Healthcare students to help with NHS’s battle against Covid-19

IN England, there is a pool of 18,000 final-year students who – with the agreement of the Government and various bodies in tandem with the Nursing and Midwifery Council – will be able to spend the closing months of their courses on clinical placement in hospitals. 

They include over 400 students at the University of Huddersfield’s Department of Nursing and Midwifery, which offers more than 40 degree courses in all aspects of healthcare.  The Department’s Head, Professor Barry Tolchard, has been working closely with NHS trusts so that Huddersfield students are best deployed around the region.  Many of the University’s experienced health tutors will also helping out as well.

Although the students have not finalised their degrees, they all have experience of working in hospitals and other healthcare settings.

For example, degrees such as the three-year Nursing (Adult) BSc include clinical placements throughout the course in settings that include hospitals, nursing homes and in the community.

In addition to extensive real-world experience, Huddersfield students are also taught via sophisticated simulation technology, deployed in painstakingly recreated hospital “wards” at the University.

One element of the arrangement reached by the Nursing and Midwifery Council is that students who spend the last six months of their courses on clinical placement – to provide vital reinforcements for the NHS – will not be disadvantaged in any way when it comes to their degree classification and career prospects.

The deployment of large numbers of students comes as more than 7,500 former NHS staff have heeded the Government’s call to rejoin the health service and help tackle the coronavirus outbreak. 

At the University of Huddersfield, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Tim Thornton said that he was proud of the role that the Department of Nursing and Midwifery and its students would play in rising to the challenge of Coronavirus. 

“We have been training a large cohort of excellent professionals who really will make a difference,” he added.