Placement of the Year Awards Ceremony 2016

Thursday, 25 August 2016

The 4th Placement of the Year Awards Ceremony was held on the 28th of June, in The Lounge, John Henry Brookes Building at Headington Campus to celebrate excellence in student placement provision by health and social care service providers.

Placement colleagues from the four funding sponsors: Health Education South West, Health Education Thames Valley, Healthcare (Private, Voluntary and Independent Sector) and London attended to collect their awards from guest speaker Elaine Bowden, Head of Education and Workforce Development at Health Education England Thames Valley.

The Placement of the Year Award (POYA) scheme was launched in 2013. The Placement of the Year Awards aims to promote and reward excellent practice in placements and learning environments, and to celebrate the outstanding work undertaken by the Faculty’s many local and regional placement partners.

Students nominate placement partners for awards, using criteria such as quality of care, learning opportunities and student support. An overwhelming 110 placement partners were nominated for awards this year. One Overall Winner, three region- specific awards , eleven programme specific award winners, and sixteen Highly Commended were selected for special commendation after receiving a number of very positive nominations.

The overall winner of Placement of the Year was Oxford Centre for Enablement - Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, which provides specialist neurological rehabilitation services for patients with long-term conditions.

Here is what the Occupational Therapy student Amy Stringer said about her practice experience in Oxford Centre for Enablement:

“I would summarise my reasons for nominating the OCE as practice placement of the year with four main points:

Passionate and inspiring staff role models;
Supportive and nurturing learning culture;
Access to tools & resources to facilitate learning;
Dynamic learning & development environment.

My placement has been truly memorable & has inspired me to want to work in a team with the same passion, drive for quality service and a commitment to professional development of self!”.

Four student s spoke about their placements at the ceremony: Deborah Howells (Adult Nursing Swindon student), Beth Knight (Social Work student), Katy Pownall (Adult Nursing Oxford student) and Victoria Fleet (Midwifery student).

“Throughout my placement I was inspired by the level of care that all staff members demonstrated. Person centred care is at the heart of our nursing training at Oxford Brookes and it was motivating to see this echoed in the Amesbury Team. Overall I cannot express my thanks enough to all at the Amesbury Integrated Team for their welcoming nature, exemplary patient care and the encouraging and supportive environment they offered me as a student nurse. Because of this I have been able to approach subsequent placements with a sense of confidence and direction, and this is why I nominated them for placement of the year.” Deborah Howells, who nominated Amesbury Integrated Community Team (District Nursing)

Of the awards, Netta Lloyd-Jones, Head of Practice Education in the Faculty, said "I'm so pleased this event continues to grow, with increasing student nominations year on year. It is so important to acknowledge the contribution our placement providers make in providing such excellent student practice education and placement learning experiences. It is a real privilege to lead on this event as it demonstrates the high value we have for our placement providers and how much they impact upon our students. Our students continue to be inspired by excellent role models in both learning and in high standards of care ".

With the continued success of this scheme, the Placement of the Year Awards will be running again in 2017. If you're a health and social care student and would like to nominate an outstanding or exceptional placement, please download a nomination form from the Practice Education Unit website and send to peu@brookes.ac.uk by the 30th of April 2017.

Winners

Overall Winner

Oxford Centre for Enablement - Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre (Occupational Therapy)

Regional Winners

Thames Valley: Occupational Therapy Oxford Centre for Enablement - Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre (Occupational Therapy)
South West: Amesbury Integrated Community Team - Amesbury Health Centre (Adult Nursing Swindon)
Healthcare (Private, Voluntary and Independent Sector): Endeavour Academy (Occupational Therapy)

Programme Specific Winners

Midwifery: Abingdon Community Midwives
Occupational Therapy: Oxford Centre for Enablement - Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre
Adult Nursing (Oxford): Wytham Urology Outpatients - Churchill Hospital
Mental Health Nursing: Kennet Ward - Oxford Clinic, Littlemore Mental Health Centre
Physiotherapy: Spinal Rehabilitation - Stoke Mandeville Hospital
Social Work: Early Intervention in Psychosis Team
Adult Nursing (Swindon): Amesbury Integrated Community Team - Amesbury Health Centre
Paramedic: Kidlington Ambulance Station
Children’s Nursing: Bellhouse-Drayson Ward - John Radcliffe Hospital
Operating Department Practice: Emergency Theatres, Gloucestershire Royal Hospital
Return to Practice: Reading Community Mental Health Team

Highly Commended

Renal Ward , Churchill Hospital
Specialist Surgery Outpatients Department, John Radcliffe Hospital
Kidlington Health Visiting Team , Kidlington Health Centre
Abingdon Older Adults Community Mental Health Team,
Abingdon Community Hospital Theatres, BMI The Ridgeway Hospital
Neurosciences (Purple Ward) - West Wing, John Radcliffe Hospital
Oxford Upper Gastrointestinal Centre, Churchill Hospital
Wardington House Nursing Home
Intensive Care Unit, Great Western Hospital
South Oxfordshire Older Adult Community Mental Health Team, Abingdon Community Hospital
Children's Disability Team, Oxford County Council
Trauma 2A Ward, John Radcliffe Hospital
The Children's Society
Men's Service, St Andrew's Healthcare (Northampton)
Woodlands District Nursing Team, Woodlands Medical Centre Didcot
Theatres, Southmead Hospital Bristol