September 2023. Please note there is new guidance about claiming clinical hours which will be available on your Nursing practice module site. You can access the guidance here.

Working Hours: General Principles

The Nursing and Midwifery Council expect learner nurses to complete 2300 hours of practice relevant learning during the pre-registration programmes (This may be reduced if the learner has Accredited Prior Experiential Learning).

At the University of Huddersfield the practice related hours are collated via an online recording system.

Learners on the BSc and MSc Pre-registration Nursing programmes will have practice learning experiences in a variety of environments e.g. National Health Service organisations, large and small; private and voluntary organisations; digital placements; simulated placements. Wherever practice learning, the hours worked should be recorded and validated on the online recording system. The learner should also keep track of these practice hours so they can flag any concerns about completing them to their Personal Academic Tutor, the nursing practice module leader, and the placement team.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council requires learners to undertake 24 hour, 7 days a week care. This means that learners must normally undertake some night duty and weekend working each year dependent on the nature of the placement. It is important for learners to be there at the beginning and end of the shift so they can contribute to the continuity of care and ongoing communication between shifts of nurses.

Learners will normally undertake their practice learning experiences at the times organised by the University of Huddersfield, as stated on the programme year plans.

Before going on a clinical placement

There are mandatory requirements which must be completed before a learner can go into the clinical areas.

When learners are offered a place at the University, they will be asked to complete a Disclosure and Barring check, an occupational health questionnaire and complete the required and recommended vaccinations for attendance in the clinical areas. Learners will also be expected several mandatory units of learning prior to their first placement, and to update them in forthcoming years. These checks and processes form part of a contract between the University and the clinical learning environments to protect learners, and the public they care for. If these processes are not completed in a timely manner learners will not be able to attend the clinical areas, and this may interfere with the completion of their programme.

Working shifts in the clinical learning environment

Learners are normally expected to work the shift pattern of the clinical learning environment they are allocated to.

Some clinical areas have ‘long day’ shifts i.e. 12 or 13 hour shifts; some clinical areas have ‘short day’ shifts i.e. 8 hour shifts; most clinical areas have night shifts. Some clinical areas work a variety of shifts to meet service needs (see example time sheets below).

There are some points to note relating to shifts:

Long days shifts can only be worked where the learner’s supervisors work long shifts, and the appropriate break between shifts, outlined below, are maintained. Learners should be aware of the balance between completing hours: fulfilling their learning needs; levels of fatigue; and travel time which can be up to 1.5 hours (each way).

Learners can ask to work short shifts (8 hours) even if their supervisors work long shifts.

If learners are on a long shift, they may need to periodically account for any short fall in overall hours required for that placement. See the examples below.

Some clinical learning environments do not work long shifts, they work shorter shifts.

Rest breaks during a shift

Learners are entitled to breaks when working. Breaks should:

• be uninterrupted
• be away from the workstation
• be during working time
• not be taken at the start or end of the working day
• not overlap with the daily rest.

Daily rest breaks

Learners should have an 11-hour break between shifts. Please note that the 11-hour break between shifts does not include travelling to and from work. For example: If you work a late shift,12.30h to 20.30h, and your next shift is an early shift 07.30h to 15.30h this provides an 11-hour break.

Claiming hours

Please note this guidance cannot be applied retrospectively. The guidance will apply to those learners undertaking placements from the 18th September 2023.

The wide variety of practice learning environments lead to a variety of shift patterns and potentially learners claiming their ‘hours’ inconsistently.

To promote consistency here are some guiding principles:

• If a learner is on a shift of 10 hours or less, they must deduct half an hour break from the hours claimed e.g.
  

  Shift start time	Shift end time	Total hours in practice area	Half an hour break must be taken and deducted from total hours claimed	Practice hours claimed
  07.30	15.30	8	-30 mins	7.5
  12.30	20.30	8	-30 mins	7.5
  09.00	17.00	8	-30 mins	7.5
  08.00	17.00	9	-30 mins	8.5
  07.30	17.30	10	-30 mins	9.5

• A half hour break in a 10-hour shift, or less, is the minimum break required. If it is the custom and practice of the practice area to have more breaks than this, then the learner should be included in these breaks, but no further time should be subtracted from the total shift hours.
• If a learner is on a shift of over 10 hours, they must deduct half an hour break from the hours claimed and they MUST have a further half an hour break, which will not be deducted from the practice hours claimed e.g.
  

  Shift start time	Shift end time	Total hours in practice area	One hour break must be taken, and half an hour deducted from total hours claimed	Practice hours claimed
  07.30	19.30	12	-30 mins	11.5
  07.00	20.30	13.5	-30 mins	13
  08.00	21.00	13	-30 mins	12.5
  19.30	07.30	12	-30 mins	11.5

• A one-hour break in a shift over 10 hours, is the minimum break required (half an hour deducted from the hours claimed, half an hour not deducted from the hours claimed). If it is the custom and practice of the practice area to have more breaks than this, then the learner should be included in these breaks, but no further time should be subtracted from the total shift hours.
• If a learner is working 10 hours or more per shift during the day, they will not normally work more than 2 shifts consecutively. If the learner is working more than 10 hours per shift on a night shift, they would not normally work more than 3 consecutive nights.
• Learners will normally claim 37.5 hours per week, or 75 hours per two weeks, when in the practice learning environment, after the breaks have been deducted.
• A maximum of 45.5hrs can be claimed per week. A learner should not work more than 45.5 hours per week, with their breaks deducted, because they cannot claim any further hours unless exceptional circumstances*.
  * If a learner is making up time out with the programme planned placements e.g. in their annual leave, they can work up to a maximum of 48 hours with breaks deducted.
• Bank holidays: Learners will not be expected to work bank holidays. In a week with 1 bank holiday the learner will normally claim 30 hours, when in the practice learning environment, after the breaks have been deducted.
• If a learner chooses to work a bank holiday e.g. to make up time, they will claim practice hours as per guidance above NB they cannot claim more than 45.5 hours per week after breaks are deduct

Examples of practice hour claims

Ward A

Clinic B

Independent Organisation C

Ward D

Area E

Recording of placement hours

Placement hours are recorded on an online system called PEMS (Practice Education management System):

There is a full guidance sheet on how to complete the online time sheet (PEMS) on the practice module spaces.

Working weekends

Experiencing a placement at weekends is a required part of nursing programmes. Learners can expect to undertake some weekends in all placements where there is weekend working. The number of weekends should reflect the length of the placement and should normally be no more than 1 weekend in 3. A weekend involves both Saturday and Sunday.

Working night duty

Learners are required to undertake night duty as part of their programme.

In the interests of safety, learners should not finish a shift between 12 midnight and 6am, to avoid walking to cars or public transport, for example, during the middle of the night.

Completing the required number of clinical learning hours

There is a requirement for learners to undertake a defined number of clinical learning /practice hours over the course of the programme. The programme plan is designed so that learners can achieve these hours if all the clinical experiences are completed as planned. Learners who miss parts of their allocated clinical practice (whether that be hours or specific experiences) may make up additional hours when they are working in clinical practice. See the section ‘Making up missed placement hours’ below. Learners will not normally make up additional hours during theory weeks.

Absence from placement due to illness

If at any point during the course learners are unable to attend a scheduled shift on a placement, they should;

• record absence from shift on PEMS via timesheets.
• inform the placement area of any absences prior to the shift starting.
• Make a note of the date and time they rang the learning environment and the name of the person they spoke to
• Inform the University via hhs-nursing@hud.ac.uk
• If a learner is ill for more than 7 days (including Saturday and Sunday) the learner must provide a medical certificate completed by their doctor, which should be sent to the course assistants within 7 days via email hhs-nursing@hud.ac.uk

Consistently poor attendance

Learners must meet NMC requirements re clinical hours on the programme: consistently poor attendance may mean they fail to do this. In addition, poor attendance may impact upon achievement of proficiencies and impact on assessment around professional values.

Learners with poor attendance on placement can expect their practise supervisor or assessor to contact the placement learning facilitator and the academic assessor to report their concerns.

The academic assessor will contact the learner’s personal academic tutor who will contact the learner to offer advice and guidance and support to assist the learner to attend placement as expected. Learners will be signposted to wider University support too e.g. The Wellbeing service and ‘Back on Track support’ https://students.hud.ac.uk/help/wellbeing/

The aim of this process is to ensure that the learner receives the support they require as well as to ensure that they understand the long-term implications of consistently poor attendance.

It is important to note that if attendance continues to be poor, the learner can be referred to the Fitness to Practice or fitness to study process, possibly being asked to leave the course.

https://www.hud.ac.uk/registry/current-students/taughtstudents/fitnesstopractise/ftp-procedure/

Fitness to study procedure – University of Huddersfield

Or the learner may be asked to temporarily withdraw from the programme and join a later cohort.

Making up missed placement hours

The programme is designed so that learners can achieve the NMC requirements to complete 2300 hours of clinical learning by the end of their course.

The standard working week whilst on a clinical placement is 37.5hours. The University recognise the reflection time undertaken by learners away from the clinical area and they add 2.5hours per clinical learning week, as planned on the programme.

If a learner is in a situation where they missed clinical learning hours, for example if they have been unwell, they will need to ‘make up hours’. The way learners make up hours is dependent upon the amount of time to be made up.

Requesting a change to allocated placements

Placements are allocated by the University to ensure that all students get the breadth of experiences necessary to meet the requirements of the course. Therefore, changes to placements are not permitted unless there are exceptional circumstances which may be as follows:

• Conflict of interest between the student and the placement (e.g., the presence of a family member in the placement area)
• Substantive post held in the placement area
• Physical or Mental Health reasons which must be supported with a doctor’s letter

Placements will not be changed for the following reasons:

• To accommodate childcare arrangements
• Travel distance/cost. You are expected to travel up to 1.5 hours from the base site (which is the University of Huddersfield main campus; for Blended learning students this is their home address) and may have up to 2 changes of transport.
• Mental or physical ill health without evidence
• Personal preference
• Paid employment arrangements

Students wishing to request a change to their allocated placement must complete the ‘Placements exceptional circumstances form’ and submit this within 2 weeks of being notified of their placement. This form should be returned to the Placements Manager, Janette Willetts via email j.willetts@hud.ac.uk.

Download Placements Exceptional Circumstances Form.

Dress code on placement and in the clinical skill environments on university property

The public’s first impression of healthcare students is very important and helps to instill public confidence in healthcare students. A smart professional image is expected of all students when on clinical placement and in the clinical skills laboratories. Students must ensure that clothes and accessories worn on placement and in the skills labs are well maintained and adhere to infection control and health and safety policies.

Patients, visitors, members of the public, partner organizations and patient groups need to see healthcare student as competent, respectful, professional, trustworthy, safe, reliable, and caring. Wearing the correct uniform or plain clothes helps to promote this professional image.

The University recognises diversity of cultures, religions, and beliefs, and that in some instances students may need to request a change to their uniform or clothes worn in placement. This may include:

• Pregnancy
• Disability
• Gender
• Religious Observance

When considering the above it is still of primary importance for students to dress professionally, adhere to infection control policies and procedures and ensure the safety of themselves and their clients/patients while following the general principles below. The School of Nursing has a Professional Appearance Policy and Dress Code which student nurses are expected to adhere to.

Download Dress Code PDF [ADD DRESS CODE PDF]

Reporting concerns in the clinical learning environment

Learners may have concerns with aspects of their clinical placement. If the concern relates to supervision and assessment in placement the learner should discuss this with their practice supervisor/assessor in the first instance. If unresolved the learner should contact the Practice educator and Link tutor for the area. If the issue is still unresolved the link tutor will contact the Head of Practise Education (HoPE) for their programme who liaises with the practice education team/placement.

If the concern relates to quality of patient care in placement the learner should discuss this with their practice supervisor/assessor or placement manager in the first instance. If unresolved the learner should contact the Link tutor. If the issue is still unresolved the link tutor will contact the Head of Practice Education (HoPE) for their programme. The University policy related to raising concerns in practice areas is here:

Download Student Raising Concerns in Practice flowchart.

NB This guide is currently being updated (Sept 2023)

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) have produced guidelines on raising concerns about care “Student nurses and midwives are now protected by legislation if they raise concerns about care”. https://www.nmc.org.uk/standards/guidance/raising-concerns-guidance-for-nurses-and-midwives/

Practice assessment documents

University of Huddersfield learner nurses complete their practice assessment documents (PAD) via an online platform ‘PebblePad’™ The completion of this document in a timely and thorough manner is fundamental to completing the course. The PAD is the complete record of learner achievement of the required Nursing and Midwifery Council proficiencies. The PAD document requires significant input from practice supervisors and assessors and academic assessor, but it is very important that the learner takes ownership of this document and proactively seeks learning opportunities and ensures that these are evidenced in the PAD. The learner must establish dates with the practise assessor to complete the initial, intermediate, and final assessments of their clinical development and ensure this is fully recorded in the PAD.

There are many opportunities within the Practice modules and allocated Brightspace areas for learners to learn how to complete the PAD. The Placement learning facilitators can also support the learners and their practice supervisors/assessors to complete the document if that is necessary.

Learners will enable practice supervisors and assessors to access their PAD by contacting HHS Brightspace Support hhs.brightspace@hud.ac.uk Instructions for doing this will be in the Nursing Practice module information on Brightspace, also on the placement web area

Nursing Student Placement Guide – HHS Placements (hud.ac.uk)

If the learner has any technical issues accessing their PAD they should contact HHS Brightspace Support hhs.brightspace@hud.ac.uk

In some parts of the programme learners may undertake ‘practice hours only’. This means that all the required elements of the PAD have been previously completed but the learner is still attending placement. Any time spent in clinical learning environments, real or virtual, are valuable learning experiences. Learners can continue to enhance their PAD at any point in their placement and practice supervisors/ assessors will continue to monitor learner progress. The learner must always show the required professional values and continue to develop their nursing competencies and proficiencies. If a learner has been assessed as achieving the professional values, or a particular proficiency, but then practices at an unacceptable standard the practice supervisor or assessor can adjust their comment and create an action plan to support the required learner development.

Assistance with costs

Learners can receive support with associated costs during their placement. Please refer to the NHS learning support fund website for full details:

Learning support fund website.

Here is a University of Huddersfield summary of the support available.

Supportive roles related to the clinical learning environments

There are many people in the clinical environment, and the University, who will support learners to achieve their proficiencies to become a competent and confident professional registered nurse, many mentioned above. Key personnel include:

Student Guidance

The Student Guidance team are a great source of support for learners. The Student Guidance team can provide advice and guidance on university regulations including the extension and extenuating circumstances process. They provide wellbeing support and can signpost learners to central support services such as the Wellbeing Team, Disability Services, Student Finance Office and the Students Union Advice centre. If learners have any problems or need support with studies, they should make an appointment with the Student Guidance Team. They can be contacted on the following details: hhs-guidance@hud.ac.uk

Frequently Asked Questions