Student page NEW

*This service is for STUDENTS as well as staff*

FTSU is here to support our people (Students & staff) and raising concerns can save lives. It is a valuable service that helps improve patient safety, the safety of our people and working relations, whilst supporting well-being.
We are committed to ensuring each concern is dealt with effectively. FTSU Guardians will always listen to your concern and can provide you with confidential advice in how to deal with it.

What can I speak up about?

• You can Speak Up about anything that is worrying you or doesn’t feel right in the workplace. Examples may be, but are not limited to:
• Patient safety
• The safety of our people
• Sexual Safety
• Bullying and harassment

We ask that in the first instance you speak with your line manager, supervisor, or local lead, (for students your PEF or local OO) but if this is not possible or you have already tried and you don’t feel you’ve received the right help then speak to us. We are a supportive and professional team.

We are dedicated to ensuring concerns that are raised are kept confidential. No one else will know about your concern, except for the FTSU team and those you wish to know.

Please click here or on the image to open the full document

Your Operations team are the staff around you on station and on the road when you are on placement. There is always 24/7 leadership cover in operations with a whole host of different people, roles, ways to contact and things to different routes and ways to seek support. You may not see leadership on all the stations, all the time (particularly smaller ones); but there will always be someone on duty to help.

We understand it can feel overwhelming as a lot of the systems have been set up for operational and clinical reasons, and you might not feel they are for you. Please remember – if you need help on shift, the Ops leadership teams are there to help you. 

Here is a list of people you can contact / will see around in operations:

• The crew on your vehicle – your 1st point of contact for day to day issues
• Your named Practice Educator (Mentor)
• Lead Paramedics – 1 pip rank – 1st line of leadership, linked in closely with OOs
• Team Educators  / L&D Lead Paramedics – 1 pip rank – Useful for educational / clinical advice
• Operations Officers – 3 pips rank –  will be on duty in each county area 24/7
• Operations Managers – Crown rank  – available normally in office hours at larger stations.

If you have a concern, are not sure what to do about something or who to contact – you can approach whichever of these people you feel most comfortable with. If no-one is available please contact EOC and ask to speak to the Duty OO for your area. You can do this by phone using the crew-line number or by radio (ask any member of staff). Please take a note of the crew-line number on your 1st day.

Who are we and most importantly what do we do all day 

The role of the (PEF) Practice Education Facilitator is to be the point of contact for students, Practice Educators and HEI’s.

Along with all the duties listed in the team duties below, essentially they are the person you can go to in SWASFT when you feel like you need some help with placement.There will be at least 1 for your HEI, and when they are on leave or unavailable, one of the team will step in to provide cover for their area.

Who are we and most importantly what do we do all day 

The role of the Practice Education Facilitator within the Trust is an integral to the smooth management of the students from our partner Universities during their practice placements with us.

There are now 6 Practice Education Facilitators (PEFs) who work to support both the Practice Educators (previously known as Mentors) and the Student Paramedics on placement within the Trust.

In total SWASFT provides placements for over 750 paramedic students at present, studying across six Universities – UWE, Gloucester, Plymouth and Bournemouth, University of Central Lancashire (MOD students) and Cumbria.

Our aim is to support and develop both our Practice Educators and Students to help promote a sustainable workforce of the future, which in the long run benefits our service users.

Our remit includes-

• Supporting Practice Educators (PEs) during & outside of placement time
• Encouraging Paramedics to complete a mentorship course and attend the update days
• Delivering PE update days
• Supporting our students in preparation for placements – arranging manual handling days, meds/kit and vehicle familiarisation days, corporate induction days, and station inductions
• Providing a placement link between the Universities, their academic advisors (tutors), programme teams and their support services
• Supporting both PEs and students with all placement concerns
• Attending local operational meetings and University update meetings
• Arranging internal observer requests. Please note – We are not accepting external observer requests at present due to capacity.

However, this list is not exhaustive and each day throws up new challenges.

Working as a student

This can be a hard balance between placement academic work and paid work to support your self. We recommend you read our guidance below to help you navigate this.

Student Prospectus page

The student prospectus is for elective placement shifts in other areas and departments that you might be interested in.

These links will download a PDF – they will not open a new page

• University students in placement with SWASFT Risk assessment V4

• SWASFT Practice Placement policy

• Placement and Employment Guidance for Students with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD)

• SWASFT Mentorship strategy

• Manual-Handling-Assessment

Swastcpd.co.uk has a dedicated page for online learning resources from a whole host of organisations

Everything on this page should be free, & open access to all staff, nearly everything will be available to students as well. Some will need an open Athens account, and some will require registration.

We also have lots of face to face CPD courses & CPD events that students can attend- just look at the course or event details to see if it is open to students.