Placement Approval and Monitoring

The three Universities within the Scottish Cluster are responsible for approving and monitoring the quality of each of the clinical placements provided in Scotland. To facilitate this, each NHS Trust has been allocated a 'Link University'.

The Link University functions simply as a 'local' contact point regarding strategic placement issues. If a dietetic department is interested in taking students for clinical placements or expanding their placement provision, and at the stage of seeking approval, they should contact their Link University to obtain further details on organising the Approval visit, and an 'editable' copy of the approval document.

The actual approval of a Trust for placements will be undertaken by an academic dietitian from one of the three Universities, together with a clinician (an individual with significant involvement in student training at another Trust within Scotland).

The PDF document below details the information you will be required to provide as part of the approval process for provision of A, B and C placements.

Scottish Dietetic Placement Approval and Monitoring Process May 2008

Placements are also monitored by the Universities, so any significant change in placement provision, or named trainer, should be raised with the Link University.

NHS Education For Scotland

In March 2010, NES launched a 'Quality Standards for Practice Placement Audit Tool'. Some NHS Scotland Trusts have started to use this tool. The link to this document is provided below.

Quality Standards for Practice Placements Audit Tool