Future Nurse and Midwife

The NMC Standards for Pre-registration Nursing Programmes state that as a student nurse, you must achieve 2,300 hours in practice during your programme. Attendance at practice is mandatory.  It is therefore essential that practice hours are recorded and any absence hours are retrieved. The NMC Code states it is your professional responsibility to follow relevant HEI and practice policy and procedures when reporting absence.

• The Learning and Teaching Office allocates the number of hours/weeks that you must attend your PLE. As a student you must not negotiate any reduction to the allocated time.
• As a student you are expected to work the shifts allocated by the practice learning environment.  Any requests for alteration to designated shift patterns for any reason should be made to the practice learning environment manager /HEI.
• During your Programme, the NMC requires all students to undertake practice learning that enables you to experience the full 24 hour, 7 days per week care of patients. 
• When in clinical practice, you are expected to work within the shift pattern of that practice learning environment. Students are expected to complete 40 hours of practice per week of placement allocation over the duration of the programme. This may vary minimally in some PLEs depending upon local shift patterns. Practice assessors will advise and ensure that the student meets the required number of practice hours per allocation.
• As a student, you must ensure that any other work that you regularly undertake does not result in you working more than 48 hours per week.  This is to ensure the health and safety of you as a student nurse, your colleagues and the patients and clients in your care.
• Guidance regarding young workers (Under 18 years) can be found in the Risk Assessment section

Attendance record sheets

• Attendance records are important documents in that they provide evidence to confirm that students have achieved the minimum NMC requirement of 2,300 hours of practice during the pre-registration nursing programme.
• Both students and practice supervisor/assessor are responsible for ensuring attendance records are accurate and signed.
• Attendance records should accurately reflect the number of hours worked in practice.
• The attendance record within the PAD will be reviewed by your academic assessor at the end of each practice learning experience.
• Attendance records should not be signed in advance. If the practice supervisor and/or assessor is not going to be on duty during the last few days of your PLE the attendance records for these days should be signed by another member of staff.
• If the practice learning environment closes because of a public holiday, you can either work in a different environment on that day or make up the time at the end of the programme.

Authorised absence

Please refer to the attendance policy in your Student Handbook. For absences of up to and including 3 days, a self-certificate (SC2) is not required; for absences of 4–7 days a self-certificate (SC2) is required; for absences of over 7 days a Statement of Fitness for Work should be submitted to the cohort administration team.

Unauthorised absence

If you accrue significant periods of unauthorised absence this will be addressed through the HEIs disciplinary policy and procedures. This may ultimately result in your discontinuation from the programme.

Reporting sickness/absence

If you are unable to attend the practice learning experience, for any reason, you must fulfil the following responsibilities either personally or by asking someone to act on your behalf:

• Students who are unable to attend the practice learning experience, for any reason must, either personally or by someone on their behalf, contact the School of Nursing and Health Sciences
• Phone the practice learning environment stating the reason for non-attendance. Please try to phone the practice learning environment before the start of the shift or as soon as possible thereafter. Note that certain hospitals and health centres operate a policy where, if a person who is off sick does not phone in by a certain time, they are automatically marked absent, even if they phone in later.

Returning from sickness/absence

As a student you should phone the practice learning environment to tell them when you are returning and contact your HEI when you have returned to the workplace. A medical certificate/statement of fitness for work is required for all sickness of 7 days or more. Failure to present this will result in you still being recorded as sick/absent and this may have implications for your attendance record on the programme.