Universities urged to expand nurse placements in social care

Higher education institutions (HEIs) have been encouraged to expand placement opportunities in social care, as demand for nurses within the sector continues to rise.

It comes as leading care organisations have warned that social care placements are “under-utilised” in nurse education, despite the learning opportunities that they offer.

The argument for greater provision of social care placements was set out in an open letter sent last week to HEIs by Skills for Care chief executive, Oonagh Smyth, and Council of Deans of Health chief executive, Ed Hughes.

“With our members facing increasing pressure to secure the placements needed for their students, social care settings can provide an important route to deliver this”

Ed Hughes

In the letter, the two representatives said they wanted to highlight the “critical role” universities can play in increasing placement opportunities and providing a gateway for prospective social care placements.

It follows the launch of new guidelines last month by Skills for Care, which aimed to encourage and support the development of placements in the sector for student nurses and nursing associates.

The guidance was published in collaboration with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and England’s chief nurse for social care, Deborah Sturdy.

The joint letter said: “At a time where placement capacity is a growing issue impacting on the recruitment of nursing students, we know that there is potential placement capacity in social care.

“Whilst many HEIs already provide placements in social care settings, this is often under-utilised despite the wealth of opportunities and valuable learning experiences that the social care sector has to offer to nurse education.”

It comes as latest data from Skills for Care has showed that there were an estimated 33,000 registered nurse filled posts in the adult social care sector in 2022-23.

Meanwhile, the same data set revealed that the vacancy rate for registered nurses remained high, at 11.3%.

The letter warned that one of the key challenges for potential placement providers was “the lack of knowledge of who to contact” within HEIs to help begin the process of becoming a placement provider.

Without the knowledge on how to approach HEIs, or a commitment from HEIs to invest in and value social care placements, “capacity will be unable to grow”.

“It is crucial that potential placement providers in the sector are aware of who to contact within university nursing departments and have easily accessible routes to do so,” said the letter.

It added: “We would encourage all higher education institutions delivering healthcare education to take the time to review their process for developing placements in social care, including providing a clear point of contact for social care providers to provide a gateway for prospective social care placements.

Recommendations for HEIs, set out in the letter, included setting up landing pages on university websites and creating a centralised email address so placement providers can connect with the relevant departments.

Commenting on the publication of the letter and guidance, Mr Hughes said: “With our members facing increasing pressure to secure the placements needed for their students, social care settings can provide an important route to deliver this.

“The significant experience of social care professionals, and the familiarisation with the settings and people in these environments, are of huge benefits in themselves.”