclusive employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.