After reading through that presentation you should have a reasonably clear idea on whether you will now be a practice assessor or practice supervisor (or both). If you haven’t already done so now would be a good time to download and complete a self-declaration form available at the bottom of this page. If you have the previous experience & training to fulfil both roles you only need to complete a practice assessor declaration….this encompasses both roles. Keep one copy for your own professional portfolio & provide another copy to your manager. This form has been specifically developed for clinical staff so that:

1. They can justify and record their role in practice learning as per NMC requirements and…
2. Managers/team leaders can keep a register of assessors & supervisors

3. A few more important points that should be made clear regarding the new roles:

   • Each student requires both an assessor and a supervisor. You cannot do both roles for the same student. If you are a ‘lone worker’ you will need to discuss with either colleagues or your manager or local education team about how you will fulfil this requirement. For example: if you and another colleague both have a student at the same time you could have an ‘exchange’ programme set up. You may act as assessor & have your own student with you for 3 days/week & then act as supervisor while having your colleague’s student 2 days/week. Vice versa for your colleague.
   • The requirement whereby a student must spend 40% of their clinical hours with their old-system ‘mentor’ is no longer in place. There is no minimum hours requirement set by the NMC.
   • The NMC are aiming to make this round of the SSSA more flexible, recognising that students can learn from all healthcare professionals and doing so enhances a student’s learning with a wider picture of healthcare as a whole. Although this has always been the case, the new SSSA have actually put this in writing to provide a structure where this will happen as a matter of course.
   • A named Academic Assessor is attached to your clinical area not the student. The academic assessor will be a lecturer who has a relevant clinical background to your speciality. If a student is placed with you and you don’t yet know who your academic assessor is please discuss with your manager or either contact myself or any of the other contacts provided at the bottom of this document.
   • For students that are on a summative placement, progression from one part (or year) of the course to the next now has to be agreed between the practice assessor and academic assessor. The NMC has put this measure in place recognising that both theoretical and practice elements of any course carry equal weight. A student cannot progress, despite the fact they may be doing well academically, if in practice learning they are failing to achieve. This measure is now in place to also mitigate the ‘failure to fail’ phenomenon. Further reading about this is available
   • Signing off a student as fit to progress is to be done within the Ongoing Achievement Record (OAR). This document is embedded within Online PARE, please refer to the Online PARE section further down which will show you how to locate it. The OAR follows the student through the whole course in order to maintain continuity & record keeping.
   • The initial and mid-point meetings can be completed by a practice supervisor if the student’s practice assessor is happy that this is appropriate. However, the final meeting must be completed by the practice assessor.