Sirona has been commended by NHS England (NHSE) for the quality of training it provides to students, apprentices, trainee medical staff and advanced practitioners.
Sirona is funded by NHSE to provide a multiprofessional education and each year, our staff support more than 450 trainees in a variety of roles including occupational therapy, podiatry, nursing and community paediatrics.
Students are supported by services across Sirona enabling them to learn from a variety of health professionals.
Liam Evans, Community Specialist Practitioner, said: “Within the North and West Integrated Network teams, we have set up a training package based on an integrated network approach, so students spend most of their time with one professional, but they also shadow other professionals such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists, nurses and our admin teams so they can see how they work together to support patients.
“In nursing, they learn about wounds, insulin and palliative care. From our therapists, they support people who have fallen, people who have rehabilitation requirements after an operation and develop exercise plans to improve mobility after a hospital stay.
“We’ve also started running a project where students learn from each other. They complete assessments of simulated patients and learn how their care needs evolve over time and how they require support from different health professionals. It’s based on collaborative learning in practice (CLiP) and helps us create a learning environment based on the multidisciplinary team.”
Sirona provides training and career progression for district nurses, school nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, paediatricians, advanced practitioners, graduate management trainees and senior leaders.
The support provided to advanced practitioner trainees has been highlighted as an exemplar by NHSE for governance of advanced practice nationally. Sirona’s Community Paediatric team is also consistently ranked among the top five in the country for the training it provides to resident doctors.
All students are supported by our Education Team who help them to find placements with community teams, provide training and support them with their development.
NHSE commended the Education Team for the new drop-in clinics they set up this year where students and staff can learn skills in a group setting such as taking blood and fitting catheters.
Keighley Hacking, Education and Student Development Manager, said: “Every year we have been commended for our high-quality learning environment, the different initiatives we run and the feedback from students.
“This year, NHSE commended our new learner drop-ins. We are very proud of the work we do across the organisation.
“Our commitment to the future workforce is a shining example nationally and we were asked to share many of our initiatives as good practice with other organisations.”
Many former students return to Sirona when they qualify and join the preceptorship programme. The programme supports newly qualified nurses, allied health care professionals, nursing associates, assistant practitioners, international recruits and those returning to practice.
Sirona’s preceptorship and work experience programmes have both received gold award quality standards from NHSE.
Michele Hurst, Associate Director of Learning and Organisational Development and Design, said: “We are very proud of the multiprofessional education we provide to hundreds of trainees every year.
“Thank you to all our staff across the organisation who work hard to support our trainees and invest in our future workforce.”
