New opportunities for nursing students/midwifery students

Having a band 4 bank contract up to one day a week gives nursing and midwifery students the opportunity to join a team and consolidate their learning to date supported as part of a team. All students on band 4 bank contracts will attend a one day Band 4 nursing and midwifery student induction.

All students must be in Part 3 of their programme to be considered final year. This will be confirmed by the university as per the table below.

Students must evidence they are at the proper progression point entering their final year. The evidence will be cross checked to ensure students meet the criteria for this opportunity.

Students on part-time programmes must evidence they have completed the progression points above and must have moved into Part 3 of their programme.

The  band 4 bank contract will be fixed term for up to one year (duration of final year of study in Part 3). Hours per week can be up to 11.5 hours or 7.5 hours dependent on local area shift pattern. Students opting to work 7.5 hours in areas with 11.5 hour shifts should negotiate this with the local team.

Band 4 nursing and midwifery students will be appointed as AP/MCA to the nurse bank.  The AP/MCA can be moved to support patient safety. However, they will not be moved to their scheduled practice placement.

No, these hours are employed hours in a AP/MCA post and do not contribute to the requirements for registration.

No, These hours are separate to their practice placement hours and study.

You should not be allocated to a student practice placement in the same clinical area you are contracted to work as a band 4. The difference in role may lead to lack of role clarity and confusion.

AP/MCA contracts will accrue annual leave which they can request per each quarter as per NHS policy. Unpaid leave can also be agreed if annual leave entitlement is inadequate. Whilst they are not undertaking study opportunities, they must prioritise their studies and if they feel they are not managing, they should be supported to ‘pause’ their AP/MCA work temporarily with agreed timeframes and check-ins with their line manager.

Each AP/MCA should be allocated a buddy either a band 4 or band 5/6 if band 4 staff are not available in the area. This is to support them to work at band 4 level.

Students will work to AP/MCA job description they are appointed on. They can undertake those clinical skills where the theory component has been completed within their degree programme (see Table 1) and they are then assessed as competent within the area where they secure a AP/MCA post. This process will include a period of supervised practice and will align to local arrangements, e.g., Standard Operating Procedure. Attaining competency of any of the clinical skills is relevant to the AP/MCA role only and not the student nurse/midwife role.