Piloting a T Level industry placement offer in a mental health trust

Introduction

Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust piloted a T Level industry placement offer to develop a talent pipeline of young people into the trust. The trust felt awareness of opportunities in mental health and learning disability was lacking and an industry placement offer would help raise the profile of associated careers. The pilot has been a success, with the trust now offering industry placements as standard.

The industry placement model

From the outset, the trust wanted to work with Health T Level students undertaking the mental health occupational specialism. Although specialism alignment is not required, the trust felt it wanted to support placements for those directly choosing the mental health specialism to help encourage and reinforce their mental health career aspiration.

Four inpatient wards took part in the pilot: two later life wards (functional and organic), a rehabilitation ward and an adult acute ward. The trust intended to support one student per ward, over 11 weeks, with students on site two days a week rotating to another inpatient setting halfway through the placement. 

There were two cohorts throughout the year (November to January and March to May) with three students from one education provider also returning for the second cohort to enable them to complete their remaining placement hours within the trust. The first cohort did not initially access the adult acute ward due to perceived higher risk. However, following positive feedback from staff this was included in later placements, and was a well-liked setting for the students.

During the pilot, another education provider asked for support with placements for students living in the locality who were studying the mental health occupational specialism and keen to gain relevant experience. With differing placement days, the trust felt it could support additional students during the pilot and expanded the offer for the second cohort. 

The industry placement was offered to students in the second year of their qualification, ensuring they were at least 17 years old. This reassured trust colleagues as the students had gained experience of the fundamentals of care throughout year one and completed hours in other health and care environments.

Before starting, students were interviewed to ascertain their interests and check that a mental health environment would be suitable for them. Interviews were held in the college and linked to an opportunity to showcase the trust to first year T Level students. Three newly qualified nursing associates from relevant areas played a key role in the interview process, fostering positive relationships with the students and acting as mentors during the placements. A senior practitioner was also invited to share their professional experience and explore the students’ learning and career aspirations.

Students completed e-learning prior to the start of placement and had nine hours of induction related training and evaluation sessions built into their placement hours. This included sessions on good workplace behaviour, codes of conduct, confidentiality, and sharing the contents of the risk assessment so they were better equipped to take part safely and professionally.

During their placement, students worked closely with their mentors as well as healthcare support workers, occupational therapists, registered nurses and clinical psychologists, gaining insight into roles and processes within a range of inpatient services, such as supporting new admissions, observing the clinic room, completing engagement and observations, discharges and some therapeutic interventions. On completion they attended a feedback session which also included the opportunity to talk about their future ambitions.

Pilot outcome and student destinations

The trust has now completed the pilot and is delighted that three of the students will be moving into substantive roles with the organisation. Two will be going into higher education to study mental health nursing and psychology with the final student deciding they prefer working with young people and are looking into childcare. 

Those going on to higher education are due to join the staff bank while they complete their studies, with all students able to join the staff bank on completion of their placement. 

A post-pilot evaluation has highlighted some areas for improvement, although the overall success will see another cohort offered placements later in 2026. The trust will continue industry placements moving forward, while also looking at piloting other placement offers within the trust’s geographic footprint. 

The trust recognises the importance of supporting young people to explore careers in mental health through the placement. In the short term, it will see the benefit of recruiting some students directly into the organisation. In the longer term, there may be further opportunities to recruit newly qualified mental health professionals. 

Overcoming challenges

The trust worked through several challenges during the pilot, which were resolved by changing processes and considering mitigations: 

• Risk assessments were shared with the education provider, students and parents or guardian, ensuring full transparency from the beginning on what the students may experience on placement.
• Consent forms were requested from parents or guardians for all students, regardless of age. 
• A small research project was developed as an alternative if wards were too acute to host the students. This could be completed at home or in education provider settings following the same format as the study skills unit of the Level 3 senior healthcare support worker apprenticeship and would still count towards their placement hours. 
• The student’s prior experience was shared with senior colleagues to confirm their placement readiness. 
• Champions were identified across the organisation who could help move the placement model from theory into practice.
• Collaboration with the one education provider was inconsistent, with the trust leading more of the placement planning than anticipated, however this ensured the team had more control of the process and was fed back to the provider who have assured this will improve for continued collaboration in future.

Top tips for employers

• Agree the role, responsibilities and scope of the T-Level student role internally. Ensuring staff are aware of what T Level students can do and the limitations to their student role
• Ensure you set clear expectations for the students with education providers from the beginning to ensure they work collaboratively with you to establish an industry placement and ensure student readiness for the environment is shared equally. 
• It does take time to establish the infrastructure for an industry placement, but this only needs to be done once then tweaked as appropriate. It is an upfront investment for future gain. 
• Supporting the workforce of the future takes many forms; it’s fine to start small through engagement with T Level students in the education setting even prior to a pilot. 

Contact details

To find out more about this industry placement pilot in a mental health trust, please contact Kerri Pearce.