Health and Social Care Level 3

Working in partnership with employers, including hospitals and care organisations, our fantastic new Centre for Health and Social Care Professions is providing a range of training and qualifications to meet the demand for new recruits within the health and care sectors.

Courses are designed to address local skills shortages and are delivered by highly-qualified tutors with a diverse range of professional healthcare experiences.

Located on the fourth floor of our South Wing building, the Centre for Health and Social Care Professions encompasses 2,000 square metres of innovative teaching facilities.

The centre incorporates interactive learning technology to provide skills laboratories in realistic working environments, and well-equipped classrooms to ensure students are prepared for higher education (university) or employment.

Learning resources in the centre include:

• Dedicated skills rooms for role-play and recorded assessments, a dental surgery and decontamination room
• An interactive facility where bespoke environments can be created to develop interpersonal and problem-solving skills around a realistic backdrop
• Rooms for collaborative learning, as well as meeting and conference rooms to support apprenticeship assessments

In 2021 the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) partnered with our own Centre for Health and Social Care Professions here at Colchester Institute, with a whole new floor dedicated to provide exclusive training to our learners, so they can be career ready at the end of their time with us. ESNEFT is one of the biggest NHS Trusts in East Anglia and provides hospital and community services throughout Suffolk and North Essex.

Work in Health and Social Care

Nurturing a future-ready workforce with skills development alongside qualifications

In the field of health and social care, skills development and qualifications are crucial for professionals to deliver high-quality care and support to individuals in need, this is why all of our students complete mandatory placements
as part of their study and follow our newly developed P³ programme.

The P³ Programme

Focusing on Preparation, Placement and Progression (P³), all students will develop the skills and professional behaviours expected to be seen in the workplace which will be delivered through a variety of workshops and online learning. This will offer students an assessed competency prior to embarking on a placement through a variety of workshops, online learning and the Care Certificate.

All Health and Social Care students must complete this mandatory training prior to starting on their placements which includes:

• Clinical and health skills development
• Up to 72 hours of additional teaching with clinical experts throughout the year
• Roleplays and reflective exercises
• Communication and study skills

Further progression activities support learners throughout the academic year ready for their next steps, such as:

• UCAS support
• Interview and employment-ready workshops
• Academic literacy development
• Resilience and wellbeing activities

Those studying under the Centre are referred to as ‘Professionals in Training’ and will follow the NHS 6Cs philosophy; care, courage, commitment, compassion, competence and communication. These behaviours are monitored and rewarded throughout the course.

Students will be expected to work in a variety of settings to develop different skills, and the College has placements in over 150 workplaces.

ESNEFT Career Start Programme

The aim of our Career Start Programme is to develop the key employability skills and qualities in our students, so that we can prepare them for a career within the sector by the time they leave us to progress on their career path.

Those who are successful in accessing the programme will have demonstrated a positive attitude to the NHS 6Cs approach and towards their own development. They will be offered a student placement, a training package within a hospital environment and a guaranteed interview for a ‘real’ job in the NHS.

These students will be given:

• Clinical work placement at Colchester or Ipswich Hospital
• An allocated supervisor
• Compulsory NHS induction training
• An NHS mentor to support them throughout the programme
• Online training modules
• Masterclasses at the Iceni Centre, at Colchester General Hospital
• Interactive training sessions

By completing the mandatory skills training, our students will be able to access more substantial student placements which are more practical in nature and will be guaranteed a job interview on successful completion of the Career Start Programme.