About the TECS practice learning toolkit programme

The Technology Enabled Care Services (TECS) toolkit for students, educators and universities offers a framework to prepare, supervise and evaluate students’ practice learning opportunities in a TECS environment. 

The toolkit has been developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic with students now undertaking some placements online. It aims to support creativity and innovation while providing a structure in the way TECS placements are offered to ensure patient safety and appropriate practice learning. 

An overview of 3 aspects of TECS are available within the toolkit: 

• section 1 gives an overview of how students, educators and universities best prepare for TECS placements, including some practical tools 
• section 2 discusses student supervision, the various methods of teaching students and record keeping in a virtual environment 
• section 3 introduces an audit and quality assurance framework to formally assess student TECS placements, evaluate and improve virtual placements in a systematic way.

More information

Developed by Health Education England elearning for healthcare and the University of Winchester, the TECS toolkit is aimed at students, educators and universities across all allied health professions.  

It has been written to provide a perspective from students, practice educators and higher education institutes (HEIs). The purpose of this approach is to ensure that each of the stakeholder groups can appreciate each other’s viewpoint. Therefore, the best way to use this toolkit is to read each section consecutively, although each section can be viewed in isolation if needed. 

Collaborators

• Rory Twogood  – Team Lead Physiotherapist & Virtual Students Placements Coordinator, Connect Health 
• Amy Thomson – Physiotherapy Student, University of Winchester 
• Beverley Harden – HEE, National AHP Lead, Health Education England 
• Charlotte Hobbs – Physiotherapy Student, University of Winchester 
• Kaye Coleman – Specialist Dietitian, Midlands Partnership NHS Trust 
• Rian Joyce – Dietetics Student, Midlands Partnership NHS Trust 
• Sally Parker – Specialist Speech & Language Therapist, Cornwall Partnership NHS FT 
• Thomas Williams – Speech & Language Therapy Student, Marjon University 
• Tracey Day – Speech & Language Therapist, DayBrookes Speech & Language Therapy 
• Ruth Filer – Speech & Language Therapy Student, Leeds Beckett University 
• Dion Sutton – Occupational Therapy Student, University of Cardiff 
• Christine Samuel – Occupational Therapy Clinical Lead, Swansea Bay University Health Board 
• Abigail Jones – Occupational Therapy Student, University of Salford 
• Laura Farr – Occupational Therapy Team Manager, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
• Sarah Harris – Physiotherapy Placement Co-ordinator, University of Winchester

And thank you to those who took part in the review process: 

• Alicia Ridout – Patient Safety Expert
• Naomi de Graff, MSc, BSc (Hons), PGCAP, FHEA, MRCSLT, Reg HCPC, Senior Lecturer, Speech and Language Sciences, Leeds Beckett University
• Christie Robinson – Senior Lecturer and Placement Coordinator, Plymouth University
• Char Hobbs – Physiotherapy Student, University of Winchester 

How to access

In order to access the Unlocking Placement Capacity Toolkit programme, you will need an elfh account. If you do not have one, then you can register by selecting the Register button below.

Register >

To view the Unlocking Placement Capacity Toolkit programme, select the View button below. If you already have an account with elfh, you will also be able to login and enrol on the programme from the View button.

View >

Not an NHS organisation?

If you are not an NHS health or care organisation and therefore do not qualify for free access elfh Hub, you may be able to access the service by creating an OpenAthens account.

To check whether or not you qualify for free access via OpenAthens, you can view the eligibility criteria and register on the ‘OpenAthens’ portal.

Registering large numbers of users

If you are a HR, IT or Practice Manager and would like to register and enrol large numbers of staff within your organisation for access onto the Unlocking Placement Capacity Toolkit programme, please contact elfh directly.

Organisations wishing to use their own LMS

For HR departments wanting to know more about gaining access to courses using an existing Learning Management System please contact elfh directly to express interest.

More information

Please select the following link for more information on how to use the elfh Hub.