News Snippets
Healthcare students in North Cumbria will be leading clinics across the area this month providing patients with health check opportunities.
These student-led clinics or ‘health check roadshows’ will take place on various dates in January and provide pre-booked health checks for eligible patients who have been invited to take part. The sessions will provide a comprehensive review of patient’s health and wellbeing with a focus on diabetes risk for over 50s.
The initiative was developed by pre-registration nursing students who, for the last six weeks, have undertaken work placements in practices across Keswick and Solway and based in GP surgeries in Silloth, Aspatria and Wigton. Practice placements like this allow students to gain further experience and skills within primary care settings.
Claire Barron, who is an Advanced Clinical Practitioner at Carlisle Healthcare and Strategic Nurse Lead for North Cumbria said: “This is a great initiative and presents a fantastic opportunity for both our students and our patient population here in North Cumbria.
“This week will see the fruition of all their hard work come to life with the first of three health check roadshows being held in Silloth. They will then be following this with events in Aspatria and Wigton, so we’re all very much looking forward to providing those free health checks to patients and seeing our new student led clinic initiative come to life.
“The students have been working hard over recent months to develop this initiative so it will be great to see it in action at these events and then look forward for further opportunities.”
The nursing students will also be joined by colleagues from across the multi-disciplinary team in North Cumbria who will be providing experienced clinical support and advice.
Sam Gargett, Project Manager for Primary Care Services North Cumbria said: “Our project is all about the collaboration of Primary Care Networks and Partner Organisations, so working with the North East and North Cumbria Enabling Effective Learning Environments Team (EELE) who funded this pilot and Claire Barron, Strategic Nurse Lead for North Cumbria is testament to effective collaborative working in order to improve outcomes for patients.
“Primary Care has its recruitment challenges but we’re working hard to communicate regionally nationally and internationally the vast number of opportunities in clinical and admin roles, as well as various career pathways, apprenticeships, fellowships, our training practices and much more. It’s fantastic that the Student Led Clinic was developed by the students and we look forward to supporting this initiative.”
The clinics will be hosted on the NHS’s MELISSA bus, which has been designed to deliver healthcare education and training across the North East and North Cumbria.
