Clinical placements
We are proud to offer both university and apprenticeship students the opportunity to gain work experience in an extensive range of clinical areas.
Health in Justice
Join us for a clinical placement at one of our prisons by completing our application form and emailing hij.students@practiceplusgroup.com, or read on to discover more about what prison placements have to offer.
Our prison placements are certainly not about making the teas and coffees! Our prison teams make sure you experience the real job, giving you a real insight into prison healthcare and the unique career path it can offer.
Our students have gained life-long skills and in many cases, permanent work. Read some of their stories below and discover how a clinical placement in prison could be the stepping stone to your career:
“My three-month placement provided me with the opportunity to not only shadow the mental health team but the wider healthcare team, from drug and alcohol services, psychological services, emergency response and medicine management. Throughout my student placement I was very well supported by management and they put their trust in me to start practicing, where safe, autonomously. I was able to build up my confidence both academically and in practice. This placement was my realisation placement; where I discovered that the custodial setting was for me.
“After qualifying at university, I joined HMP Wayland as a paid support worker and began practicing as a band 4 whilst awaiting my pin. The transition to band 5 was made very easy by support of HR and management. I was given lots of support from my clinical lead and colleagues when settling into the role; it was made easier by already having a good working relationship with my colleagues from being a student.
“I have been given so many opportunities to progress in my role with training courses and online learning modules. Within 18 months of qualifying, I have been successful in both a band 6 senior mental health nurse position and most recently, a band 7 mental health clinical lead.
“My personal reasons for working in this setting is that I love the autonomy and independence to manage my own caseload but still have my colleagues and team support around me. We manage our own caseload from mild mental health concerns to acute and enduring. I have been involved and lead successful hospital transfers from prison to secure mental health hospitals, as well as working very closely with our psychiatrist. Here at HMP Wayland, we have a very good relationship between mental health and primary healthcare, – working as a team to provide a holistic approach to person-centred care.
“An open-minded approach is required in this role as despite the patients you work with being in the custody setting, it is one big community and our patients are human. The care we provide in the custody setting should be and is a reflection of the services available in the community.
“Words will never be enough to describe my love and passion for my role as a mental health nurse at HMP Wayland and I could not recommend a nursing career in Health in Justice enough.”
Just fill out our application form and send it back to us at hij.students@practiceplusgroup.com.
Find more information about our types of prison healthcare services here. We are also pleased to offer non-clinical and apprenticeship placements.