Placements form an important part of the Health and Social Care Management degree. Our partnerships with a range of organisations mean you will gain a wealth of experience to boost your employability.

Why do we do placements on the Health and Social Care degree?
If you come straight from school or from a job that is not necessarily in health and social care management, our placements can offer an insight into the diverse  careers available within health and social care organisations giving you valuable career development opportunities.

What will I do on placement?
The placements are tailored to your interests and career aims. After the first year, you will have an idea about the areas in which you would like to work – and where you definitely don’t want to work! 

How is my placement assessed? 
You must produce a portfolio during your placements in year two and three. These include self-reflection pieces, which will help you become a more proficient practitioner. You will also produce material for the organisation where you are on placement. These could include, health promotional leaflets, reports or strategies.

How long do my placements last?
In the second year, you are expected to undertake a minimum of 150 hrs, and in the third year 225hrs in management practice. Employers prefer these hours to be completed over the period of the academic year so they can get to know you and ensure they can meet their placement learning outcomes. This also allows students with jobs or families to do the placement alongside their other commitments. 

Where possible, we encourage you to opt for the long placement as these often provide the opportunity to be involved in longer term projects, with more responsibility. We also encourage you to become volunteers of your host organisation. This then allows you to access the valuable additional training that is available to volunteers. 

Do I organise my own placements?
Yes, you organise your own placements, with the support of the academic team. 

Where could I go on placement?

Healthcare placements could include:

• Nursing home
• Hospitals – any areas including trauma; mental health, older people, orthopaedics
• Clinics
• Community mental health team
• District nursing team
• University Health Boards

Social care placements could include organisations that care for people with:

• People living with Dementia 
• Asylum seekers
• Domestic abuse
• Homelessness
• Drug and alcohol abuse
• Offenders
• Social housing
• People with a learning disability and their families and carers
• Independent fostering agencies
• As well as schools, nurseries, colleges and special needs education units

Students have recently undertaken placements at the following organisations:

• Calan DVS 
• Stepping Stones 
• Headway 
• Cartrefi Cymru 
• Pobl 
• Barnardos 
• South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner 
• Alzheimers Society 
• Gwalia (now part of the Pobl Group)