Category: Placements

North West Reflection Project

13/12/2021 / Rob Parker

NOTE: This project was previously know as Community Engagement Project for 2021 and 2022 cohorts

Overview

At the start of their first year of training, each trainee will be allocated an area of the North West to engage with. Although the location of the trainee’s living base will be considered, the decision of which community to assign will be based on other factors too. These factors include but are not limited to, ensuring rural and urban areas are visited and ensuring not all the work is done in the main living bases of Manchester, Liverpool, and Lancaster. Trainees will be able to give 1st, 2nd, and 3^rd order preferences of which areas they might want to go to.

During the induction period (October- December) trainees, in groups of 6 or 7, will be asked to spend time getting to know their assigned area. This will entail researching the area for example using the internet, local libraries, local historians and/or local members of the communities. It will also mean just spending time in the community: sit in cafes, walk around the town/city. Who do you see? What do you notice?

It may also entail visiting third sector organisations, including faith groups, schools, foodbanks, charities, across the community. Trainees will not engage in any psychological therapy, or any work that could be defined as within a Clinical Psychologists therapeutic job role.

Trainee may choose, to focus on a particular group in an area. For example, they may think about the local history and culture and how these influences different genders in the community, or how it influences a certain religious group, race, or age group. Others may choose to think about how history and culture influences more generally.

Trainees may choose to work outside their usual working hours (9am- 5pm) but will not be expected to, nor will they expected to work more than 7.5 hours on a day.

Aims

For trainees to research, witness, observe, experience an area of the Northwest.
For trainees to reflect on how the local history and culture(s) influence modern day lives.
For trainees to experience reaching out to local community members, and the importance of connections with people and services beyond NHS
For trainees to spend time with members of their cohort in a more informal and less structured way to better relationships between members of the cohort.

Reflective Group

The group of trainees will meet with their clinical tutor for 90 minutes fortnightly. This will be a chance to check in about how the work is going, reflect on experiences and ask any questions. Due to working patterns of staff, this may be on the designated community engagement day, or it may be on a study day (for both FT and PT trainees) the week of the community engagement.

Some ideas that the group may wish to think about:

How do they want to split up to visit different places/organisations?
What happens if they cannot visit in person (Teams/ phone calls/ online research)
What communities are we all from? How does project relate to us, and the communities we come from? Use the wheel of oppression to facilitate this conversation. Tutors to get involved with the conversation too.
Explicit about light tough, not evaluated, just have conversations!

Output

Trainees will be asked to keep an individual reflective diary that documents their experiences with the organisations. They may be asked to refer to this in supervision sessions.

Trainee will also display what they have found at a Community Reflection Day. Trainees will be encouraged to be creative in how they display their findings. This will not be presentation via PowerPoint or delivering a presentation of any kind. Each group will just be given an area to display ideas, and the cohort will spend time circulating around the different groups.

Trainees will also be asked to develop a directory of the services they have visited which they will be expected to share with local NHS and applicable non-NHS services they have identified as benefiting from the directory.

Community Reflection Day

There will be a community reflection day where the trainees will present their ‘findings’ to the rest of the cohort. This will be in the format of a poster, or other creative way that the group thinks captures their experience. The day will also include reflective exercises, facilitated by course staff.

A getting started guide: placements

04/07/2019 / Rob Parker

This page is designed to guide you through the key sections of the online handbook which relate to placements. You can use it as an index to read key placement related sections of the handbook in a logical sequence. These are core pages – more information is available in the placements section of the handbook.

Introduction

Placements overview

Placement provision

Placement processes

Data storage, information governance and ethics

04/07/2019 / Rob Parker

Last updated 20/04/23

When collecting data from human participants you need to ensure that the data you collect are handled and stored securely and in accordance with legislative frameworks governing data protection, organisational information governance requirements, and research ethics and governance. The procedure outlined below has been developed with these frameworks in mind, and is designed to provide a clear, consistent approach that can be used for all trainee data (unless there are particular reasons why your data require a different approach).

What constitutes data?

The data you need to think about storing includes:

Clinical recordings made on placement
Research data e.g. interview recordings, questionnaires, transcripts, coded/analysed data
Personal information collected during a study i.e. consent forms, expression of interest forms, email addresses

These data may be in paper form, or electronic (or both), so you need to think about storage of both formats. You also need to distinguish between how you will store data whilst the study is taking place and how it will be stored after the study has finished.

Clinical recordings

As the information governance of trusts can differ, methods of data collection, transfer, and storage may vary from placement to placement. Trainees should check with their supervisor regarding local policy when they first arrive on placement and contact the relevant assignment co-ordinator in the event of any issues. Clinical recordings should be stored on secured university file stores. Portable storage media (such as SD card, encrypted USB) should be used for data transportation ONLY and considered insecure with appropriate care taken to ensure data security. Details on the management of recordings can also be found in the guidance for specific assignments.

Storing data during a research study

Whilst the study is taking place you (the trainee) will be responsible for the data. You need to explain how you will store all data in a way that keeps it secure e.g. electronic data in password protected file space on the University server, and/or on encrypted electronic devices (see below).

As chief investigator for the study, the thesis supervisor is the named data custodian on the ethics application and must therefore be able to access the data throughout your study. This process needs to be described in your participant facing documents so that participants know how data will be managed. We advise that you store all of your data electronically. This can be achieved for all participant facing documents by using university approved digital platforms, such as Qualtrics, to share your information sheet(s) and collect completed assent and consent forms, and demographic questionnaires. If you do use paper documents, e.g. consent forms, these need to be scanned to create a digital copy and the hard copy should then be destroyed. At the outset of the study, you will need to create a OneDrive folder for the storage of the data and share this with your thesis supervisor. You should encrypt all your data to ensure that it is stored securely. You will need to share the password for the documents with your thesis supervisor so that they are able to access these.

We recommend that data containing personal details that would lead to the identification of participants (e.g. participants’ email addresses, expression of interest forms BUT NOT consent forms) should be deleted/destroyed as soon as possible. If people provide you with their contact details in order to be contacted about taking part in your study, these should be retained only until they have participated in the study, or until they have informed you that they do not wish to take part. However, if a participant says they would like to receive a summary of the research at the end of the study, it would be appropriate to retain their contact details until this summary has been sent out. Once the study is completed, contact details should be deleted and you should confirm in writing (by email) that this action has been completed with your supervisor.

We advise that, as far as possible, data are stored electronically in your personal file space on the University server, rather than on laptops, PCs or other devices. If you do store data on any devices other than the server, it must be encrypted. The server is secure, so any files stored there do not need to be encrypted. However, where you are storing data containing sensitive material or identifiable personal information, individual files should also be password-protected as an additional security measure.

Encryption

If identifiable data are stored on a portable device, e.g. a laptop or USB drive, the University advises that encryption should be used. More information on how to do this is available from the ISS page on encryption. If it is not possible to encrypt the data at a particular stage (such as while on a video camera’s storage), there needs to be confirmation that any identifiable data will be transferred and then deleted from the device as soon as possible. If you are using digital recording devices for research, the encryption capabilities of the devices or a process to mitigate a lack of such should be mentioned in any ethics application.

Long-term storage of research data

You also need to explain what will happen after the study has been completed i.e. what data will be stored, where they will be stored and who will be responsible for them. Long-term data will be stored by the DClinPsy admin team and can be shared with your thesis supervisor on request. If your supervisor also wishes to store the data after the study ends, you will need to discuss this with them before and indicate this on your ethics application, participant information sheet and consent forms. In the past, most data have been stored in paper form. For practical and safety reasons, we advise trainees to keep data for storage after the end of the study in electronic form, unless there is a particular reason for keeping paper documents. The data that should be retained for storage includes the consent forms, all raw data (e.g. interview transcripts and completed questionnaires) and any coded data produced during analysis.

Once the final version of your thesis has been submitted, you will need to share your research data with the Research Coordinator for long-term storage. We would recommend that you do so by sharing the OneDrive folder you use to store the data in during the study. The data will then be saved on a password protected file space on the server. You will also need to confirm the password that has been used to encrypt the documents and the period of time that the data needs to be stored for. On your ethics form, you will need to state that your data will be transferred electronically using a secure method that is supported by the University.

Applying for ethical approval

To gain ethical approval for your project, you will need to develop an application on REAMS. REAMS is the Research Ethics Application Management System for Lancaster University. Once completed by you and signed off by your supervisor, your REAMS application will be reviewed by the Faculty Research Ethics Committee. The system can be accessed remotely via the web. You do not have to be on site or connected to the Lancaster University VPN. We recommend using a desktop PC, laptop or tablet for the best user experience. The REAMS form will adapt as you progress so that you are provided with questions relevant to your study. You can share your REAMS application with your supervisor through the platform. You should expect a REAMS review to take between 4 and 10 weeks, depending upon the level of approval you need and REC availability. Make sure the detail you provide is as clear and accurate as possible to help the committee fully consider your plans, and proof read all participant facing documents extremely carefully prior to submission. For questions regarding sponsorship please discuss these with your supervisor in the first instance. If you need to contact the sponsorship office directly their email address is sponsorship@lancaster.ac.uk.

If you think you may need ethical approval from the Health Research Authority for a study conducted within the NHS and/or social care, complete the decision tool checklist and discuss your plans with your supervisor. HRA applications are submitted through IRAS. Your approved application will then need to be processed through REAMS. You should expect a HRA ethics review to take between 8 and 16 weeks, depending upon the level of approval you need and REC meeting availability. We recommend you attend the REC review meeting to address the panel’s queries or questions, either in person or via a digital platform.

Faculty Ethics Committee
REAMS
How to submit an application in REAMS
IRAS website
Health Research Authority
NHS tutorial video
NHS decision tool
Qualtrics
ISS page on encryption

Structure of Teaching and Placements

03/07/2019 / Rob Parker

2021 intake onwards

Full time route

This table gives a typical outline of the full-time programme as it develops over the three years for each student. The full-time programme structure normally follows this format, although more individualised training plans may become necessary for some trainees.

All Teaching belongs to both a ‘block’ which reflects the current placement and assessment activities the trainee is conducting at that point in the programme, and a thematic ‘strand’ that develops learning over the three years of training.

	Clinical Activity	Self-directed study time	Teaching ‘blocks’:
YEAR ONE
Sept – Oct	none	1 day per week	Induction teaching programme
Oct – Dec	Community Engagement block – trainee engage with local communities in groups	1 day per week	Mostly aimed at direct working – 2 days per week
Jan – Sept	Direct working focused placement	1 day per week	Mostly aimed at direct working – 1 day per week
YEAR TWO
Oct – Dec	Project block – trainees engage in group service development activity	1 day per week	Mostly aimed at indirect ways of working, consultation and supervision
Jan – Sep	Indirect working focused placement	1 day per week	Mostly aimed at indirect ways of working, consultation and supervision
YEAR THREE
Oct – Dec	Community Psychology activity block	1 day per week. From October until thesis hand in (March) there are 30 additional bookable study days which trainees may take in a flexible manner as best suits their research needs. This needs to be discussed and agreed in advance with research and clinical tutors as well as third year placement supervisors.	Mostly focused on advanced clinical skills and practice, influencing and leadership. 1 day per week
Jan- Aug	Influencing and leadership-focussed placement	1 day per week until the end of May, then one day per fortnight from the start of June through to the end of the training contract	Mostly focused on advanced clinical skills and practice, influencing and leadership. 1 day per week until the end of May, then one day per fortnight from the start of June through to the end of the training contract.
Teaching thematic ‘strands’: Teaching that forms part of each strand listed take place across the three years of training.	Assignment Preparation Therapy – Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Therapy – Systemic Practice Therapy – Cognitive Analytic Therapy Professional Influencing Leadership Physical Health & Cognitive Development Quality Assurance Research Themes of Clinical Practice

Through the three-year training, trainees acquire core competencies that span the roles expected of a clinical psychologist. These not only relate to the ability to work individually and with other key professionals and carers, with clients across the life span, across client ability and in a range of clinical settings, but also include skills in leadership, consultancy and service development.

This competency acquisition is achieved through organising teaching so that it reflects the focus of trainee placements and assessed work activity at any given point of the programme. However, learning and teaching is also co-ordinated thematically in ‘strands’ to ensure a coherent developmental approach. More detail on the strands can be found in the document below.

The programme specifically enables students to develop academic and research competencies at a level commensurate with a doctoral level degree and related to those skills and abilities necessary to have the Standards of Proficiency (SoP) for a clinical psychologist as set out by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). Within work during placements, as well as academic activity outside of placements, the programme fosters students’ ability to appraise evidence critically and modify practice appropriately.

Part time route

This table gives a typical outline of the part time programme as it develops over the 4 years and 4 months for each student. The part time programme structure normally follows this format, although more individualised training plans may become necessary for some trainees.

	Clinical Activity	Self-directed study time	Teaching ‘blocks’:
YEAR ONE
Sept – Oct	none	0.5 days per week	Induction teaching programme
Oct – Dec	Community Engagement block – trainee engage with local communities in groups	0.5 days per week	Mostly aimed at direct working – 2 days per week
Jan – Sept	Direct working focused placement	0.5 days per week	Mostly aimed at direct working – 1 day per week
YEAR TWO
Oct – Jan	Direct working focused placement	0.5 days per week	Mostly aimed at indirect ways of working, consultation and supervision
Feb – May	Project block – trainees engage in group service development activity	1 day per week	Mostly aimed at indirect ways of working, consultation and supervision
June	None	Thesis study 2.5 days per week	Mostly aimed at indirect ways of working, consultation and supervision
July – Sep	Indirect working focused placement		Mostly aimed at indirect ways of working, consultation and supervision
YEAR THREE
Oct – August	Indirect working focused placement	1-1.5 days per week	Occasional Professional Development and cross-cohort teaching
YEAR FOUR
Sep	None	Thesis study 2.5 days per week	None
Oct – Dec	Community Psychology activity block	0.5 days per week	Mostly focused on advanced clinical skills and practice, influencing and leadership. One day per week through to May, then one day per fortnight
Jan – Aug	Influencing and leadership-focussed placement	0.5 days per week	Mostly focused on advanced clinical skills and practice, influencing and leadership. One day per week through to May, then one day per fortnight
YEAR FOUR
Sep -Dec	Influencing and leadership-focussed placement	1 day per week	None
Teaching thematic ‘strands’: Teaching that forms part of each strand listed take place across the three years of training.	Assignment Preparation Therapy – Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Therapy – Systemic Practice Therapy – Cognitive Analytic Therapy Professional Influencing Leadership Physical Health & Cognitive Development Quality Assurance Research Themes of Clinical Practice

Through the four-year 4-month training, trainees acquire core competencies that span the roles expected of a clinical psychologist. These not only relate to the ability to work individually and with other key professionals and carers, with clients across the life span, across client ability and in a range of clinical settings, but also include skills in leadership, consultancy and service development.

2020 intake and earlier

Full time route

	Clinical Placement:	Self-directed study time	Teaching ‘blocks’: From April of year one teaching takes place one day each week at University base.
YEAR ONE
Sept – Oct			Induction teaching programme
Oct – Mar	Children and families (3 days per week)	1 day per week	Mostly aimed at working with children and families.
Apr – Sept	Adult mental health (3 days per week)	1 day per week	Mostly aimed at working with adults with mental health problems
YEAR TWO
Oct – Mar	Older adults, health psychology or neuropsychology (3 days per week)	1 day per week	Mostly aimed at working with older adults and within health psychology
Apr – Sep	Learning disabilities (3 days per week)	1 day per week	Mostly aimed at working with adults with learning disabilities
YEAR THREE
Oct – Aug	One long third year placement (3 days per week until May, 4 days per week thereafter)	1 day per week until the end of May, then one day per fortnight from the start of June through to the end of the training contractFrom October until thesis hand in there are 30 additional study days which trainees may take in a flexible manner as best suits their research needs. This needs to be discussed and agreed in advance with research and clinical tutors as well as third year placement supervisors.	Mostly focused on advanced clinical skills and practice – 1 day per week until the end of May, then one day per fortnight from the start of June through to the end of the training contract
Teaching thematic ‘strands’: Teaching that forms part of each strand listed take place across the three years of training.	Assignment Preparation Therapy – Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Therapy – Systemic Practice Therapy – Cognitive Analytic Therapy Professional Influencing Leadership Physical Health & Cognitive Development Quality Assurance Research Themes of Clinical Practice

Part time route

	Clinical Placement:	Self-directed study time	Teaching ‘blocks’: From Oct of year one teaching takes place one day each week at University base.
Sept Yr 1– Oct Yr 1			Induction teaching programme
Oct Yr 1 – June Yr 1	Children and families (2 days per week)	0.5 day per week	Mostly aimed at working with children and families.
July Yr 1 – March Yr 2	Adult mental health (2 days per week)	0.5 – 1.5 day per week	Mostly aimed at working with adults with mental health problems
April Yr 2– Nov Yr 3	Learning Disabilities (3 days per week)	0.5 day per week	Mostly aimed at working with adults with learning disabilities
Dec Yr 3 – Oct Yr 4	Older adults, health or neuropsychology (3 days per week)	0.5 – 1.5 day per week	Mostly aimed at working with older adults and within health psychology. No teaching March – Aug to allow for thesis study.
Nov Yr 4 – Dec Yr 5	One long third year placement	0.5 day per week until Aug, then 0.5 day per fortnight. There are 30 additional study days which trainees may take in a flexible manner as best suits their research needs; this includes the additional study time between March and Aug during the previous placement – see above. This needs to be discussed and agreed in advance with research and clinical tutors as well as third year placement supervisors.	Mostly focused on advanced clinical skills and practice – one day per week Aug until end of Aug the following year
Teaching thematic ‘strands’: Teaching that forms part of each strand listed take place across the three years of training.	· Assignment Preparation Therapy – Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Therapy – Systemic Practice Therapy – Cognitive Analytic Therapy Professional Influencing Leadership Physical Health & Cognitive Development Quality Assurance Research · Themes of Clinical Practice

Through the four year 4 month training, trainees acquire core competencies that span the roles expected of a clinical psychologist. These not only relate to the ability to work individually and with other key professionals and carers, with clients across the life span, across client ability and in a range of clinical settings, but also include skills in leadership, consultancy and service development.

Brief description and key to strands of teaching

Learning structures outside formal teaching

03/07/2019 / Rob Parker

Supervision & learning on practice placements

Trainees must spend a minimum of 50 per cent of their time on clinical placement(usually between 50-60%), and are actively guided in their clinical learning and practice by their practice placement supervisors. The focus of the learning to take place is specified in the placement contract agreed between trainee and supervisor(s) at the beginning of the placement and submitted to the programme. Contracts are written using a proforma that is structured using the programme’s learning objectives; see the bottom of this page for the form.

Oversight of academic work (assignments and thesis)

DClinPsy assessed coursework assignments are not routinely draft read by staff prior to first submission. There are two exceptions to this:

A trainee’s individual research tutor will draft read and give feedback on the TPA assignment prior to submission.
A trainee’s individual clinical tutor will draft read and give feedback on a draft of the written component only of their PALS#1 assignment prior to submission.

For the thesis each trainee is allocated an academic supervisor early in the programme who also acts as their research tutor and usually remains with them throughout training. The programme’s research consistency framework outlines the typical level of support a trainee can expect from the academic supervisor with regard to thesis work, including details of the draft reading available.

Peer support and discussion groups

As part of the teaching curriculum, the programme organises self-facilitated thesis discussion group sessions where trainees are able to share thesis progress, challenges and best practice with their peers in small groups. These sessions are scheduled to take place every few weeks during periods of the programme when study days are most likely to be focused on thesis work.

In addition to these, the programme encourages trainees to meet in self-directed groups (which can be facilitated or un-facilitated) around specific issues. These groups should not impinge on placement or teaching time, and whilst trainees should arrange such meetings themselves, the programme is often able to book spaces, provide necessary resources and may be able offer occasional facilitation for such meetings on request.

General learning & pastoral support

In addition to the structures directly designed to support learning, the programme makes available to trainees a number of other more general support process to assist in their progress on the programme. These include a system of independent mentors, a ‘buddy’ system and facilitating access to the faculty’s student learning advisor who offers clinics and one-to-one session to help students develop generic academic skills. These processes are overseen by the programme’s Pastoral Policy Implementation Group.

Placement contract

Placements Overview

03/07/2019 / Rob Parker

Full time route

Practice placements are an integral part of the whole programme of training in clinical psychology at Lancaster. Practice placement work constitutes over 50% of the time that a trainee spends on the programme. This section addresses the management, governance and assessment of this significant element of the programme.

The programme’s Clinical Director manages and oversees the entire placement planning and support process. The day to day activity involved in accessing, arranging supporting and reviewing practice placements is devolved to a team of clinical tutors and administrative support. Strategic development of these processes is led by the Placement Development and Implementation Group (PlaDIG) led by the senior clinical tutor (placements).

Placement range of experience

The placement programme is designed to offer trainees practice experience of the range of clinical psychologist activities. This can range from therapeutic work with individuals, families and groups across the age range and across a diverse range of contexts, working practices and presenting difficulties to consultation, leadership and service development. The main function of achieving this diversity is to afford the trainees appropriate opportunities to nurture and develop their skills and competencies to the level required by the Standards of Proficiency (SoPs) set out by the HCPC for Practitioner Psychologists (including those specific to the practice of clinical psychology) and to be confident in achieving these standards by the completion of their training. A trainee will typically have clinical experience with populations across the lifespan, as well as in contexts where cognitive/neuro diversity or challenge is present (for example working with people who have a learning disability and/or people with cognitive change/deterioration).. Placements are selected based on opportunities for competency development and that are appropriate for an individual trainee’s training journey. We also look to develop skills which relate to the broader role of a clinical psychologist in a modern NHS climate (eg leadership, service development) or in ‘non-clinical’ settings, such as in community based or third sector work contexts. The focus is on trainees accessing the appropriate learning opportunities to build their competence to that of a fully trained clinical psychologist over the whole length of the programme; paths to this end may differ, and being flexible in this way will always be designed around achieving this end.

Time spent on placement

Pre-thesis hand in

The general plan is for trainees to be available for placement work for three days each week.

There may be occasional extra teaching days and meetings, but these should be rare and it is anticipated that trainees use some of their private study/research time, if necessary, for these extra commitments. Private study is generally one day each week, so there is room for negotiation between supervisors, trainees, and the programme staff about allocation of time for commitments that fall outside of placement activity.

Each week there is also one day set aside for teaching. Once on placement the general pattern is teaching on a Wednesday in year one, Tuesday in year two and Monday’s in year three.

Post-thesis hand in

From the end of May in their third year, trainees are available for placement work for four days each week until the end of the programme. Where trainees are late in their thesis submission, they should still attend placement for the extra placement days unless other arrangements have been specifically made and approved by the directors. This fourth day of placement activity, can under some circumstances (and with careful planning with trainees, clinical tutors and supervisors) be used to undertake a separate placement activity to the main placement.

Placement Schedule over Three Years (2021 cohort onwards)

Scheduling involves three clinical practice placements (Jan-Sept in years 1, 2 & Jan-Aug in year 3) with a project focused block at the start of year 2 and a shorter community focused placement at the start of year 3. Placement preparation activities will take place in the extended induction block at the start of year 1. The end of the third longer placement is on 31^st August in line with the end of the contract of employment. A broad outline of placement activity is set out below:

Placement Schedule	Clinical Placement (3 days each week)
Year 1
Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec	Induction Programme – including NHS induction/shadowing days and community North West reflection project days
Jan-Sept	Direct skills placements

Year 2
Oct-Dec	Project block (including completion of the associated assessment of performance)
Jan-Sept	Indirect skills placements
Year 3
Oct- Dec	Community focus placement
Jan-Aug	Leadership and Influencing placement

Placements are to be organised by competency rather than speciality in order to scaffold the trainee’s learning and orientate clinical supervisors to what is expected to be focused on during the placement. The taught curriculum will broadly match the focus of each placement in order to facilitate learning and application. Placement allocation is made in conjunction with the North West DClinPsy training programmes based in Liverpool and Manchester.

Should trainees intercalate (e.g. through illness or maternity leave), this may necessitate a variation in this schedule; in this case trainees’ attendance at teaching sessions will be negotiated so that they will have appropriate access to teaching content to support them on their placements.

Placement Schedule over Three Years (2020 cohort and earlier)

Placements on the Lancaster University DClinPsy fall into a precise pattern across the three years. For the first two years, two placements each year notionally go between the beginning of October and the end of March, then beginning of April and the end of September. In the third year the placement start is negotiable according to when the trainees would like to use their thesis study allocation. The end of the fifth/specialist placement is on 31^st August in line with the end of the contract of employment. A broad outline of placement activity is set out below: :

Placement Schedule	Clinical Placement (3 days each week)
Year 1
September	(No Placement – Induction Programme)
October – March	Children and Families
April – September	Adult Mental Health
Year 2
October – March	Older Adults, Physical Health or Neuropsychology
April – September	People with Learning Disabilities
Year 3
October – August	Fifth placement activity to include thesis study allocation to be taken in negotiation between trainee and fifth placement supervisor.

This pattern allows the three doctoral clinical psychology programmes across the northwest to share and integrate their placement arrangements, selecting placements from the whole pool of placements available within the northwest. This consistent order of placements also enables the programme to match the contents of the taught curriculum that runs alongside the placements to the broad needs of each placement. Should trainees intercalate (e.g. through illness or maternity leave), this may necessitate a variation in this schedule; in this case trainees’ attendance at teaching sessions will be negotiated so that they will have appropriate access to teaching content to support them on their placements.

Placement support and monitoring

Once a placement is allocated, the clinical tutor will make contact with the supervisor and plan the support for the placement. Clinical tutors are responsible not only for supporting the trainee on placement and arranging for any trainee specific needs to be met, but also for liaising between the programme and the supervisor and supporting the supervisor in any of their placement related needs, including planning placement reviews (a minimum of two per nine month placements) and arranging end of placement reviews with supervisors. In addition to quality assurance visits, pre-placement or start of placement meetings might be offered if the clinical tutor and supervisor agree they would be useful to facilitate preparation of the placement for the trainee (for example, for a trainee with a support plan or other specific support needs).

Trainees can expect to have 90mins of formal clinical supervision per week on their first placement and 60mins per subsequent placement which is pro rata for part time trainees as 60mins of formal supervision per week on first placement and 40mins per subsequent placement.

Start of the Placement

The placement contract should be drawn up between the trainee and the supervisor. This should be sent to the Programme Assistant (Placements) and the trainee’s clinical tutor by the end of the first two full weeks of the placement. The establishment of the placement contract is the first priority at the start of any placement. The trainee’s clinical tutor will review the contract for appropriateness. Supervisors and trainees are also strongly encouraged to form a psychological contract regarding the supervision process at the beginning of the placement. In addition, an appropriate induction to each placement must be carried out, including identifying any risk or safety issues that are specific to the placement and service specific procedures that may be relevant to the trainee’s work on the placement. These matters will be subject to individual service policy. However, the placement contract does specifically ask that trainees be made aware of the practice placement provider’s extant Equality and Diversity Policy, including how these apply to the trainee and how they will be implemented and monitored (to ensure compliance with the HCPC SET 5.5).

Placement review processes

A key role of the Clinical Tutor is to support the placement process for both trainee and supervisor. A first contact made is by the trainee’s clinical tutor to the clinical supervisor(s) to arrange the Quality Assurance placement review prior to the trainee starting on placement. The clinical tutor is responsible for setting up subsequent Placement Review meetings which both trainee and clinical supervisor(s) attend. There is a minimum of two reviews per clinical placement (i.e. Direct, Indirect and Influencing and Leadership placements). The clinical tutor is available to be contacted by either supervisor or trainee to support any issues arising from the placement. Further review meetings will be arranged as needed.

When placement reviews are arranged by the clinical tutor, supervisors will be asked to ensure that they have completed the Supervisor Assessment of Trainee (SAT) form in draft form, to be sent to the clinical tutor one week in advance of the arranged review date. This draft can then be used by supervisors when completing the SAT form at the end of the placement, adding any elements that had been evidenced in the remaining time on the placement.

Similarly, trainees would be asked to send tutors their draft Placement Audit & Log (PALOG), one week in advance of the review. During the meeting itself, these draft documents would inform the respective conversations, as set out in the schedule below.

Reviews will take place either at the placement location or via MS Teams (or other video conferencing facility). Broadly following procedures outlined in the BPS Guidelines on Clinical Supervision, the placement review will incorporate the following structure: –

Tutor meets trainee (focus on the PALOG)
Tutor meets supervisor (focus on the SAT & PALOG)
3-way meeting between tutor, trainee and supervisor, in order to collectively review the trainee’s progress, provide feedback to the trainee and the supervisor, and agree appropriate goals for the remainder of the placement

The SAT, PALOG do not cover everything that might be discussed but it is the tutor’s role to check that all angles and issues have been addressed – so even if the above documents don’t address, for example, finding an appropriate piece of clinical work to use for an assignment, the tutor will be checking these issues out.

Although the time allocated to meeting with the trainee and supervisor separately and collectively may vary depending upon individual need, it is advisable for supervisors to allow two hours for the visit.

After the placement review, the tutor will e-mail the supervisor and trainee with a short summary of the meeting (within, ideally, two weeks of the visit). The e-mail will set out key points arising from and agreed during the review. This e-mail will also be sent to the Placement Administrator, along with the draft documents (already submitted) as attachments. This will form the record of the placement review, and will be stored by programme.

This allows any concerns to be noted and any action plans to address these concerns to be recorded. For example, an opportunity for the achievement of a particular type of learning objective may have been lost on placement, and this record would acknowledge that this learning might need to be replaced by a different, more achievable objective in the placement circumstances.

End of Placement

Whilst the clinical tutor provides the support throughout the placement, further placement reviews with supervisor and/ or trainee are only scheduled should a query or difficulty arise. At the end of placement, the clinical tutor contacts the supervisor to confirm that the trainee’s progress on placement has continued as planned, and to respond to any difficulties or queries they have, both generally and specifically in completing the Supervisor’s Assessment of Trainee or SAT form and to provide an opportunity for supervisors to review their own supervisory practice. A trainee Individual Training Plan (ITP) meeting is held between the trainee and the tutor pair around the time of the end of the placement to review progress.

BPS Guidelines on Clinical Supervision

Part time route

Practice placements are an integral part of the whole programme of training in clinical psychology at Lancaster. Practice placement work constitutes over 50% of the time that a trainee has during their time on the programme. This document addresses the management, governance and assessment of this significant element of the programme.

Placement range of experience

The placement programme is designed to offer trainees practice experience of the range of clinical psychologist activities. This can range from therapeutic work with individuals, families and groups across the age range and across a diverse range of contexts, working practices and presenting difficulties to consultation, leadership and service development. The main function of achieving this diversity is to afford the trainees appropriate opportunities to nurture and develop their skills and competencies to the level required by the Standards of Proficiency (SoPs) set out by the HCPC for Practitioner Psychologists (including those specific to the practice of clinical psychology) and to be confident in achieving these standards by the completion of their training. A trainee will typically have clinical experience with populations across the lifespan as well as in contexts where cognitive/neuro diversity or challenge is present (for example working with people who have a learning disability and/or people with cognitive change/deterioation). Placements are selected based on opportunities for competency development and that are appropriate for an individual trainee’s training journey. We also look to develop skills which relate to the broader role of a clinical psychologist in a modern NHS climate (eg leadership, service development) or in ‘non-clinical’ settings, such as in community based or third sector work contexts. The focus is on trainees accessing the appropriate learning opportunities to build their competence to that of a fully trained clinical psychologist over the whole training period; paths to this end may differ, and being flexible in this way will always be designed around achieving this end.

Time spent on placement

Pre-thesis hand in

The general plan is for trainees to be available for placement work for two days each week.

There may be occasional extra teaching days and meetings, but these should be rare and it is anticipated that trainees use some of their private study/research time, if necessary, for these extra commitments. Private study allocation will be half a day each week, so there is room for negotiation between supervisors, trainees, and the programme staff about allocation of time for commitments that fall outside of placement activity.

Each week there is also one day set aside for teaching. Once on placement the general pattern for the 2021 and subsequent intakes is that teaching alongside the direct skills placement is on a Wednesday, for the indirect skills placement and project block on a Tuesday, and Mondays for the community focus placement and influencing and leadership placements. Part time trainees will also be expected to join research teaching at the start of their year 2 on a Thursday. This will take place over 4 weeks with no other teaching scheduled at this time. For trainees in the 2020 cohort and below, teaching in year 1 is on Wednesday, year 2 on Tuesday, Year 3 on a Tuesday, Year 4 on a Monday. Part time trainees will also have breaks in their teaching scheduling during which time study time is scheduled and will be required to join the cohort below for some of the scheduled teaching.

Post-thesis hand in

Following submission of their theses (usually from July of the final year) trainees continue to be available for placement work for two days each week until mid August when teaching ends. Following this trainees attend placement for three days each week until the end of the course. This third day of placement activity, from mid August onwards, can under some circumstances (and with careful planning with trainees, clinical tutors and supervisors) be used to undertake a separate placement activity to the main placement.

Placement Schedule (2021 cohort onward)

Placements on the Lancaster University Part Time DClinPsy fall into the following pattern across the 4 years and 4 months. The order of placement activity is the same as for full time peers (i.e. Direct Skills placement, Project block, Indirect skills placement, Community focussed placement and Influencing and Leadership placement) but is spread out over a longer period of time. Placement preparation activities will take place in the extended induction block at the start of year 1. A broad outline of placement activity is set out below:

Placement Schedule	Clinical Placement (2 days each week)
Year 1
Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec	Induction programme including NHS induction /shadowing days and North West Reflection project days
Jan-Feb (Yr 2)	Indirect placement
Year 2
Feb- June	Project block and associated assessment of performance
June/July	Study block
July-Aug (Yr 3)	Indirect skills placement
Year 3	Indirect skills placement (contd)
Sept	Thesis study
Year 4
Oct, Nov, Dec	Community focused placement
Jan-Dec (yr5)	Leadership and Influencing placement

Placements are to be organised by competency rather than specialty in order to scaffold the trainee’s learning and orientate clinical supervisors to what is expected to be focused on during the placement. The taught curriculum will broadly match the focus of each placement in order to facilitate learning and application, and will be directly alongside placements for the part time route as much as possible (trainees stay with nominated cohorts for teaching activities to facilitate contact with other trainees and undertake group learning). Placement allocation is made in conjunction with the North West DClinPsy training programmes based in Liverpool and Manchester.

Placement Schedule (2020 cohort and earlier)

Placements on the Lancaster University Part Time DClinPsy fall into a precise pattern across the 4 years and 4 months. For the first 37 months of training, four placements take place; these occur from Oct – June, July – March, April – Nov and Dec – Oct. In the final year the placement starts in Nov and finishes in Dec the following year. The broad nature of the services within which each of these placements is provided is given in the table below:

Placement Schedule	Clinical Placement (2 days each week)

September Yr 1	(No Placement – Induction Programme)
October Yr 1 – June Yr 1	Children and Families
July Yr 1 – March Yr 2	Adult Mental Health
April Yr 2 – Nov Yr 3	People with Learning Disabilities
Dec Yr 3 – Oct Yr 4	Older Adults, Physical Health or Neuropsychology

Nov Yr 4 – Dec Yr 5	Final Year/ Fifth Placement (placement activity often 3 days each week from mid August)

This pattern allows the three doctoral clinical psychology programmes across the north west to share and integrate their placement arrangements, selecting placements from the whole pool of placements available within the north west. This consistent order of placements also enables the programme to match the contents of the taught curriculum that runs alongside the placements to the broad needs of each placement. Should trainees intercalate (e.g. through illness or maternity leave), this may necessitate a variation in this schedule; in this case trainees’ attendance at teaching sessions will be negotiated so that they will have appropriate access to teaching content to support them on their placements.

Placement support and monitoring

Once a placement is allocated, the clinical tutor will make contact with the supervisor and plan the support for the placement. Clinical tutors are responsible not only for supporting the trainee on placement and arranging for any trainee specific needs to be met, but also for liaising between the programme and the supervisor and supporting the supervisor in any of their placement related needs, including planning placement reviews (2 per practice placement) and arranging end of placement reviews with supervisors. In addition to quality assurance visits, pre-placement or start of placement visits might be offered if the clinical tutor and supervisor agree they would be useful to facilitate preparation of the placement for the trainee (for example, for a trainee with a support plan or other specific support needs).

Start of the Placement

The placement contract should be drawn up between the trainee and the supervisor. This should be sent to the Programme Assistant (Placements) and the trainee’s clinical tutor by the end of the first three full weeks of the placement. The establishment of the placement contract is the first priority at the start of any placement. The trainee’s clinical tutor will review the contract for appropriateness. Supervisors and trainees are also strongly encouraged to form a psychological contract regarding the supervision process at the beginning of the placement. In addition, an appropriate induction to each placement must be carried out, including identifying any risk or safety issues that are specific to the placement and service specific procedures that may be relevant to the trainee’s work on the placement. These matters will be subject to individual service policy. However, the placement contract does specifically ask that trainees be made aware of the practice placement provider’s extant Equality and Diversity Policy, including how these apply to the trainee and how they will be implemented and monitored (to ensure compliance with the HCPC SET 5.5).

Placement review processes

Tutor meets trainee (focus on the PALOG)
Tutor meets supervisor (focus on the SAT & PALOG)
3-way meeting between tutor, trainee and supervisor, in order to collectively review the trainee’s progress, provide feedback to the trainee and the supervisor, and agree appropriate goals for the remainder of the placement

After the placement review, the tutor will e-mail the supervisor and trainee with a short summary of the meeting (within, ideally, two weeks of the visit). The e-mail will set out key points arising from and agreed during the review. , This e-mail will also be sent to the Placement Administrator, along with the draft documents (already submitted) as attachments. This will form the record of the placement review, and will be stored by programme.

End of Placement

BPS Guidelines on Clinical Supervision

Placements: preparation of trainees

03/07/2019 / Rob Parker

Whilst the quality of available placements needs to be assured, the programme also has a responsibility to assure that the trainees it sends on placement are appropriately prepared and fit to work with the public in the services to which they are being sent. Whilst trainees are carefully supervised, they do offer a clinical service to the public under that supervision. Therefore, the following measures are taken to ensure trainees are safe and ready to practise on placement.

Disclosure and Barring Service

All trainees should have appropriate clearances for the services in which they work. In effect, this means that all need to have clearance from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) before the start of the training programme. If any convictions or cautions are identified by the DBS clearance process, then a Fitness to Practise Panel will be convened to address this and determine whether the trainee can begin to train, and if any additional safeguards or conditions are necessary. In addition, trainees will have appropriate occupational health clearance carried out by the employing NHS trust at the start of their employment, to determine that they are capable of carrying out the duties of a clinical psychologist.

Mandatory Training

All trainees will have completed appropriate mandatory training (including, in the case of the first placement, training during their induction period so that they complete the mandatory training required to enable them to engage in autonomous client contact on placement). This is done in conjunction with the employing trust to assure that the preparation of trainees is compliant with NHS Litigation Authority and Care Quality Commission standards for NHS staff engaged in the (supervised) level of work of a trainee clinical psychologist. Completion of this mandatory training is monitored and recorded by the Programme Assistant (Teaching), and an exception report is made to the employing trust (Lancashire and South Cumbria Foundation NHS Trust) on a bi-annual basis (every May and November). In addition, trainees are made familiar with the HCPC Standards of Conduct, Performance & Ethics, which form a central and key part of their taught curriculum during their induction to the programme and prior to their first placement (in addition to the standards of conduct recommended by the British Psychological Society).

Induction

Before trainees start their first placement, they undertake a four month induction programme of teaching and learning, within which there is a significant proportion of the curriculum devoted to preparing them for active clinical practice on their first placement

Previous placement failure or previous placement incomplete

Where a previous supervisor’s assessment of trainee (SAT) form recommends a fail, a plan would be put in place to address/ support the trainee in making sure their practice on the planned placement was of an acceptable standard, by making an explicit, specific set of targets for the trainees to demonstrate the necessary standards. This would include having a planned programme of education or support in place to address any trainee support or learning needs identified.

Where a previous placement has not been completed, for example through illness or intercalation, a similar plan or process to address their needs would be put in place. Both of these plans would be formulated by the designated clinical tutor, in liaison with the trainee and the Clinical Director.

Fitness to practise

If it has been deemed appropriate to withdraw a trainee from a practice placement due to concerns about fitness to practise, then a subsequent placement allocation will not be made until the appropriate level of fitness to practise procedures are complete (although plans for timely allocation, to be made as soon as these issues are resolved, may well be made). Should the fitness to practise process be complete, the outcomes of that process will provide for any necessary plans to be put in place to address and resolve the concerns that gave rise to these procedures, as well as to support the trainee around these issues. More details are available in the Fitness to practise section of this handbook (see links below).

Reasonable adjustments

Plans will also be put in place for trainees where there are any reasonable adjustments that might need to be made by the practice placement providers and educators when providing a placement to a trainee. Guidance will be sought from Occupational Health and student support services regarding the necessary adjustments. This is consistent with the programme’s Inclusivity agenda. This is also in compliance with the Equality Act (2010).

Equality Act (2010)
Fitness to practise

Placement provision

03/07/2019 / Rob Parker

Minimum standards

Placement providers must be capable of providing: –

supervised practice consistent with the standards set out in BPS Accreditation through Partnership Handbook Guidance for Clinical Psychology programmes (p.27-30) enabling the trainees to achieve the learning outcomes set out sections 1
HCPC & BPS accreditation best practice requirements that supervisors attend supervisor training once every 5 years as a minimum.

Supervision in relation to the innovative placement activity may fall outside of the above specifications, particularly if the focus of the innovative placement is non-clinical work. Quality of supervision in relation to this work will be closely monitored by the tutor team in both the planning and active phases of the work.

North west network

The programme works closely with the other two North West DClinPsy programmes to ensure that enough placements of suitable quality are available.to each programme at any point in the placement provision cycle (i.e. core or specialist). The programme also works closely with practice placement providers, services and special interest groups within the profession, so that the impact of local and national workforce issues can be noted and, if necessary, acted upon to keep the availability of good quality placements high on the agenda of local services and practitioners in the North West. The Placement Development and Implementation Group also strives to maintain links with Practice Education Facilitators (PEF) in the NHS trusts across the region, to identify issues with placement capacity, troubleshoot short term difficulties and work to ensure that Trusts in the region are upholding their training agreements by providing the agreed quantity of placements.

Selection of the final placement is more bespoke, as these placements are negotiated and designed to meet the remaining clinical training needs of each trainee as they approach qualification.

Placement description forms

Potential supervisors are asked to fill in a placement description form. This provides information about the characteristics of the placement and helps distinguish those placements that might meet the specific needs of specific trainees, which informs the placement allocation process.

Quality assurance

All practise placements are subject to a quality assurance check before a trainee starts on placement. This typically takes the form of a meeting between supervisor and a member of the clinical tutor team (usually the clinical tutor of the trainee allocated to the placement) The check includes the following:

Suitability of supervisor to provide the placement (i.e. current HCPC registration; supervisor training requirements have been met etc)
Suitability of placement setting (i.e. access to facilities, policies; safe working practices/environ etc)
Considerations that the placement can meet trainee need in relation to their progression/additional needs/reasonable adjustments

If a placement is deemed not suitable based on the outcome of the quality assurance check – then an alternative will be found for the trainee. Where appropriate, supervisors will be offered support to remedy the issue leading to the placement not having passed the quality assurance check.

This pre-placement contact by a clinical tutor to all new placements also serves as extra support to supervisors new to the programme as the tutor will help orientate new supervisors to the programme.

Review of feedback

The programme team will review any of the records the programme holds about previous placements provided by any potential supervisor and the service in question to identify whether there has been a serious concern raised about the quality of this placement or supervisor before.

In addition, regular liaison takes place between the three North West training programmes so that any previous difficulties can be identified and addressed. Should any problems have been identified that have put into question the appropriateness of a specific placement, the placement providers are consulted and assurance sought that (i) any issues identified have been addressed and (ii) there is a process in place to assure the ongoing quality of the placement. If such assurances are not received, the offer of a placement will not be taken up by the programme.

BPS Accreditation through partnership handbook
Placement quality assurance form
Placement description form

Placement planning forms

03/07/2019 / Rob Parker

The forms below should be used for the relevant placement.

Fifth placement planning requirements questionnaire (2020 cohort and earlier)
Fifth placement planning action plan (2020 cohort and earlier)

Innovative Placement Application Form
Innovative Placement Description Form
Innovative Placement Values & Practicalities Form
Innovative Placements Process
Risk Assessment Form for Innovative Placements

Placement information for supervisors

03/07/2019 / Rob Parker

For any clinical placements, the Programme Office ensures that all supervisors, once the allocation has been made, are sent the key information such as placement dates and trainee contact details in an email within a week of the programme placement allocation meeting. The key information provided to supervisors will include: –

the name of the trainee who will be on placement
their identified clinical tutor
the start and end dates of the placement
details of the teaching programme(s) running alongside the placement (including any extra dates for which the trainee will be required away from the placement)
the deadline for submission of evaluation forms

In the allocation email there will also be direct links to all the necessary documents for supervisors (e.g. the evaluation forms for completion at the end of the placement). Supervisors are also encouraged to make use of the web based handbook for any queries they have about support, resources and procedures for any elements of training on the programme.

Placement documentation and assessment

03/07/2019 / Rob Parker

Placements are planned so that trainees have the best opportunity to achieve the learning objectives that relate to acquisition of clinical competence, which meet the HCPC’s Standards of Proficiency for Practitioner Psychologists and the standards set out in the BPS Accreditation through Partnership Handbook; Guidance for Clinical Psychology Programme.

Placement Contract

For each practice placement, the document that articulates this plan to link opportunities on placement to the learning objectives and acquisition of competencies is the Placement Contract. It is submitted to the programme via email to the trainee’s clinical tutor and placement admin assistant at the start of the placement (2 weeks for full time trainees, 3 weeks for part time trainees)

The designated clinical tutors are available to provide guidance to supervisors in the use of the contract in setting out and monitoring learning objectives that demonstrate acquisition of clinical competence for each trainee. Supervisors and/or trainees are encouraged to contact the clinical tutor with any questions or queries regarding the contract.

It is the trainee’s responsibility to make their subsequent supervisor aware of their training needs arising from their training thus far. Trainees are asked to share the SAT form from their previous placement with their next placement supervisor. The clinical tutor reviews the placement contract to ensure for example, that trainee needs from previous placements, are incorporated into the contract. General ‘gaps’ in experience (e.g. opportunities to teach, or use psychometric tests, or conduct group work, or work within another therapeutic orientation) are identified for each trainee at the end of each placement to take into the contract planning process of their subsequent placement.

Psychological Contract

In addition to a Placement Contract, which sets out explanations about clinical work and the practicalities of supervision, trainees and supervisors should consider drawing up a psychological contract. Deriving from the field of Organisational Psychology, the term psychological contract usually refers to an implicit contract, or unwritten set of expectations, between an individual and his/her organisation, which determines what each party expects to give and receive from each other. Even when it remains unwritten, the psychological contract is a powerful determiner of behaviour in organisations; breaches of this contract in the work setting can have deleterious effects, such as lowering of trust and job satisfaction. Making this contract explicit through agreeing it should make it easier to address and manage difficulties should they arise.

The psychological contract is equally applicable to the training situation (although not submitted to the programme). When applied to supervision, the key questions related to the psychological contract are:

How are supervisor and trainee going to relate to each other?
What expectations do each have of the other?
What is the role of each?

Placement Audit and Log book (PALOG)

The placement audit and log book (PALOG) is completed during and at the end of each practice placement, by the trainee assessing their experience of the quality of that practice placement and capturing a log of placement activity (this information has previously been captured in two separate documents – the Placement Audit Form (PAF) and Log Book which have been combined together). The form includes the following:

Amount of formal direct supervision received (for full time trainees at least one hour per week, with that being extended to a minimum of 90 minutes per week for trainees on their first practice placement and for part time trainees at least 40 minutes per week extending to at least one hour for the first practice placement).
levels of support, safety, challenge and resources available within the specific supervisory relationship(s).
Review of facilities on placement
Entries regarding clinical placement activities
Review of service provision (including consideration of accessibility and issues of diversity)

These forms are reviewed by a clinical tutor (who is also a member of the Placement Development and Implementation Group) and collated across each cohort. Key information about from this review of documentation is then reported to the Placement Development and Implementation Group (relating, for example, to quality assurance processes, placement access and development). Any issues requiring action (e.g. specific trainee development issues) are taken up by designated clinical tutors, with broader issues monitored by the Placement Development and Implementation Group. In addition, any information gathered about the quality of provision of placements by a supervisor or placement provider is recorded and made available to the next round of placement selection Information regarding trainee progression is reported to the Exam Board.

Placement Assessment

Practice placement supervisors assess whether a trainee has satisfactorily met the level of competence expected for their stage of training across the required domains of both specific and transferable competence. The assessment is based on the work undertaken on the placement with evidence being entered into the Supervisor Assessment of Trainee (SAT) form. This includes supervisors seeking direct feedback from people seen by the trainees to contribute to the supervisors overall assessment of the trainee via the SAT form (information about this process can be found in the document links below)

Supervisors Assessment of Trainee (SAT)

The SAT form is a report of a trainee’s performance on placement in the development of skills and competencies across all domains of clinical psychology practice.

Supervisors can only assess performance on the available opportunities and activities on the specific placement, which have been framed from the start by the placement contract and recorded in the Placement Audit and Log book (PALOG). The SAT asks supervisors to judge whether, through their supervised practice on the placement, the trainee has demonstrated enough progress across the range of competencies to merit passing the placement (a rating of “satisfactory”), whether they should pass with some recommendation to attend to specific areas requiring development (areas for development/ areas of concern), or whether they should fail the placement (“unsatisfactory”). These ratings are accompanied by qualitative feedback on the nature of their progress. These ratings are given for each of the competencies, as well as an overall rating for performance on the whole placement. During early placements in the programme, it is anticipated that some of the above broad areas will be rated as “areas for development” as a trainee will only acquire a full set of competencies over the whole three years of the programme. However, this also means that a final placement SAT form should have ratings of satisfactory across the whole range of areas. This sensitivity to the developmental nature of training is communicated to all trainees and supervisors.

The current SAT form has been agreed by all three DClinPsy courses in the North West region.

Document submission and Exam Board processes

In terms of document submission , the programme must receive completed copies of the SAT and Placement Audit and Log book (PALOG) in electronic form, emailed from the supervisor’s work email address, by the final day of the placement period. If these documents are not received in compliance with this process (which acts in lieu of a system of supervisors ‘signing’ a form), the Exam Board will not be able to formally award a pass to the trainee for that placement.

Outcome of placement assessments are available to trainees at the end of the Exam Board that meets after the completion of the placement. The SAT form constitutes a formal recommendation to that Exam Board regarding the pass or failure of the placement.

Recommendation of Fail for the placement

Where a fail grade is recommended by a supervisor for a placement, relevant documentation is sent to an External Examiner prior to the Exam Board. The External Examiner is external to the programme and local services. Their role is to give an opinion on the documentation and evidence presented from the position of being a trainer in Clinical Psychology. In some cases the External Examiner may also wish to see other materials (e.g. reports or letters written on placement). At an Exam Board where placement failure has been recommended by the supervisors, at least one external examiner will be in attendance and it is expected to be the one who has previously scrutinised the documentation.

The decision of outcome i.e. for the placement to pass or fail is made by the Exam Board following scrutiny of the documentation and presentation of evidence to the board.

If the Exam Board endorses a fail grade for the practice placement, the practice placement will need to be repeated. The repeated placement will not take the place of another placement. It is possible that the trainee might need to complete the placement or a subsequent placement ‘out of contract’ at their own expense. Trainees must pass all scheduled placements in order to qualify from the programme. If the practice placement is failed at the second attempt, the trainee will not be allowed to progress further on the programme.

The HCPC Standards of Proficiency for practitioner psychologists
BPS Accreditation through partnership handbook
Placement contract
Sample placement contract
Supervisor’s Assessment of Trainee (SAT) form – February 2023 onwards
Placement Audit and Log (PALOG)
BPS Committee on Training in Clinical Psychology Accreditation standards
Feedback from people who trainees have been working with – guidance for supervisors and trainees
Providing feedback about trainee clinical psychologists – client information sheet
Providing feedback about the trainee clinical psychologist you are – feedback form

Placement Development and Implementation Group (PlaDIG)

03/07/2019 / Rob Parker

The Placement Development and Implementation Group is established to plan and review the provision of practice placements for trainees on the Lancaster University DClinPsy programme. Each year, the trainees on the programme spend more than 50% of their time on practice placements, which are distributed across the North West of England. The Placement Development and Implementation Group is established to explore the broad national and regional policy and practice landscape of clinical psychology, especially where changes are occurring, and so plan how to respond to these changes in the context of the provision of practice placements. The group also aims to make sure that trainees on the Lancaster programme are getting the best possible practice placements to enable them to become competent, confident qualified clinical psychologists. The Placement Development and Implementation Group’s main aims are therefore:

ensuring and improving the future availability of practice placements
ensuring and improving the future quality of practice placements
ensuring and improving the “fitness for purpose” of the practice placements over the medium to long term.

Members

Whilst the clinical tutor team leads the co-ordination, review of practice placements, as well as the support to them, the programme is committed to the meaningful involvement of key stakeholders in the oversight and strategic planning of these placements – which could not be provided without them. Therefore, alongside members of the clinical team who lead on different aspects of placement support and planning (and on implementing the decisions of the group), the following stakeholder groups are represented at the Placement Development and Implementation Group:

Service Users (through LUPIN)
The NW Placement Development Network (who review the provision of all practice placements across NHS professions on behalf of Health Education NW)
NHS Trusts, in whose services trainees are placed (through Practice Education Facilitators)
Supervisors
Newly qualified clinical psychologists (to provide a trainee perspective – as this is one policy group where direct trainee representation is considered not appropriate)

The group meets four times a year, in March, June, September and November

Placement Development and Implementation Group Terms of Reference

Placement difficulties

03/07/2019 / Rob Parker

Difficulties on placement fall into three broad categories – concerns expressed by trainees, those expressed by tutors and those expressed by supervisors (these might also include the concerns of other professionals or service users on placement). Although the concerns of all do often overlap, these concerns will be considered separately in the interests of clarity. The below paragraphs identify the processes which will be followed to support trainees and supervisors, as well as to address these concerns directly should they arise.

Concerns of trainees

Trainees may experience personal problems on placement but feel unable to discuss these with their supervisor. They may find that the experience offered to enable them to develop some specific competencies is minimal due to, for example, local circumstances. Trainees may also feel that the quality or quantity of supervision does not meet their expectations (See BPS Guidelines on Clinical Supervision at the bottom of the page).

In every case the most important action to take is to communicate. The first person the trainee should inform of their concerns should be the supervisor. If this does not happen or if the trainee feels unable to communicate concerns directly to the supervisor then the trainee must contact their clinical tutor. The tutor can discuss with the trainee the difficulties they are experiencing over the phone or in person. They may be able to help address the issue with the supervisor. Whilst a mentor may help by acting as an advocate for the trainee or by supporting the trainee in communicating with their supervisor or clinical tutor.

Should problems persist and/or if they constitute a breach of the agreed contract, the programme subscribes to a policy (available at the bottom of the page) entitled “How the Programmes Manage Serious Concerns with Supervision on Placement” in conjunction with the Liverpool and the Manchester DClinPsy programmes. Supervisors receive a copy of this policy when allocated a trainee, which states what is expected of them as supervisors and how any problems in achieving these standards of supervision will be addressed. Accordingly, programme staff will follow the procedures detailed in the policy when trainees raise minor or more significant concerns.

Consistent with this policy, trainees who raise minor concerns about quality will be asked to include a full account of these concerns (and how they have been resolved) in their Placement Audit and Log book (PALOG) at the end of the placement, so that these concerns can be noted in assuring the quality of subsequent placements.

Concerns of placement breakdown

In some circumstances during the course of a placement, a supervisor or the service in which they operate may cease to be able to provide the practice placement experience required by the trainee. Service provision can often change over a short period, which can deliver a different training experience. These changes are usually discussed and managed within the placement between supervisor and trainee, with input and support by the trainee’s clinical tutor (see Concerns of trainees above). Other changes, such as long term sickness absence of the supervisor, can threaten to compromise the quality of the placement. The following process should be followed to reduce the impact caused to the trainee’s learning experience:

Communication of concerns: Should a supervisor or service manager (where the supervisor is absent) become aware that a change is happening or is expected to happen to placement delivery that would result in the placement no longer being able to meet the minimum required standards for placement quality (see Quality assurance of practice placements in the Programme Specification), they will communicate this directly with a member of the course staff – preferably the clinical tutor for the trainee in question, the Senior Clinical Tutor for Practice Placements or the Clinical Director.
Review of concerns: The clinical tutor concerned or another member of the clinical team, with support from Senior Clinical Tutor for Practice Placements and / or Clinical Director, will discuss the situation with whoever raised the concern, and in the first instance attempted to see what measures might need to be taken to return the placement provision to the required standards. This may be achieved with staff or resource provision from the programme (for example, if this is required over a short period).
Taking stock: Should an immediate solution not be achievable, then a period of time will be agreed to “take stock” of the situation. During this period, the trainee may continue with placement practice only if there is sufficient and appropriate supervision to make this safe (for the trainee and service users); alternatively, the trainee may be asked to use placement time for study elsewhere. The principle of doing this is not to rush any party involved, whilst recognising that the earlier the trainee returns to full placement practice, the better. During this period, the Senior Clinical Tutor for Practice Placements, supported by the clinical tutors, will be exploring alternative options for placement provision.
Review of ongoing or new placement provision: Once either the original placement has been renegotiated so that it can meet the required standards (and therefore the trainee’s needs on placement) or a new placement has begun, then the clinical tutor will consult with both the supervisor and the trainee, to plan appropriate placement visits, offer placement support as necessary and review the placement contract.

Concerns of supervisors and tutors

Concerns about trainee performance may be triggered by concerns that the trainee is struggling to meet the requirements of the placement. There may also be concerns about the level of appropriate professional behaviour, adherence to the HCPC’s Guidance on Performance, Conduct and Ethics or the BPS’s Code of Conduct, Ethical Principles and Guidelines or compliance with local or employing Trust policies. In every case the supervisor and/ or tutor should discuss their concerns with the trainee as soon as problems arise and begin documenting discussions and events. Generally, such concerns can lead to (i) consideration of placement failure, (ii) consideration of whether the trainee is fit to continue practicing, and (iii) consideration of whether to pursue disciplinary action against the trainee as an employee of Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust.

Placement Failure Concerns

The procedures outlined are intended to offer a framework of good practice and protection for all concerned in the hope that remedial action will be taken before formal placement failure becomes a consideration. It is important to remember that the supervisor provides information and recommendations to the Exam Board regarding the trainee’s performance but does not make the final decision regarding placement failure.

If the supervisor’s concerns are not resolved within supervision they should contact the trainee’s clinical tutor, with the full knowledge of the trainee, to alert them to their concerns. The following procedure is then followed:

The clinical tutor speaks to both supervisor and trainee to gain an overview of the situation and arranges a meeting at the placement base as soon as possible. The tutor also informs the Clinical Director that such concerns have been expressed.
The clinical tutor meets the trainee and supervisor separately at the start of the meeting.
The Supervisor’s Assessment of Trainee form is used as a framework and the other documents (e.g. the Placement Audit and Log book (PALOG) and Placement Contract, the HCPC’s Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics and, if available, any draft Supervisor’s Assessment of Trainee form) act as a resource to ensure that the trainee is aware of the exact concerns of the supervisor. The trainee is invited to respond and their concerns are noted. At the end of the meeting, an action plan is completed containing clearly defined targets, and these are documented and agreed by the tutor, trainee and supervisor. The aim is to facilitate the achievement of the placement goals within the remaining time on placement. A review date is set. Where a trainee is not in agreement, this will be documented, and a clear rationale as to why these targets are being set (i.e. to achieve the required standards) will also be documented. If the trainee still feels these targets are unreasonable, a meeting will be arranged with the clinical tutor and the trainee to address this, if necessary including the clinical director, to allow for any alternative solutions to be explored (e.g. extra support may be identified, or a trainee may request to take a break in their training).
The clinical tutor concerned informs the Clinical Director that there is a “serious concerns on placement plan” in place for the trainee.
Contact between the clinical tutor, supervisor and trainee takes place between the initial visit and the review date to monitor the situation. This will vary according to need but will be a minimum of one contact every two weeks.
Trainee, supervisor and clinical tutor meet on the review date set and consider the trainee’s progress towards goals on the remedial action plan. If the review occurs at the end of placement, the relevant forms (SAT, Placement Audit form, Log ) are completed and seen by each party. If the review takes place early in the placement the action taken depends on the progress made by the trainee. A further review meeting may be necessary if the outcome of the first meeting is unsatisfactory. Contact and monitoring may be the only action needed if the trainee is making progress.

When the supervisors have made their recommendations on the SAT form, the formally constituted Exam Board considers the ratings given by the supervisor, alongside the comments of the trainee. More information is available in the criteria for placement failure section of the online handbook.

BPS Guidelines on Clinical Supervision
How the Programmes Manage Serious Concerns with Supervision on Placement
HCPC standards of conduct performance and ethics
BPS code of ethics and conduct

Placement availability and selection

03/07/2019 / Rob Parker

Services within the Northwest area which are considered able to provide successful practice placements are contacted in good time prior to the start of the placement to seek offers of placements. Approaches for placement offers are coordinated with the other two north west programmes who also seek placements within the same geographical area.

When a placement is offered it is subject to checks to ensure that it is fit for purpose according to the following criteria (the relevant HCPC standards of education and training will be referenced by number after each of the below):

Does the placement have the potential to meet the learning needs of the trainees at the specific point in their training (e.g. are there enough appropriately qualified staff available in a small service to supervise and support the trainee, or does a third year placement have access to work suitable to address any gaps remaining in the trainee’s learning?) (SET 5.2; 5.6; 5.7)?
Will the placement provide a safe and supportive environment for the trainees (SET 5.3)?
Is the placement situated in a service which has all the necessary governance and assurance frameworks in place to ensure the safety and promote the wellbeing of clients and trainees, including appropriate policies and procedures around equality and diversity in relation to trainees (SET 5.5)?
Are the prospective supervisors appropriately registered (SET 5.9)?
Have they undertaken appropriate training as supervisors (SET 5.8)?

HCPC Standards of education and training
Supervisor oversight and quality assurance of supervision processes – allied health professionals

Placement allocation

03/07/2019 / Rob Parker

2021 cohort onwards

Competency skills focused practice placements

There are three long practice placements focusing on clinical skill development (direct, indirect and leadership/influencing). For Direct skills and Indirect skills focused placements the Placement Team take the lead in sourcing placements and allocating. For Influencing and Leadership placements – trainees have more input into the choice of the placement dependent on their experiences and needs in order to successfully complete their training.

Once Direct and Indirect skills focused placements have been identified, a placement allocation process takes place approximately 2 months before the scheduled start of that placement (for out of sync trainees this will be on a case by case basis). The process involves key members of the programme team and considers information indicated by trainees in their ‘placement preference form’ and learning needs identified from the previous placement. Allocations are made on achieving the best fit between identified learning needs of the trainee (which is the most important factor) and other factors such as geography/other identified needs (e.g. health/carer needs). Influencing and Leadership placement allocations have a slightly different process which takes place over a longer time period and involves close liaison with Manchester and Liverpool programmes. Placements are made across the whole of the north west of England and may be located in Lancashire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside or Cumbria.

Any requests for out of area placements are only agreed in exceptional circumstances, and must be made to the Clinical Director.

Community focused placements

There is one community focused placement during the training schedule. The allocation of this placement will be facilitated by experiences the trainee has had prior to the placement in terms of working with populations from across the lifespan and range of ability level. Trainees seek out organisations which they consider to meet their learning needs. This process begins once the Influencing and Leadership placement allocations are made so that trainees can make informed decisions about any areas they need to experience before the end of training. Clinical tutors follow up possible placements to ensure that they are fit for purpose. This placement is not formally assessed and can be undertaken within the programme commissioned boundaries across the whole of the north west of England and may be located in Lancashire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside or Cumbria.

2020 cohort and earlier

Core placements

The first four placements are typically referred to as “core placements”. Once placements have been identified, a placement allocation process takes place approximately six weeks before the scheduled start of that placement (for out of sync trainees this will be on a case by case basis). The process involves key members of the programme team and considers information indicated by trainees in their ‘placement preference form’ and learning needs identified from the previous placement . Allocations are made on achieving the best fit between identified learning needs of the trainee (which is the most important factor) and other factors such as geography/other identified needs (e.g. health/carer needs). Placements are made across the whole of the north west of England and may be located in Lancashire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside or Cumbria.

Fifth/specialist placement

Allocation to the fifth placement is more bespoke to the learning and development needs of each trainee. Any identified core competency related learning needs not achieved during the first four core placements will need to be addressed on the fifth placement. Trainees in such a position will be allocated a fifth placement to address their learning needs. If a satisfactory level of core competence has been achieved, trainees have the opportunity to seek a placement in an area of speciality interest or build on previous experience in one of the core placement areas.

Trainees are expected to start thinking about ideas for their fifth placement in advance of the placement start. A fifth placement showcase day currently forms part of the autumn curriculum and allows trainees the opportunity to consider in depth the range of learning and development opportunities open to them. Each trainee will also have an individual meeting with their designated clinical tutor to discuss their learning needs and placement preferences, following which they are asked to communicate final preferences to the clinical tutor organising fifth/specialist placements. This tutor reviews all expressed preferences in conjunction with the other two North West DClinPsy programmes. Trainees are asked not to approach any potential supervisors until they are told they can do so by the tutor organising the fifth placement. This is to prevent supervisors in popular placements being approached multiple times. Trainees are also asked not to make ‘definite arrangements’ with a supervisor. Allocations to fifth placements are, and can only be made, by the organising tutor in liaison with the other two North West programmes.

Our policy across all three Programmes in the North West is to give priority to core/direct/indirect skills placement provision, so trainees are less likely to be allocated to a placement/supervisor who is used for a core placement (unless that supervisor can offer two placements or the demand for core placement provision is low).

Fifth/specialist placements are typically in the North West region. Any requests for out of area placements are only agreed in exceptional circumstances, and must be made to the Clinical Director.

Criteria for placement failure

03/07/2019 / Rob Parker

Introduction

The criteria for failure reflect the requirements of the profession, as set out in the following standards produced by the regulatory body (Health and Care Professions Council – HCPC) and the professional body (British Psychological Society- BPS):

Health and Care Professions Council Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics See document link below
Health and Care Professions Council .
Health and Care Professions Council (2015) Standards of Proficiency for Practitioner Psychologists. See document link below
British Psychological Society (BPS) (2018) Code of Ethics and Conduct See document link below
British Psychological Society (BPS) (2017). BPS practise guidelines . See document link below
British Psychological Society (BPS) (2019). BPS Committee on Training in Clinical Psychology (CTCP) Accreditation Standards See document below.

If a trainee does not fulfil these requirements on a practice placement by the end of that placement, to a standard acceptable to the placement supervisor and the programme staff, this will result in a recommendation to the exam board that a failure of that practice placement is recorded. This recommendation is made by means of the evaluation form “Supervisor’s Evaluation of Trainee” (SAT). The supervisor will recommend to the Examination Board whether, overall, the placement (i.e. the trainee’s achievement of expected learning outcomes) falls into the category of ‘unsatisfactory’ rather than ‘satisfactory’. These judgements and the subsequent recommendation are informed by the above standards, the training of the programme staff, the training of the supervisors, and by the goals and intended learning outcomes as articulated in the placement contract agreed between trainee and supervisor (and approved by the visiting clinical tutor) at the start of the placement. These requirements are operationally defined as criteria for placement failure and are set out explicitly in this document below.

It is worth noting that, prior to the evaluation of the trainee’s placement performance, there are opportunities to monitor trainee progress, both via weekly supervision sessions and also reviews with clinical tutor;. Where there are placement difficulties, the course has specific guidance on procedures to be followed and these can found on the Placement difficulties handbook webpage.

In the case where the supervisor recommends that, overall, the placement ratings are ‘unsatisfactory’, the External Examiner will be asked to comment and will be sent samples of the trainee’s work and the Placement Audit and Log book (PALOG), prior to the Examination Board.

The Examination Board will consider the SAT form, the PALOG and its relation to the Placement Contract, the views of the External Examiner and any other relevant material, before making its recommendation to the University. The Criteria for Placement Failure (below) will form a focus for the Examination Board discussion and recommendation

Criteria for Placement Failure

1. Clinical experience

Within the contract there will be goals relating to:

Range and number of clients
Client problems and settings
Individual and/or group work
Types of clinical involvement e.g. assessment, intervention, consultancy, direct/indirect work, models to be used

It may be that goals need to be slightly revised, particularly at a placement review with a visiting member of course staff, to encompass unforeseen developments. For example, if certain types of referrals are not available, alternative work may be found; if work with client(s) proves to be much more detailed than originally envisaged, then simply adding to client numbers may be inappropriate. That is a matter for discussion during the placement review.

However, if by the end of the placement, the trainee has been unable to fulfil the clinical goals to the satisfaction of the supervisor, then following consultation, the supervisor may decide to recommend an ‘unsatisfactory’ rating on this aspect of the work.

2. Clinical Competence

The contract will contain goals that relate to all areas of clinical competence, within the limits of what areas of competence are reasonable to expect to develop on a specific placement (e.g. it will not be possible to develop skills in working with children on all placements). However, the goals of all four placements over the three year programme, will, in total, provide each trainee with a complete set of opportunities to achieve all of Health Professions Council (2015) Standards of Proficiency for Practitioner Psychologists, and to acquire all of the competencies to satisfy the British Psychological Society (2019) Committee on Training in Clinical Psychology: Criteria for the accreditation of postgraduate training programmes in clinical psychology.

This is why the achievement of the goals/ expected learning outcomes articulated in the placement contract are so important to judgements about whether the trainee’s performance on placement should be deemed satisfactory or not – they relate directly to the achievement of the requirements of the profession as listed in the introduction to this document.

Some of the requirements are in areas that are not specific to a practice placement area. For example, skills in teaching, research, consultation and organisational work can be acquired on most placements. These areas will focus on, for example, opportunities for team work, meetings to be attended, services to be visited and liaison with other professionals. The acquisition of these proficiencies, in particular, are cumulative of the three years of training, and it is with this in mind that achievements on any one placement will be assessed. However, all areas of proficiency will be assessed through the lens of a developmental framework. As such, the rating “requires attention” on the SAT form (which is available to assessing supervisors for all the specific areas of competence, although not on the overall rating) will refer to those areas of competence where it is recommended that subsequent placements and their respective contracts should focus. As a result, the “requires attention” option is not available to final placement supervisors, as the trainee should satisfy all proficiency and competence standards by the end of their final placement.

It is not possible to be prescriptive about number of goals not achieved (or ‘seriousness’ of a single goal not met) to warrant an ‘unsatisfactory’ rating. Instead, once it is identified that a trainee is at risk of failing on a placement, there is a process that is followed to make the specific concerns of the supervisor (after discussions with programme staff as well as the trainee concerned) clear and explicit, which will in turn also involve the creation of clear, explicit and achievable goals during the remainder of the placement. Only if a trainee fails to achieve these goals will an unsatisfactory rating be awarded. It allows the assessment of trainees in this respect to be sensitive to the cumulative process of professional training and the complexities of professional standards.

3. Ethical and Professional Behaviour

In all aspects of clinical work the trainee must comply with the HCPC Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics, and the BPS Code of Ethics and Conduct, Ethical Principles and Guidelines. Within these documents, and within the Division of Clinical Psychology (DCP) Professional Practice Guidelines there are descriptions of how practitioners are expected to behave. The HCPC also provides guidance on conduct and ethics to students (as listed above). Unprofessional or unethical behaviour on the part of trainees may lead to disciplinary action. Such behaviour might also lead to consideration within the programme’s Fitness To Practise processes but is also grounds to consider placement failure. All three (or any combination) of these avenues may be appropriate to pursue at the same time, should the breach of ethical or professional boundaries merit it. Such professional matters are so crucial to training they are considered within the programme as part of the Induction to the programme.

Appropriate professional behaviour on placement is a wide issue and something that should be ‘shaped’ and discussed within supervision. The areas that the supervisor will be regularly monitoring and discussing will include:

Reliability (time keeping; diary management; placement administration)
Organisation of workload and managing priorities
Degree of independence appropriate to the stage of learning
Ethical issues such as consent, confidentiality, record keeping, keeping within the legal framework.
Risk/safeguarding identification and management

Again, whilst it is not possible to be specific about any one problem behaviour that would lead to an ‘unsatisfactory’ rating, over all the items listed the supervisor will be expecting appropriate professional and ethical standards of behaviour. Should the trainee not demonstrate behaviour to the satisfaction of the supervisor, e.g. (i) where the trainee is frequently late or absent for meetings or (ii) does not take confidentiality into account within clinical practice, then this should, in the first instance, be the subject of discussion in supervision. If the trainee does not respond to feedback, does not change their approach to behave in a sufficiently professional way, and does not meet very specific goals (that may be set down after consultation with staff and supervisor at mid-placement visit) then the supervisor may give an ‘unsatisfactory’ rating on this section of the SAT. As highlighted above, disciplinary and/or fitness to practise concerns may arise simultaneously and be pursued separately from any determination about pass or failure of a placement.

4. Overall failure of a placement with a final summary rating of ‘unsatisfactory’ on the SAT

There may be a number of sections or only one section of the SAT that the supervisor considers ‘unsatisfactory’. There are no prescribed number of ‘unsatisfactory’ categories that will lead automatically to the SAT form recommending a failed placement to the Examination Board.

The implications of the failure to meet a single goal may be as important as the number of goals not met. For example, (i) if with client work the trainee, despite extensive supervision, cannot formulate the problems of any of the clients then this may lead to overall failure of the placement by the Examination Board (ii) if there is a single example of gross professional misconduct this will usually lead to failure of the placement (and most likely the programme). The trainee’s clinical tutor will be available to support the supervisor and trainee in the event of placement difficulties and to discuss, with the supervisor, particular aspects of the SAT form and to give guidance as appropriate in consultation with the Clinical Director as necessary.

Practitioner psychologists | (hcpc-uk.org)

Standards of conduct, performance and ethics | (hcpc-uk.org)

Code of Ethics and Conduct – The British Psychological Society (bps.org.uk)

BPS Practice Guidelines (2017) – The British Psychological Society

BPS Committee on Training in Clinical Psychology Accreditation standards

Annual plan

28/06/2019 / Rob Parker

Although the programme tries to use a set pattern of teaching, this is not always possible. The annual plan is used to track all teaching, meetings, placements, admissions processes, and holidays.

The plan, which is updated throughout the year, is available as an Outlook calendar which is shared with all programme staff and trainees. To view the plan, open your university email account in desktop Outlook, via the Office365 website, or the Outlook app and open the calendar for the account DClinPsy Annual Plan.

In Outlook you would do this by going into the Calendar view, clicking on the Open Calendar button and selecting From Address Book before selecting the DClinPsy Annual Plan user. The process for other email clients (and for different versions of Outlook unfortunately) will vary.

Organising Email and Calendars using Office 365 and Outlook

Trainee working pattern guidance

28/06/2019 / Rob Parker

Annual leave entitlement

This will depend on your length of continuous service but will be at least 27 days a year, plus bank holidays (April to March). If at the start of or during training you accrue five or ten years’ continuous service within the NHS then your annual leave allowance will rise to 29 or 33 days respectively. Please show the programme office a letter confirming your years of continuous service and they will update your leave record accordingly. Which days count as annual leave? Example: You wish to take five days of annual leave, Monday through to Friday, inclusive. On three days you would usually be on placement, one day would be private study, and one day in for teaching. Each day counts as a day of annual leave. You need to officially ask for five days annual leave, and ideally liaise with your year group such that not too many are away from teaching at any one time. You must inform (in advance of taking leave) the Programme Office of your requested leave days. Please see the Absence from work policy and procedure in the online handbook.

Days on placement

Full time trainees should generally be on placement three days a week. Following thesis submission trainees are expected to spend 4 days a week on placement. Where thesis hand in goes beyond the middle of March there is a grace period of 4 weeks where trainees can retain a study day per week, after that they will be expected to spend 4 days a week on placement. Where there are specific exceptional circumstances which have resulted in a delayed thesis hand-in then more study time may be agreed but this would be in discussion with the Directors. Part-time trainees are typically on placement two days a week with a negotiated increase after thesis hand in.

Teaching days

Generally, there is one teaching day per week. If, for some reason, there is no teaching, you should be on placement. For example, during the majority of August there is no teaching planned, so, if you are not on annual leave go to your placement.

Ill health

Please refer to the Absence from work policy and procedure in the online handbook.

Non-typical leave requirements

Should any trainee require prolonged special leave, for example, maternity leave, reasons relating to illness (in self or family members), extensive compassionate leave, then that is arranged on an individual basis in line with LSCFT’s policies following discussion with the Clinical Director. A trainee requesting such leave would need to discuss with their clinical tutor in the first instance.

Supervisor training

28/06/2019 / Rob Parker

At Lancaster the DClinPsy programme’s vision for trainees is that they become competent, confident, reflective and reflexive practitioners. Clinical practice placements and supervision play an essential role in this process. Placement supervisors are asked to support trainees in the development of their competencies and skills to a level which will enable trainees, upon completion of the programme, to meet the Standards of Proficiency (SOPs) as outlined by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC, 2023). Supervisors are also asked to contribute to an evaluation of the trainees’ competencies thus playing an integral part in the programme’s overall assessment process.

There are various means by which the programme ensures that supervisors have the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to both support and evaluate trainees on placement. The programme confirms that all supervisors have appropriate professional registration through the quality assurance visit process which is carried out by a clinical tutor when a new placement is offered to the programme. The vast majority of supervisors are clinical psychologists and are registered with the HCPC. However, in accordance with guidance from the British Psychological Society (BPS, 2017) supervisors can come from other professional backgrounds as long as they are appropriately qualified and registered. These decisions are made on a case-by-case basis

The programme also provides a comprehensive supervisor training programme for both new and experienced supervisors. Details of upcoming workshops are circulated to our current and prospective supervisors. Please contact George Silverwood with any queries.

Routes into supervisor training

New Supervisors:

All new supervisors must complete the first three days of the four day Introductory Supervisor training prior to offering a placement. The fourth day is then completed at a later date to allow for practical application of the training. Supervisors can complete the training offered by Lancaster or the equivalent training offered by one of the other Clinical Psychology Doctorate programmes in the North West. The Introductory Supervisor Workshops at Lancaster run at least once a year. The training is aimed at supervisors intending to start supervising within 6 months of completion of the training.

Experienced Supervisors:

In order to fulfil the programme’s commitment to excellence as the standard, experienced supervisors can attend Advanced Supervisor Workshops to review their learning in relation to their supervisory practice and to enhance their current skills. Some experienced supervisors who have had a break from supervision or who are new to the area may also choose to attend the Introductory Supervisor Workshops as a refresher. In line with the HCPC conditions all experienced supervisors are expected to attend supervisor training at least every five years. Setting up placements, placement visits and end of placement reviews provide the opportunity for programme staff to discuss supervisors’ interests and needs in relation to supervisor training. Invitations to attend specific training can also be made. Advanced workshops are offered regularly and details are circulated around current and prospective supervisors. Additional supervisor workbooks have also been produced to complement this process and facilitate access to ongoing CPD.

Evaluation and Development of the Supervisor Training Programme

All training is evaluated by means of questionnaires. Both quantitative and qualitative feedback is requested regarding the content, format and whether the learning outcomes of the session were met. A report is compiled based on this feedback and is used to develop future sessions. Currently the Advanced Supervisor programme relies on attendees’ self-report to check that learning outcomes have been achieved. The Introductory Supervisor programme uses both self-report and feedback from supervisees. There is ongoing work to further develop a robust framework to assess the achievement of these outcomes and the development of associated supervisor and trainee competencies.

Inclusivity

The Lancaster DClinPsy programme is committed to inclusivity and as such is open to the development of individual training programmes to enable access by as broad an audience as possible.

Resources

We aim to make our resources freely available to supervisors to support development of their practice. Our Supervisor Workbook can be found in the appendix below.

Supervisor Workbook
BPS Introductory supervisor training
HCPC Standards of education and training
Supervisor’s guide to the e-portfolio

Psychological contracts

28/06/2019 / Rob Parker

What is a Psychological Contract?

The most common notion is that it is the implicit promises (expectations and inferences) within relationships. It is a 2-way contract “locking you into the dynamic” (Conway & Briner, 2009). Psychological contracts are encouraged to be established on placement between trainees and their supervisor(s).

How is it Established?

As it is based on expectations it can start to be established long before two people meet (i.e. it could be influenced by what has been heard about the other or the place they work etc). It is not a static thing. There is ongoing re-negotiation of the psychological contract.

What Happens when there is a Psychological Contract Breach?

When an implicit contract is broken there is likely to be an emotional response (e.g. feeling let down/threatened). This may well lead to a shift in how the person that feels there has been a breach contributes to the relationship (e.g. withdrawing, discussing breach) which feeds back into the dynamic.

Do we want to stop Psychological Contract Breaches?

No. That is not possible. Broken implicit promises are bound to happen in all relationships. What matters is the repair after the rupture.

So, why do we use written Psychological Contracts?

One way to try and manage a psychological contract is to make the implicit, explicit e.g. by writing down expectations. However, research from organisational psychology has shown that this can lead to a greater sense of broken promises.

So, how can we use Psychological Contracts most effectively during training and should they be mandatory?

The advantage of making psychological contracts mandatory is that it indicates to trainees and supervisors the importance that we place on thinking about the supervisory relationship. The challenge is avoiding it becoming another tick box exercise.

Ideas to keep the Psychological Contract ‘live’

Change the Medium – recording a conversation about the psychological contract in supervision at some point between the beginning of placement and MPV.
Change the Timing when requested – trainees/supervisor to share with the visiting tutor at MPV so the focus can be looking at how the contract has changed over time (rather than it being a static document)
Develop prompt questions that focus on reviewing the psychological contract – e.g. What has worked well in the supervisory relationship? What would we like to be different? When have there been ruptures/misunderstandings/challenges to the relationship? Have we been able to repair these and if so, how? What could we try in future?
Change placement contract – have a tick box on the placement contract that says a psychological contract has been produced and review times booked in
Change PAF/PALOG – include space for trainee to reflect on psychological contract
Using an evaluative tool (e.g. the Leeds Supervisory Alliance Scale) – using this regularly in supervision could help to keep the conversation alive about the relationship/psychological contract

Sample psychological contract