Responding to Health Education England’s (HEE) funding boost to increase clinical placements in the NHS, University Alliance CEO Vanessa Wilson said:
“University Alliance welcomes this additional funding boost in what is a positive first step in addressing placement availability for our members. Placements are an essential part of any healthcare student’s journey to becoming professionally qualified, and an important opportunity to apply their knowledge and to gain essential first-hand experience.
“It’s encouraging to see HEE enacting some of the recommendations brought forward by University Alliance to the ministerial Higher Education Taskforce. The availability of placements is an area we have long been raising as a concern, without which we will continue to experience a block in the talent pipeline.
“Alliance universities already work effectively with their local NHS trusts and other partners to unlock capacity and availability for students, but this additional funding will be a vital mechanism for them to meet the increasing demand.
“It’s also good to see HEE, the Department for Health & Social Care and the Department for Education (DfE) working in tandem to overcome this challenge in some much needed joined up decision making. We’ll continue working with DfE to address the issue of placement availability for other essential public sector courses, such as teaching, and to ensure Alliance universities continue to be at the forefront of these areas of strategic priority.”
