To embrace the NHS Constitution values and ensure that we are all 'working together for patients', service users must be at the heart of all student theory and practice learning.
The Faculty encourages and values the contribution of service users in many forms; recruitment, curriculum development, course management, assessment in clinical practice, skills room and classroom based sessions.
Classroom based sessions, in particular, provide the opportunity for students to listen to the health care experiences of patients and their carers. On listening to the experiences of service user's students are required to write a pledge in their practice assessment documents, identifying how this would make a difference to patient care.
With the support of their Practice Assessor/Supervisor the student aims to achieve this pledge by the end of their clinical placement.
To make a difference to the experiences of patients and their carers, students must firstly understand the health care experience from the 'service user' perspective. Listening to the service user experience in the classroom and also their assessment of care from the individual student encourages the student to reflect on the care they are giving.
In the student practice portfolio, two service users are asked by the Practice Assessor/Supervisor to rate their experience of being cared for by the student. The views of these service users are recorded by the Practice Assessor/Supervisor in the student's portfolio. See document below: