Practice Supervisor/Practice Assessor Continuing Professional Development

Reasonable adjustments are changes that organisations and people providing services must make if someone’s physical or mental disability puts them at a disadvantage compared with others who aren’t disabled (GOV.UK)

At the application stage of the programme for the student, the HEI will determine if a student is able to meet the requirements of the programme. That is, will they be able to satisfactorily achieve all NMC proficiencies, skills and procedures taking into account their disability and what, if any, reasonable adjustments can be put in place.

However it is important to note that students may only disclose or be aware that they require a reasonable adjustments once they have already started their training.

Students represent our diverse society and therefore equality and diversity needs for all students must be considered.

• Changing the recruitment process so a candidate can be considered for a job
• Doing things another way, such as allowing someone with social anxiety disorder to have their own desk instead of hot desking.
• Making physical changes to the workplace, like installing a ramp for a wheelchair user or audio-visual fire alarm for a deaf person.
• Letting a disabled person work somewhere else, such as on the ground floor for a wheelchair user.
• Changing their equipment, for instance providing a special keyboard if they have arthritis.

(Above examples provided by GOV.UK)

Equality Act 2010: Duty on employers to make reasonable adjustments for their staff

The general definition of disability for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 is “a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to day activities”. The Act defines long-term in this context as having lasted, or being likely to last for at least 12 months or the rest of the person’s life. Substantial is defined as more than minor or trivial.

• Student with dyslexia. One example could be a student that requires some extra time to complete documentation.
• Student with religious or cultural needs. One example could be a Muslim student who requests use of a private area to pray.
• Student with carer commitments. On example could be a student that has an elderly parent and has carer duties.
• Student with anxiety. One example could be a student that suffers from anxiety and finds delivering handovers particularly challenging.
• Student who requests flexible working due to childcare commitments. One example could be a single parent who struggles to work nightshift.

Please note that for such examples there are no hard and fast rules. Each request needs to be carefully considered at an individual level and impact on students learning or the areas ability to accommodate have to be carefully considered.

In the first instance your local PEF can support. If you are unsure of who your local PEF is, please check via the NHS GGC Practice Education website.

Link Academic Assessor for your area can also assist.

Students may have a RAP in place before starting their placement. This may have been part of their induction university or put in place during their course. Occasionally a pre placement meeting is required to discuss the student and their reasonable adjustments request.

There is also an opportunity to discuss at the Initial meeting with your student. This should take place within the first 48 hours of starting placement.

Please see the students Practice Education Document.

It is the student’s decision to disclose, however the NMC does recommend that students disclose.

If a student has not disclosed an individual learning requirement/disability and you have a concern about their knowledge or practice, you would follow the same process outlined in the Practice Learning Support Protocol to ensure a fair support and assessment to your students.

The advice would be to have a chat with your local PEF or CHEF.

This would be dependent on what the reasonable adjustment was. It is a good idea to have a learning development support plan in place and review throughout the placement. 

British Dyslexia Association 

Dyslexia Scotland 

National Wellbeing Hub 

Multi Faith Resource (TURAS log-in required)

The students can link in with their personal tutor to access support services offered by their university.

Reasonable adjustments can allow a student with an individual requirement to achieve a competency or meet a standard.  However professional standards and competencies must be maintained (NMC, 2019) 

It is the students decision and responsibility to disclose they have a specific learning need. 

The student can still fail even if they have reasonable adjustments in place if they don’t meet the required standard. There remains a duty to safeguard and protect the public. 

• Employers must deal with requests in a ‘reasonable manner’
• Examples of handling requests in a reasonable manner include:
  • Assessing the advantages and disadvantages of the application
  • discussing possible alternatives to the request
  • Offering an appeal process
• GOV.UK – Flexible Working

• Discuss with all students if they have any individual requirements
• Always seek advice from the University and or PEF if you are unsure how to best support a student​​
• Never lower the standard of competence required when implementing reasonable adjustments​​​ 
• Seek regular feedback on whether reasonable adjustments are meeting the needs of the student and record within student documentation​​
• Complete a fair assessment​