We provide practice placements for pre-registration mental health nurses and learning disability nurses, allied health professionals (AHPs), social workers, and apprentices (for example, student nurse associates and registered degree nurse apprentices).

We work with universities from across Greater Manchester and offer a range of learning opportunities across our clinical services. You can see a full list of services in the menu below.

You’ll be assigned a practice supervisor and assessor or educator if you are an allied health profession or social worker student. We also have practice education facilitators who provide a link with your university. They help to combine theory and practice, as well as support our practice placement areas, colleagues and students, to provide safe and effective learning environments.

If you’re a mental health, learning disability or allied health profession student in the UK who's looking for a learning opportunity, we also consider elective requests.

We offer a range of learning opportunities across our clinical services, these include:

  • Inpatient adult acute wards
  • Psychiatric intensive care units                    
  • Community mental health teams
  • Mental health liaison teams (A&E)
  • Mental health access teams
  • Early intervention teams
  • Mental health rehabilitation wards
  • Community rehabilitation team
  • Home treatment teams
  • Structured clinical management teams
  • Child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) – inpatient and community teams
  • Older adult mental health services (dementia, memory assessment, community mental health, single point of access, day hospitals, acute wards)
  • Adult learning disability team
  • Childrens learning disability teams
  • Psychological therapies
  • Talking therapies

For pre-registration nursing, AHP and social workers, email pcn-tr.pcft.pefteam@nhs.net

For apprenticeships email pcn-tr.apprentices@nhs.net

You can also contact the team directly:

Pre-registration facilitator manager

Pre-registration facilitators

Apprenticeships Manager

Apprenticeships facilitator

Student nurse associate facilitators

We love to receive as many student evaluations as we can to help us develop and improve your experience.

Please ask your students to complete the online evaluation or email their evaluation to our practice education faciliators: pcn-tr.pcft.pefteam@nhs.net

The learning experience charter was developed by health and social care learners, service users, carers, and health and social care professionals in the Northwest.

It includes learning environment pledges, and rights, roles, and responsibilities of all learners.

We’re also rolling out the newly developed safe learning environment charter. This aims to achieve excellence in learning, leading to excellence in the delivery of health and social care by learners in their future careers.

Both charters are displayed in all practice placement areas. 

Frequently asked questions

More information on questions we often get asked by students coming to a clinical placement at Pennine Care.

Your university will have some information as well as contact details. You should ring the placement a couple of weeks before it is due to start and ask to speak to the practice education lead (PEL) who can provide information about the placement.

It's always worth asking if they can send you a copy of their student welcome pack, which will have a lot of relevant information.

There is also information about teams and services under the your services section on this website, and on the the Salford Clinical Placements database (you do not need to be a Salford student to access this).

Inpatient services, community services, child and adolescent, adult, older adult, male, female, and specialist services.

Placement lengths vary. You will find more information on your university timetable.

Placements are allocated based on your term time address. You will not be asked to travel more than 90 minutes from your term time address (if you live within Greater Manchester). Please note this is the maximum travel time, most if not all your placements will be closer than this.

This will vary depending on the placement. On most hospital sites you will have to pay to park. Please check with your placement when you contact them.

You are expected to be on placement 37.5 hours per week (student nursing associate - 30 hours per week with 1 day at university).

Requirements may be different for allied health profession students, please check with your program leads.

You must record your placement hours accurately on your timesheet.

Under the terms of the working time directive (WTD), you cannot work more than 48 hours in any one week. This includes any paid work you might be undertaking outside of placement.

This will vary.

Community teams tend to be Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

Inpatient teams are mix of earlies, lates, long days. Days, nights, weekends.

As you are required to do 37.5 hours per week the number of days you work in any one week will depend on the shift pattern the team works.

For example, in a community team you will work Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. In a ward that works long days you may work three days one week (32.25 hours) and four the next (43 hours), which averages out as 75 hours over two weeks.

When you contact your placement prior to starting please ask about the shift pattern. Once on placement you should discuss and agree with your supervisor/assessor your shifts.

You must record your placement hours accurately on your gtimesheet. Your timesheet must be signed by either your practice supervisor or practice assessor/practice educator.

It is a requirement of the course that you have exposure to the ’24-hour care cycle’. Some universities stipulate a set number of night hours you need to complete while others simply require ‘exposure to’. Please check requirements with your university programme leads or your academic assessor.

You are required to follow Pennine Care's sickness absence reporting procedure, so must contact your placement immediately by telephone (not email/text/what’s app) to report your absence and advise of your likely return date.

Document any sickness or absence on your timesheet. You must also follow your university sickness/absence reporting procedure.

If you are down on your placement hours due to sickness or other absence, you can make up hours on subsequent placements. You should discuss and agree this with your academic assessor who will then liaise with placement to see if they can accommodate this request.

Uniform will depend on the placement. Most inpatient areas will require you to wear your student uniform whilst community teams may not. Please ask about the uniform policy when you contact your placement.

We have a process in place to get you an NHS email and access to our internal network systems. The forms should be completed by your practice assessor, practice education lead (PEL) or team administrator. If you have any problems with getting access, contact the pre-registration facilitator team (PEF): pcn-tr.pcft.pefteam@nhs.net

You will be assigned a practice supervisor and a practice assessor (practice educator for allied health profession students). These are qualified staff who have undertaken the relevant training and are experienced in supporting students.

Each placement area will also have a practice education lead (PEL) who oversees that area and is responsible for ensuring that the placement is an effective and supportive learning environment.

Prior to starting placement, you can speak to your personal tutor or academic assessor.

On placement itself you should raise any concerns or issues with your practice supervisor, practice assessor, practice educator, practice education lead (PEL) or the team manager.

You can also raise any concerns or issues with the pre-registration team (PEF) –  pcn-tr.pcft.pefteam@nhs.net or with your academic assessor/personal tutor at university.

We are all qualified experienced health care professionals with a committed interest in education and supporting the future NHS workforce. We oversee all practice placement areas across Pennine care to ensure that we are delivering a high-quality learning environment. You can contact us on our generic email – pcn-tr.pcft.pefteam@nhs.net.

You should contact the practice education lead (PEL) in that area. If they can’t resolve the issue, then you should contact the pre-registration facilitator (PEF) Team – pcn-tr.pcft.pefteam@nhs.net

In the first instance you should raise any issues with your practice assessment document with your practice assessor and/or practice education lead (PEL). If the issues remain unresolved then contact the pre-registration facilitator team (PEF) – pcn-tr.pcft.pefteam@nhs.net

If the document is not fully signed by the end of placement, contact you practice assessor or practice education lead (PEL). If the issue is not resolved, then contact the pre-registration facilitator team (PEF) - pcn-tr.pcft.pefteam@nhs.net

If your supervisor or assessor is off sick, you will be assigned another. If this hasn’t happened, please speak to the practice education lead (PEL) in that team or contact the pre-registration facilitator team (PEF) - pcn-tr.pcft.pefteam@nhs.net

These relate to an identified need or protected characteristic under the Equalities Act 2010.

Please share your plan with your practice supervisor/assessor at the beginning of your placement so the appropriate support can be put in place. Your university will have additional information, please speak with your personal tutor.

This relates to childcare, part time work, or other requests not covered by the Equalities Act.

Please discuss your needs with your practice assessor. Although our teams will consider reasonable flexible working requests these cannot be guaranteed and are at the discretion your assessor.

Please note: The requirements of the program are that you are on placement for 37.5 hours per week. Any ‘lost’ hours will need to be made up before the end of the program.